Installing a New Western Digital Drive

Brian A. wrote:
"W. eWatson" wrote in message

smlunatick wrote:
On Nov 23, 3:55 pm, "W. eWatson" wrote:
I hooked up the single questionable HD to the master position on the
IDE
cable, and removed the jumpers. It showed the correct 120GB, and
other
parameters. I then used the other cable, and got the same results. It
would seem to me that sufficient power is reaching the end of the
cable,
and likely the middle connector.

Since I cannot see the slave when the master is seen, I wouldn't
think I
could use the diagnostic software yet.

I wonder if ABIT is still in business. Their web site is still
unreachable this morning. Their old phone # is not answered.

Yes, according to
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainboards/display/20081217051651_Abit_s....

Gone with the wind.

Does Device Manager show the new drive in the Disk drive section? If
yes, then the hard drive needs to be "prepared" so that the XP can us
it.
How would it be prepared, if it cannot be seen under My Computer?

You can use Windows disk management, WDs tools or any other disk
utility/application that partitions/formats drives.

Yes, that's fine, but if my system doesn't know it's there, how would
that work?

Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair shop
awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.

"W. eWatson" wrote in message

Brian A. wrote:
"W. eWatson" wrote in message

smlunatick wrote:
On Nov 23, 3:55 pm, "W. eWatson" wrote:
I hooked up the single questionable HD to the master position on the
IDE
cable, and removed the jumpers. It showed the correct 120GB, and
other
parameters. I then used the other cable, and got the same results. It
would seem to me that sufficient power is reaching the end of the
cable,
and likely the middle connector.

Since I cannot see the slave when the master is seen, I wouldn't
think I
could use the diagnostic software yet.

I wonder if ABIT is still in business. Their web site is still
unreachable this morning. Their old phone # is not answered.

Yes, according to
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainboards/display/20081217051651_Abit_s....

Gone with the wind.

Does Device Manager show the new drive in the Disk drive section? If
yes, then the hard drive needs to be "prepared" so that the XP can us
it.
How would it be prepared, if it cannot be seen under My Computer?

You can use Windows disk management, WDs tools or any other disk
utility/application that partitions/formats drives.

Yes, that's fine, but if my system doesn't know it's there, how would
that work?

Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair shop
awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.

I can't help with W2K questions, I'v never used it.

If you have floppy drive you could use a WD tools DOS floppy disk and boot
to it, and if I understand correctly even the Seagate tools will work for a WD
drive. If the BIOS detects the disk then the tools in DOS should as well. If
you don't have a flopy drive I believe some disk manufacturers now have there
tools for DOS that run from a CD.

--

Brian A. Sesko
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://members.shaw.ca/dts-l/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

"W. eWatson" wrote in message

Brian A. wrote:
"W. eWatson" wrote in message

smlunatick wrote:
On Nov 23, 3:55 pm, "W. eWatson" wrote:
I hooked up the single questionable HD to the master position on the
IDE
cable, and removed the jumpers. It showed the correct 120GB, and
other
parameters. I then used the other cable, and got the same results. It
would seem to me that sufficient power is reaching the end of the
cable,
and likely the middle connector.

Since I cannot see the slave when the master is seen, I wouldn't
think I
could use the diagnostic software yet.

I wonder if ABIT is still in business. Their web site is still
unreachable this morning. Their old phone # is not answered.

Yes, according to
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainboards/display/20081217051651_Abit_s....

Gone with the wind.

Does Device Manager show the new drive in the Disk drive section? If
yes, then the hard drive needs to be "prepared" so that the XP can us
it.
How would it be prepared, if it cannot be seen under My Computer?

You can use Windows disk management, WDs tools or any other disk
utility/application that partitions/formats drives.

Yes, that's fine, but if my system doesn't know it's there, how would
that work?

Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair shop
awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.

I can't help with W2K questions, I'v never used it.

If you have floppy drive you could use a WD tools DOS floppy disk and boot
to it, and if I understand correctly even the Seagate tools will work for a WD
drive. If the BIOS detects the disk then the tools in DOS should as well. If
you don't have a flopy drive I believe some disk manufacturers now have there
tools for DOS that run from a CD.

--

Brian A. Sesko
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://members.shaw.ca/dts-l/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

"W. eWatson" wrote in message
...
Brian A. wrote:
"W. eWatson" wrote in message

smlunatick wrote:
On Nov 23, 3:55 pm, "W. eWatson" wrote:
I hooked up the single questionable HD to the master position on the
IDE
cable, and removed the jumpers. It showed the correct 120GB, and
other
parameters. I then used the other cable, and got the same results. It
would seem to me that sufficient power is reaching the end of the
cable,
and likely the middle connector.

Since I cannot see the slave when the master is seen, I wouldn't think
I
could use the diagnostic software yet.

I wonder if ABIT is still in business. Their web site is still
unreachable this morning. Their old phone # is not answered.

Yes, according to
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainboards/display/20081217051651_Abit_s....
Gone with the wind.

Does Device Manager show the new drive in the Disk drive section? If
yes, then the hard drive needs to be "prepared" so that the XP can us
it.
How would it be prepared, if it cannot be seen under My Computer?

You can use Windows disk management, WDs tools or any other disk
utility/application that partitions/formats drives.

Yes, that's fine, but if my system doesn't know it's there, how would that
work?

Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair shop
awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.

Disk management (diskmgmt.msc) will see it and allow you to format it when
My Computer doesn't even see it. If the partition size(s) hasn't been set,
formatted, and made active, My Computer doesn't know it's there.
SP4 would be nice to have on it, but it's not going to help with the
problem.

SC Tom

"W. eWatson" wrote in message
...
Brian A. wrote:
"W. eWatson" wrote in message

smlunatick wrote:
On Nov 23, 3:55 pm, "W. eWatson" wrote:
I hooked up the single questionable HD to the master position on the
IDE
cable, and removed the jumpers. It showed the correct 120GB, and
other
parameters. I then used the other cable, and got the same results. It
would seem to me that sufficient power is reaching the end of the
cable,
and likely the middle connector.

Since I cannot see the slave when the master is seen, I wouldn't think
I
could use the diagnostic software yet.

I wonder if ABIT is still in business. Their web site is still
unreachable this morning. Their old phone # is not answered.

Yes, according to
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainboards/display/20081217051651_Abit_s....
Gone with the wind.

Does Device Manager show the new drive in the Disk drive section? If
yes, then the hard drive needs to be "prepared" so that the XP can us
it.
How would it be prepared, if it cannot be seen under My Computer?

You can use Windows disk management, WDs tools or any other disk
utility/application that partitions/formats drives.

Yes, that's fine, but if my system doesn't know it's there, how would that
work?

Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair shop
awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.

Disk management (diskmgmt.msc) will see it and allow you to format it when
My Computer doesn't even see it. If the partition size(s) hasn't been set,
formatted, and made active, My Computer doesn't know it's there.
SP4 would be nice to have on it, but it's not going to help with the
problem.

SC Tom

Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair shop
awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.

I can't help with W2K questions, I'v never used it.

If you have floppy drive you could use a WD tools DOS floppy disk and
boot to it, and if I understand correctly even the Seagate tools will
work for a WD drive. If the BIOS detects the disk then the tools in DOS
should as well. If you don't have a flopy drive I believe some disk
manufacturers now have there tools for DOS that run from a CD.

Interestingly enough, I found that if I went to the device drivers, I
could see entries for both drives. Also I carted WD diagnostics pkg over
and it found it. I'm running diagnostics on it.

Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair shop
awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.

I can't help with W2K questions, I'v never used it.

If you have floppy drive you could use a WD tools DOS floppy disk and
boot to it, and if I understand correctly even the Seagate tools will
work for a WD drive. If the BIOS detects the disk then the tools in DOS
should as well. If you don't have a flopy drive I believe some disk
manufacturers now have there tools for DOS that run from a CD.

Interestingly enough, I found that if I went to the device drivers, I
could see entries for both drives. Also I carted WD diagnostics pkg over
and it found it. I'm running diagnostics on it.

Yes, that's fine, but if my system doesn't know it's there, how would
that work?

Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair shop
awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.

Disk management (diskmgmt.msc) will see it and allow you to format it
when My Computer doesn't even see it. If the partition size(s) hasn't
been set, formatted, and made active, My Computer doesn't know it's there.
SP4 would be nice to have on it, but it's not going to help with the
problem.

SC Tom

Thanks anyway. I discovered diskmgmt.msc minutes ago. I also enlisted
the aid of WD diagnostic tool. See my post just a minute ago. I put
SP4 on it, but it didn't change anything for this problem. You may be
right about formatting it. I've lost the instruction manual. I'll go
ahead and do it.

Yes, that's fine, but if my system doesn't know it's there, how would
that work?

Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair shop
awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.

Disk management (diskmgmt.msc) will see it and allow you to format it
when My Computer doesn't even see it. If the partition size(s) hasn't
been set, formatted, and made active, My Computer doesn't know it's there.
SP4 would be nice to have on it, but it's not going to help with the
problem.

SC Tom

Thanks anyway. I discovered diskmgmt.msc minutes ago. I also enlisted
the aid of WD diagnostic tool. See my post just a minute ago. I put
SP4 on it, but it didn't change anything for this problem. You may be
right about formatting it. I've lost the instruction manual. I'll go
ahead and do it.

W. eWatson wrote:

Yes, that's fine, but if my system doesn't know it's there, how would
that work?

Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair
shop awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.

Disk management (diskmgmt.msc) will see it and allow you to format it
when My Computer doesn't even see it. If the partition size(s) hasn't
been set, formatted, and made active, My Computer doesn't know it's
there.
SP4 would be nice to have on it, but it's not going to help with the
problem.

SC Tom

Thanks anyway. I discovered diskmgmt.msc minutes ago. I also enlisted
the aid of WD diagnostic tool. See my post just a minute ago. I put
SP4 on it, but it didn't change anything for this problem. You may be
right about formatting it. I've lost the instruction manual. I'll go
ahead and do it.
Well, running diagnostics said the drive was OK, but it has no way to
format it, nor does diskmgmt.msc, as far as I can tell. I see something
about a volume, but am not sure what to use if it does indeed format a
drive. It shows the slave as drive 1, and wanted me to write a
signature, which I did. It shows that drive as 7.87G, which probably its
wild guess at the unformatted drive.

W. eWatson wrote:

Yes, that's fine, but if my system doesn't know it's there, how would
that work?

Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair
shop awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.

Disk management (diskmgmt.msc) will see it and allow you to format it
when My Computer doesn't even see it. If the partition size(s) hasn't
been set, formatted, and made active, My Computer doesn't know it's
there.
SP4 would be nice to have on it, but it's not going to help with the
problem.

SC Tom

Thanks anyway. I discovered diskmgmt.msc minutes ago. I also enlisted
the aid of WD diagnostic tool. See my post just a minute ago. I put
SP4 on it, but it didn't change anything for this problem. You may be
right about formatting it. I've lost the instruction manual. I'll go
ahead and do it.
Well, running diagnostics said the drive was OK, but it has no way to
format it, nor does diskmgmt.msc, as far as I can tell. I see something
about a volume, but am not sure what to use if it does indeed format a
drive. It shows the slave as drive 1, and wanted me to write a
signature, which I did. It shows that drive as 7.87G, which probably its
wild guess at the unformatted drive.

On Nov 24, 5:33*am, "W. eWatson" wrote:
W. eWatson wrote:

Yes, that's fine, but if my system doesn't know it's there, how would
that work?

Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair
shop awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.

Disk management (diskmgmt.msc) will see it and allow you to format it
when My Computer doesn't even see it. If the partition size(s) hasn't
been set, formatted, and made active, My Computer doesn't know it's
there.
SP4 would be nice to have on it, but it's not going to help with the
problem.

SC Tom

Thanks anyway. I discovered diskmgmt.msc minutes ago. I also enlisted
the aid of WD diagnostic tool. See my post just a minute ago. I put
SP4 on it, but it didn't change anything for this problem. You may be
right about formatting it. I've lost the instruction manual. I'll go
ahead and do it.

Well, running diagnostics said the drive was OK, but it has no way to
format it, nor does diskmgmt.msc, as far as I can tell. I see something
about a volume, but am not sure what to use if it does indeed format a
drive. It shows the slave as drive 1, and wanted me to write a
signature, which I did. It shows that drive as 7.87G, which probably its
wild guess at the unformatted drive.

You must first "define" a partition with Disk Management, on the drive
before you can format it.

On Nov 24, 5:33*am, "W. eWatson" wrote:
W. eWatson wrote:

Yes, that's fine, but if my system doesn't know it's there, how would
that work?

Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair
shop awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.

Disk management (diskmgmt.msc) will see it and allow you to format it
when My Computer doesn't even see it. If the partition size(s) hasn't
been set, formatted, and made active, My Computer doesn't know it's
there.
SP4 would be nice to have on it, but it's not going to help with the
problem.

SC Tom

Thanks anyway. I discovered diskmgmt.msc minutes ago. I also enlisted
the aid of WD diagnostic tool. See my post just a minute ago. I put
SP4 on it, but it didn't change anything for this problem. You may be
right about formatting it. I've lost the instruction manual. I'll go
ahead and do it.

Well, running diagnostics said the drive was OK, but it has no way to
format it, nor does diskmgmt.msc, as far as I can tell. I see something
about a volume, but am not sure what to use if it does indeed format a
drive. It shows the slave as drive 1, and wanted me to write a
signature, which I did. It shows that drive as 7.87G, which probably its
wild guess at the unformatted drive.

You must first "define" a partition with Disk Management, on the drive
before you can format it.

smlunatick wrote:
On Nov 24, 5:33 am, "W. eWatson" wrote:
W. eWatson wrote:

Yes, that's fine, but if my system doesn't know it's there, how would
that work?
Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair
shop awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.
Disk management (diskmgmt.msc) will see it and allow you to format it
when My Computer doesn't even see it. If the partition size(s) hasn't
been set, formatted, and made active, My Computer doesn't know it's
there.
SP4 would be nice to have on it, but it's not going to help with the
problem.
SC Tom
Thanks anyway. I discovered diskmgmt.msc minutes ago. I also enlisted
the aid of WD diagnostic tool. See my post just a minute ago. I put
SP4 on it, but it didn't change anything for this problem. You may be
right about formatting it. I've lost the instruction manual. I'll go
ahead and do it.
Well, running diagnostics said the drive was OK, but it has no way to
format it, nor does diskmgmt.msc, as far as I can tell. I see something
about a volume, but am not sure what to use if it does indeed format a
drive. It shows the slave as drive 1, and wanted me to write a
signature, which I did. It shows that drive as 7.87G, which probably its
wild guess at the unformatted drive.

You must first "define" a partition with Disk Management, on the drive
before you can format it.
I'm sure you are right, but here's my problem now. It appears
diskmgmt.msc is different between W2K and XP. I'm, of course, using W2K.
If I look at help it wants me to right click on disk 1 to see a menu
with Partition on it. Well, the only choice is pretty much Create
Volume. When I do I get a volume wizard. It shows the max size for the
volume as 8G. There are two windows. The right one says Disk 1 and the
other is empty. Betwen them are arrow pointing to the left. One is
remove volume, and the other is remove all. I select remove volume, and
the size drops to 0 and Disk 1 appears in the left window. Going further
gets me nowhere. In factt, the dynamic volume disk1 hasn't changed.
Very odd.

I think there's a disk mgmt in Control Panel that may be different.
Dunno. I found it on my XP machine. If I dig around, I might find a CD
from Western D that has something that'll solve this. I do have
Partition Magic but it's not on the W2k machine. Maybe it's time to put
it there.

smlunatick wrote:
On Nov 24, 5:33 am, "W. eWatson" wrote:
W. eWatson wrote:

Yes, that's fine, but if my system doesn't know it's there, how would
that work?
Something I didn't mention earlier is that I'm using W2K. There are
practically zero posts over there on hardware. I went to a repair
shop awhile ago and explained what I observed. He said try SP4 for W2k.
Disk management (diskmgmt.msc) will see it and allow you to format it
when My Computer doesn't even see it. If the partition size(s) hasn't
been set, formatted, and made active, My Computer doesn't know it's
there.
SP4 would be nice to have on it, but it's not going to help with the
problem.
SC Tom
Thanks anyway. I discovered diskmgmt.msc minutes ago. I also enlisted
the aid of WD diagnostic tool. See my post just a minute ago. I put
SP4 on it, but it didn't change anything for this problem. You may be
right about formatting it. I've lost the instruction manual. I'll go
ahead and do it.
Well, running diagnostics said the drive was OK, but it has no way to
format it, nor does diskmgmt.msc, as far as I can tell. I see something
about a volume, but am not sure what to use if it does indeed format a
drive. It shows the slave as drive 1, and wanted me to write a
signature, which I did. It shows that drive as 7.87G, which probably its
wild guess at the unformatted drive.

You must first "define" a partition with Disk Management, on the drive
before you can format it.
I'm sure you are right, but here's my problem now. It appears
diskmgmt.msc is different between W2K and XP. I'm, of course, using W2K.
If I look at help it wants me to right click on disk 1 to see a menu
with Partition on it. Well, the only choice is pretty much Create
Volume. When I do I get a volume wizard. It shows the max size for the
volume as 8G. There are two windows. The right one says Disk 1 and the
other is empty. Betwen them are arrow pointing to the left. One is
remove volume, and the other is remove all. I select remove volume, and
the size drops to 0 and Disk 1 appears in the left window. Going further
gets me nowhere. In factt, the dynamic volume disk1 hasn't changed.
Very odd.

I think there's a disk mgmt in Control Panel that may be different.
Dunno. I found it on my XP machine. If I dig around, I might find a CD
from Western D that has something that'll solve this. I do have
Partition Magic but it's not on the W2k machine. Maybe it's time to put
it there.