horsemouth
asked on
External Hd not showing up in my computer?
Hi Guys,
My wife recently bought me a western digital 120GB hard drive with a gembird external USB Flexi-drive caddy.
I placed the drive into the flexi-drive and attached the supplied cables, closed the lid on the caddy, and inserted the usb cable from the caddy into my Pc.
Plugged the flexi-drive into the mains, and the drive powered up, I had a look in device manger, and I could see it.
I then went into computer managemnent to format the drive, it just gave me the message "Format Drive Failed".
My Pc is a P4 with 512mb ram - 80Gb HD, and I wanted the big hd for my video work.
do I have to change any jumper settings on the 120GB drive?.Any help would be greatly appreciated
the utility disc that came with the flexi-drive only had drivers for WINME,WIN98,WIN2000 and MAC, I rang the shop where my wife bought it from, and they said windowsXP should automatically detect it?
I went to the site to see if there were any drivers available, and there were, but, it didnt state if they were WINXP compatible.
Here is the website http://www.gembird.com/flexidr.htm
And here is the drivers page,
http://www.gembird.com/default.htm
Mine is FD-UF0 - the Flexi-drive external USB v.1.1 without fans
Kind Regards Jeff
My wife recently bought me a western digital 120GB hard drive with a gembird external USB Flexi-drive caddy.
I placed the drive into the flexi-drive and attached the supplied cables, closed the lid on the caddy, and inserted the usb cable from the caddy into my Pc.
Plugged the flexi-drive into the mains, and the drive powered up, I had a look in device manger, and I could see it.
I then went into computer managemnent to format the drive, it just gave me the message "Format Drive Failed".
My Pc is a P4 with 512mb ram - 80Gb HD, and I wanted the big hd for my video work.
do I have to change any jumper settings on the 120GB drive?.Any help would be greatly appreciated
the utility disc that came with the flexi-drive only had drivers for WINME,WIN98,WIN2000 and MAC, I rang the shop where my wife bought it from, and they said windowsXP should automatically detect it?
I went to the site to see if there were any drivers available, and there were, but, it didnt state if they were WINXP compatible.
Here is the website http://www.gembird.com/flexidr.htm
And here is the drivers page,
http://www.gembird.com/default.htm
Mine is FD-UF0 - the Flexi-drive external USB v.1.1 without fans
Kind Regards Jeff
ASKER
thank you Bjorn, I'll try that my friend
regards Jeff
regards Jeff
ASKER
tried that mate, It showed up in computer management, but when I tried to format it, it got to 100% and came up with the error.
"format failed"
this has me baffled:(
Any more suggestion?
regards jeff
"format failed"
this has me baffled:(
Any more suggestion?
regards jeff
Sound pretty strange to me to...
Does the format seem to progress normally
until it fail at 100% ? I assume you are doing a full
format ?
I don't think it's a driver problem
since you are able to access and start the formating.
Alright, I don't have XP where I'm at right now
so I can just give you general directions:
Go to Administrative Tools\Computer Management\Storage\Disk Management
If you only have one prior HDD in your system,
the new one should be drive 1, the boot drive being
drive 0.
Use the Convert Disk Wizard to make sure you
get a signature written to the new drive.
Create an extended partition and format a
logical drive in it.
Bjorn
At some
Does the format seem to progress normally
until it fail at 100% ? I assume you are doing a full
format ?
I don't think it's a driver problem
since you are able to access and start the formating.
Alright, I don't have XP where I'm at right now
so I can just give you general directions:
Go to Administrative Tools\Computer Management\Storage\Disk Management
If you only have one prior HDD in your system,
the new one should be drive 1, the boot drive being
drive 0.
Use the Convert Disk Wizard to make sure you
get a signature written to the new drive.
Create an extended partition and format a
logical drive in it.
Bjorn
At some
ASKER
thanks again Bjorn, I try that now, and yes the format seem to progress normally until it fails at 100% ?
Jeff
Jeff
The good suggestion is to copy old 80-gig drive contents to 120-gig (by Norton Ghost), and then place 80-gig drive in the caddy. Try it. It seems that your caddy just does not suppart so large drives or there is a problem with hardware compatibility.
I checked http://www.gembird.com/flexidr.htm and found no information, nor technical support here. You may post them e-mail with the problem description.
Note that there is a default IDE controller in the caddy so it inherits all the IDE controller's problems.
Best regards,
Serge
I checked http://www.gembird.com/flexidr.htm and found no information, nor technical support here. You may post them e-mail with the problem description.
Note that there is a default IDE controller in the caddy so it inherits all the IDE controller's problems.
Best regards,
Serge
ASKER
I went to Administrative Tools\Computer Management\Storage\Disk Management, but I couldn't find anything called Convert Disk Wizard?
You were right though, as the new one is showing as 1 and my old one as 0
Anything else I can try ?
Thank you gain
Jeff
You were right though, as the new one is showing as 1 and my old one as 0
Anything else I can try ?
Thank you gain
Jeff
The Convert Disk Wizard should come up when
you click Disk Management.
In the control panel there should be a button,
marked Classic or something along those lines.
Click on it and try again.
If that doesn't work, go to help, and search
for Convert Disk Wizard . There may be a direct
link to bring it up.
Bjorn
you click Disk Management.
In the control panel there should be a button,
marked Classic or something along those lines.
Click on it and try again.
If that doesn't work, go to help, and search
for Convert Disk Wizard . There may be a direct
link to bring it up.
Bjorn
Oh,
just a thought,
When you bring up Disk Management, you
may want to go to Disk 1, and get rid of the old
partition before getting into the Convert Disk Wizard.
Bjorn
just a thought,
When you bring up Disk Management, you
may want to go to Disk 1, and get rid of the old
partition before getting into the Convert Disk Wizard.
Bjorn
ASKER
Thanks for the info serge, I removed my internal 80GB and fitted the 120GB, as soon as it starts to boot, I receive the message
Invalid Boot Disk ? and it wont go any further?
Sorry if I seem a bit vague, but I'm new to this:(
do you have to change the jumpers on the Western Digital, and if so what do I change it to?
Many thanks Again
Jeff
Invalid Boot Disk ? and it wont go any further?
Sorry if I seem a bit vague, but I'm new to this:(
do you have to change the jumpers on the Western Digital, and if so what do I change it to?
Many thanks Again
Jeff
I don't think just swapping the drives is going
to work that well (without a complete reinstall).
I'm uncertain where the signature goes on the drive,
and if Ghost will be able to include it in an image.
XP requires a signature on the drive to work,
and the way to get it is to use the Convert Disk Wizard.
You're message invalid boot disk is simply pointing out that there is no os (or boot sector) on the first drive.
You may want to get back into the disk manager,
delete all partitions (probably just one primary on disk 1, get into the Convert Disk Wizard, write the signature,
initialize, but don't convert.
Create an extended partition and format a
logical drive in it.
Bjorn
to work that well (without a complete reinstall).
I'm uncertain where the signature goes on the drive,
and if Ghost will be able to include it in an image.
XP requires a signature on the drive to work,
and the way to get it is to use the Convert Disk Wizard.
You're message invalid boot disk is simply pointing out that there is no os (or boot sector) on the first drive.
You may want to get back into the disk manager,
delete all partitions (probably just one primary on disk 1, get into the Convert Disk Wizard, write the signature,
initialize, but don't convert.
Create an extended partition and format a
logical drive in it.
Bjorn
Also, what is status you see for drive 1 in disk manager ?
I probably should have asked you this first...
I probably should have asked you this first...
ASKER
okay Bjorn I'm going into disk manager now and deleting all partitions, after backing all my data up first:)
The status I see for drive 1 is: It just says Healthy
I'll report back when I have done what you say
Regards Jeff
The status I see for drive 1 is: It just says Healthy
I'll report back when I have done what you say
Regards Jeff
Well,
healthy is good....
If you still have problems formating after this,
your next step may be to try to delete the logical drive (d:)
and create two logical drives
say 60GB's a piece in the extended partition.
See if one or both formats OK.
Bjorn
healthy is good....
If you still have problems formating after this,
your next step may be to try to delete the logical drive (d:)
and create two logical drives
say 60GB's a piece in the extended partition.
See if one or both formats OK.
Bjorn
ASKER
okay Bjorn I'm going into disk manager now and deleting all partitions, after backing all my data up first:)
The status I see for drive 1 is: It just says Healthy
I'll report back when I have done what you say
Regards Jeff
The status I see for drive 1 is: It just says Healthy
I'll report back when I have done what you say
Regards Jeff
Not all your partitions...
just the one on drive one.
There shouln'd be any data there for you to backup
Bjorn
just the one on drive one.
There shouln'd be any data there for you to backup
Bjorn
ASKER
oops sorry I posted twice:(
ASKER
okay, I got that now, and am off to try it, thats what I meant mate, just the one on drive one:)
Jeff
Jeff
You had me worried there for a sec,
thinking you might be wiping out you xp boot drive :-)
thinking you might be wiping out you xp boot drive :-)
ASKER
it says:
Disk 0
Basic
74.53 GB
next to that it says
(C)
37.26 GB NFTS
healthy system
next to that is says
Backup (D)
31.25 GB NTFS
healthy system
And next to that it says
(E)
6.02 GB Fat 32
healthy system
And below it says
Disk 1
Removable
111.79 GB
Online
And next to that it says
(H)
111.79 GB
Healthy
Hmm,
do you see your H drive in my computer ?
do you see your H drive in my computer ?
Try to create the primary partition on the Disk 1 which size is 30 GB and format it. If all will be OK, please report it.
I'm waiting for your comments.
Serge
I'm waiting for your comments.
Serge
bjorndahlen:
Disk 1
Removable
111.79 GB
Online
And next to that it says
(H)
111.79 GB
Healthy
This shows that disk H is not formatted...
Disk 1
Removable
111.79 GB
Online
And next to that it says
(H)
111.79 GB
Healthy
This shows that disk H is not formatted...
ASKER
I cannot partition disk 1 , because it doesnt show up in partition magic.
Disk 1 is the 120Gb drive, which when I right click it in disk management doesn't give me an option to partition it:(
I'm getting baffled here :(
Disk 1 is the 120Gb drive, which when I right click it in disk management doesn't give me an option to partition it:(
I'm getting baffled here :(
ASKER
and bjorn H doesnt show up in my computer.
:(
:(
I think that the better way is to contact http://www.gembird.com/flexidr.htm technical support. Or the shop where you ad purshased the disk and caddy. There is no usefull information on the http://www.gembird.com site so it is difficult to determine what had actually happened with your HDD. If I could see the device I probably could give an answer, but it's impossible.
If it' an extended partition you need to remove the logical drive first. Rightclick on the logical drive
and choose delete logical drive.
If it's a primary partition, rightclick and delete,
and create a new extended partition.
Now create new logical drives in the partition,
60gb each, and format.
msa2003's suggestion with regard to trying a 30GB
partition may also be good, some disk limitations
kick in around 32GB.
and choose delete logical drive.
If it's a primary partition, rightclick and delete,
and create a new extended partition.
Now create new logical drives in the partition,
60gb each, and format.
msa2003's suggestion with regard to trying a 30GB
partition may also be good, some disk limitations
kick in around 32GB.
bjorndahlen: It seems that Windows even does not allow to make any partition... Strange situation...
Check the European site: http://www.gmb-online.nl/
If you have any documentation check if the caddy supports drives larger than 32/64/80 gigs.
I found an information that FlexiDrive wirks with HDD's not larger than 2GB, but I could not check this information. Now I don't completely understand how this device works. Looking at the drivers I found them very draft (as I am software developer).
Please tell how does DEviceManager recognize the FlexiDrive device? As SCSI or USB storage device or something else?
Check the European site: http://www.gmb-online.nl/
If you have any documentation check if the caddy supports drives larger than 32/64/80 gigs.
I found an information that FlexiDrive wirks with HDD's not larger than 2GB, but I could not check this information. Now I don't completely understand how this device works. Looking at the drivers I found them very draft (as I am software developer).
Please tell how does DEviceManager recognize the FlexiDrive device? As SCSI or USB storage device or something else?
ASKER
Device manager recognises the flexi drive as a scsi and is listed straight underneath my internal hard disc.
Also when I attached the usb cable from the flexi-drive to the pc, windows reported that a new usb device had been found and told me it had been installed.
I checked back in device manager, and sure enough under usb controllers, a storage device had been installed
I checked again under my internal hard drive in device manager, and the western digital 120Gb was still listed ?
it has me stumped indeed:(
Also when I attached the usb cable from the flexi-drive to the pc, windows reported that a new usb device had been found and told me it had been installed.
I checked back in device manager, and sure enough under usb controllers, a storage device had been installed
I checked again under my internal hard drive in device manager, and the western digital 120Gb was still listed ?
it has me stumped indeed:(
I'm not using any external drives, but I have
a promise ATA-100 in one of my machines. This too shows
up as scsi, and I get it listed as any other drive in the device manager. Never caused a problem.
Any luck deleting the partition, and allocating smaller
logical drives ?
Bjorn
a promise ATA-100 in one of my machines. This too shows
up as scsi, and I get it listed as any other drive in the device manager. Never caused a problem.
Any luck deleting the partition, and allocating smaller
logical drives ?
Bjorn
ASKER
No luck bjorn, I've given up my friend, and am returning the flexi drive tomorrow and will see if the guys that sold me it, have any luck installing it:)
When I rang them on the phone earlier this evening, one of the guys said to bring it in , and he would format it, and it would then be ready to use on XP.
I hope so, as this has had me stumped, an dwould love to see it installed and working.
May I thank you guys for all your advice, I am extremly greatful, and have learned a bit more in the process.
I will let you know the outcome, when I return it to the shop tomorrow.
Best Wishes
Jeff
When I rang them on the phone earlier this evening, one of the guys said to bring it in , and he would format it, and it would then be ready to use on XP.
I hope so, as this has had me stumped, an dwould love to see it installed and working.
May I thank you guys for all your advice, I am extremly greatful, and have learned a bit more in the process.
I will let you know the outcome, when I return it to the shop tomorrow.
Best Wishes
Jeff
I understand you are returning the drive.
My son got an external USB drive about a year
ago, a 40GB Maxtor. Installed in Win98 and Win2000
in minutes, no problems - oh well.
Good Luck
Bjorn
My son got an external USB drive about a year
ago, a 40GB Maxtor. Installed in Win98 and Win2000
in minutes, no problems - oh well.
Good Luck
Bjorn
Allthrough... It seems that it simply doesn't support large drives. It's only the assumption, but a very probably assumption... if the FlexiDrive is detected as SCSI.
ASKER
Guys,
you will never believe this, but I found out the solution to my problem:))
But Im not going to post it here, because I feel so stupid , for not checking this in the first place:(
In the immortal words of Homer "DOH"
jeff
you will never believe this, but I found out the solution to my problem:))
But Im not going to post it here, because I feel so stupid , for not checking this in the first place:(
In the immortal words of Homer "DOH"
jeff
Jeff,
after the effort the msa2003 and I put in trying to help
you, surely you can't leave us forever wondering
what the problem was, sleepless nights and all...
How about posting what the problem was, maybe we
can join you feeling stupid for not thinking about
something obvious (and maybe suggest that first
if somebody else is experiencing the same problems)
Bjorn
after the effort the msa2003 and I put in trying to help
you, surely you can't leave us forever wondering
what the problem was, sleepless nights and all...
How about posting what the problem was, maybe we
can join you feeling stupid for not thinking about
something obvious (and maybe suggest that first
if somebody else is experiencing the same problems)
Bjorn
ASKER
Okay mate,
I was only kidding, of course I'll tell you guys.
I had downloaded a util ages ago called TweakXP, messed around with it at the time and forgot all about it.
A friend trying to help me solve my dilema, asked me if I had TweakXP installed, when I replied that I had, he asked me if I had the drive hide feature checked for drive H and all those thereafter.
Yes, I had indeed done that:(((
I unchecked H, and rebooted, an dfinally H presented himself in my computer:)
Everything is working great, but I still cannot partition it, I installed Partition magic 8.0 and it cannot see the H drive.
Is it because its too big?
Regards Jeff
I was only kidding, of course I'll tell you guys.
I had downloaded a util ages ago called TweakXP, messed around with it at the time and forgot all about it.
A friend trying to help me solve my dilema, asked me if I had TweakXP installed, when I replied that I had, he asked me if I had the drive hide feature checked for drive H and all those thereafter.
Yes, I had indeed done that:(((
I unchecked H, and rebooted, an dfinally H presented himself in my computer:)
Everything is working great, but I still cannot partition it, I installed Partition magic 8.0 and it cannot see the H drive.
Is it because its too big?
Regards Jeff
horsemouth,
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I will leave a recommendation in the Cleanup topic area for this question:
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Please leave any comments here within 7 days.
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they should work just fine.
Bjorn