Newly Installed Internal Hard Drive Not Visible
Apr 13, 2009
I just installed a new internal hard drive (SATA). I want to use this drive only for storage (not boot-up).
When I try to access it via "My Computer" the drive is not shown. When I try to find it in "Device Manager" it is not shown. When I try to set it up in the BIOS, that field is "read only"... I cannot highlight it to change it. I have made sure all cables are secure. I even swapped the power source of my existing hard drive with the new hard drive to ensure power is OK. How do I set up this hard drive? My PC is a Dell Inspiron 531S, running Windows Vista Home Edition 32bit.
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Jun 29, 2008
On Windows XP I used WinRAR for my backups because the OS lacked a decent backup system. To my surprise with Vista I still use WinRAR for my backups as that OS doesn't seem to have a decent backup system either.
I want to backup files from internal drive C to a physically separate internal drive D. Drive D won't show up. What comes closest seems to be ''The location is either the system disk (the disk that Windows is installed on?also called the C drive) or the boot disk (the disk that Windows uses to start your computer?also called the startup disk)as Windows XP is installed on drive D.
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Jul 4, 2008
The manufacturer of my PC provided me with a New Imaged Hard drive. My old drive was working fine except it had some pre-installed software on it that could not be removed and could cause conflicts. The manufactiurer wants the old Hard drive returned. The old drive has some senitive personal information on it so I am reluctant just to pack it up and return it.
I have done some research about how to wipe off all information on a Hard drive before donating a PC, etc......but all I have read is very complicated and I am not comfortable in proceedding following any of the processes. Keeping in mind, I am not erasing the Hard drive with my PC's OS on it, (although the Old drive still has an OS on it). I can connect the OLD drive as a 2nd Internal drive....and than proceed to Wipe it Clean before returning it.
Surely there must be an easy, simple process for someone with limited computer knowledge to wipe a 2nd Internal Hard drive clean of all data so that no one could access any information off that drive....
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Feb 6, 2009
I've added and extra hard drive because I'm always low on disk space but I can't get the PC to recognise the new drive. SATA 2 and 3 are greyed out and I don't know how to change it.
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Sep 6, 2009
I have 2 pcs one with xp pro, other is vista business 32bit on laptop. Using a 750gb samsung hd753Lj internal hard drive in a sumvision external enclosure with usb2 and e-sata connection, but i only have usb connection. ALl works fine on xp computer, but when i plug into vista i get the error in the system tray saying "usb device not recognised". In device manager it says "unknown device." have tried all 4 usb ports on laptop, have tried using it via mains powered usb hub and still no joy.
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Nov 30, 2009
I just upgraded my Lenovo Z60m last night to Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit and now i can't get any sound out whatsoever. Ive tried attaching headphones and stuff but none of them work. im pretty sure its probably my driver problem but i have no idea how to check what my sound card is. ive already tried realtek and soundmax but none of them work! Anyone has an idea where and how to check my soundcard and how to solve this problem?
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Feb 27, 2010
Windows Vista Home Premium. I used to know but forget... Can someone tell me where Windows stores newly installed updates? I want to uninstall the damned browser choice notice now being presented every time I boot. I just wish that unelected, corrupt bunch of crooks in the EU Commission would butt out. It was they who forced Microsoft to punish us this way. Although it would also have been sensible for Microsoft to add a 'Do Not Show Again' button.
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Apr 21, 2008
I know Vista Ultimate can only be installed on one PC. However, will it work if I take out the hard drive and put it into another PC?
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Jun 9, 2008
i have windows vista i bought in pc world. i keep getting ask for product key this only started when i had bigger hard drive installed. the product key i type in is not reconised.
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Aug 20, 2009
What is the term used to describe a replacement hard drive from a manufacturer which already has the OS and other software installed on it? Someone told me it was "bricked" but that doesn't sound right.
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Mar 27, 2009
I bought a set of speakers for my laptop and in the process of trying to get them to work I seem to have somehow disabled my internal speaker. Now my computer keeps telling me that I have no audio output device installed. I'm not sure how to get things working again - either the newly purchased external speakers or the internal one which has worked just fine up until now.
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Mar 16, 2009
hey guys, this may seem like a stupid question but I am travelling and I cant really afford an external hard drive. I need to back up my laptop and reinstall windows... Is it possible to put evrything from C: onto D:, format C: and reinstall without losing anything off D:? I have a Toshiba Sattelite 600 with two 300GB hard disks, running vista home premium 32bit...
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May 7, 2008
I am curious if Vista can be run from one of those portable external hard drives that I see in Staples, etc. rather than have to install another internal hard drive. I want to dual-boot with XP (already installed on an internal HD) and it would also be great if I can bring that external HD with us when we travel and hook it up to my wife's XP laptop and be able to boot up in Vista too. We need something for testing our software in Vista.
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Feb 10, 2009
The Hard Drive LED light on my Sony Vaio keeps blinking EVERY SECOND. When it's really quiet I can hear it too, it's constantly writing. Constantly. I did my research - read all the threads on the net and so far I have disabled:
Windows index
Windows defender
Windows search
Superfetch
System Restore
Readyboost
Defragmenter
I have uninstalled google desktop.
The system is totally virus and spyware free, and the anti-virus is not scanning (schedule scan disabled). All Vista updates are installed. Nothing has helped. I've run out of things to disable. I'm running Vista Business SP1, Dual Core 2.2 Ghz, 3 Gb RAM.
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Jun 9, 2008
i just got windows vista since i had a bigger hard drive installed it keeps asking for product key This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then click "I Agree" in the message pane.
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Jul 29, 2009
I have a ASUS laptop running Vista Home Premium, 64 bit OS. I have several programs that I use but no loner have the insall disks for. Should I have to reformat in the future I would hate to lose them. Here's what I'm thinking: Buy a extrenal hard drive. Seagate, 1Tbit, usb, cost $90.00. Copy my hard drive to it. If I need to reformat. Reinstall Vista from my recover disk that came with the computer. Then copy files from external drive. Bingo. All my old programs would be there and working. Question is: Can this be done?
What file/folders do I need to copy to the external drive?
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May 27, 2008
Is it possible to copy my entire hard drive onto an external hard drive. Vista Premium, all the data, etc. and what would be a good software to accomplish this?
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Sep 27, 2008
I have an external hard drive, I reformated it so I could use Vista's backup.Now it seems that when my brother inlaw tries to put some music files(Itunes) that the hard disc is unavailable to his computer. At this stage it seems that Vista has conned me into destroying a perfectly good WD harddrive!I have created a second partion on the hard drive and I am reformatting that, as I write this, but the only formatting option seems to be this NTFS, and that is what I had already formatted the ExtHD to so I think this formatting will be to no avail!From what I can figure I need to format into FAT but I tried a quick format an ex-fat option was there, but the problem was the same. I am becoming more frustrated with Vista, seems I just keep running into things that should be simple and aren't!
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Mar 23, 2008
when booting up from a vista cd I accidentally had my usb external hard drive plugged in and the drive has been emptied and replaced by windows there are sintimental photos etc on the drive can anyone help me to restore them
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Jul 2, 2008
Does 'Local Disc' D mean it is a drive inside my machine or could it be my external hard drive?
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Apr 17, 2008
I was wonder if anyone know a solution for the following problem. I have a ethernet hard drive and I've never had a problem until using vista and windows server 2008. both operating systems are unable to browse the drive, instead it completely crashes explorer.exe. Windows server 2003 & XP have never had trouble.
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May 18, 2009
i bought a kit for an old hard drive. i got it to work once ealier today, and now it doesn't work. when i plug it into the usb, it will not successfully install. the kit is a rocketfish hd 35, the hard drive is seagate u8 model st313021a. the "remove hardware" icon appears in the tray, but no designated lettered drive appears on the computer.
the hard drive was part of an older tower that i couldn't get to boot. it's strange because just today i accessed the hard drive and located old pictures, music and other files that i hadn't seen in a few years. had i known this would have happened i would have started saving right away. i thought i had it working.
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Mar 26, 2008
I've upgraded my machine at some point in the last year, where I added a new 500GB drive and moved my C: partition across to it. The previous 250GB drive was left in for additional storage. Just recently (while upgrading my BIOS) I realised that my system was still booting from the 250GB drive even though Windows was on the other disk. There is a fair possibility in the not too distant future that I'll replace the 250GB disk with a larger disk, in which case I won't be able to boot. Is there a safe and reliable way to change it so that the system boots from the 500GB disk?
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Oct 6, 2009
I was starting my computer today (that has Vista), and during the start up process, a black screen came up stating that there was an error opening up my external hard drive and it was checking for errors. After it finally booted up, I went to open the hard drive files, and it was totally BLANK! I then restarted the computer, and still the hard drive is EMPTY! I had ALL my important files in there!
The ONLY thing that looks promising is that when I go to Start then to Computer, it shows the hard drive there, and it still shows that 43GB are free of 111GB of storage (same info shows by right clicking on it and going to Properties). Why would it show this if nothing is on the hard drive anymore? Is there ANYWAY to recover these files again you think???? I NEED those files!!!! Remember that the hard drive STILL PHYSICALLY WORKS. It's just that I cannot access the files on my pc at the time for some reason.......
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May 21, 2008
I just bought and installed a external hard drive. I am fairly knowlegable about computers but this is my first Ex. Hard drive and know very little about there use. So what I want to know is how to save my Family Tree Makers files to it. And once I do that how do I know for sure it is opening from my new drive and not my computer C: drive? I saved it to a DVD one time but when the time came when I needed it all that was there was a short cut but no files.
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Mar 23, 2008
i have problem when i try to install windows xp. i have laptop hp parvilion dx6650us entertainment notbook pc, vista install on it but i want to install windows xp. when windows xp boot i got this message. Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed in your computer. Make sure any hard disk drives are powered on and properly connected to your computer, and that any disk-related hardware configuration is correct. This may involve running a manufacturer-supplied diagnostic or setup program. Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup, press F3. is there any solution so that i can install windows xp.
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Sep 8, 2009
I have Windows XP and Vista. I always go through "safely remove hardware" before pulling off USB drive on XP. However, I have been trying to do the same on Vista, it seems that I cannot do the same as XP. For instance, I plug in my USB on Vista and it appears as H drive on Vista, when I am ready to do "safely remove hardware", I don't see the device drive H is on the "Safely remove hardware" window, so I cannot stop the H drive. I am concerned about the Vista hardware.
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Jan 7, 2010
I'm trying to install Win 7 to a USB harddisk but I'm getting an error message saying that Win 7 can not be installed on a USB drive. Microsoft support people say it could be done, but they would not offer help.
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Jul 2, 2009
There's a file on my D drive called ntldr. I understand that this is a vital part of windows, however this file is on a hard drive which windows ISN'T installed on now. Windows XP used to be on this drive about 2 years ago but when i got a new hard drive back then, i installed windows on that (C) new hard drive (and have since installed Vista on) and removed it from the one which is now D drive. Since this is not the HD which houses my OS, can i delete ntldr? UPDATE: and ntdetect.com as well.
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Apr 26, 2009
i have an older maxtor 250gb ide hard drive and i am trying to put it in my computer so i can reformat it and install vista ultimate, the thing is when i go to disk manager i can see the drve, feel the drive, but it wont let me initialize it or anything, it comes up as "the request could not be performed because of an I/O devise error, the disk was originally in my modded xbox and i could acces it with xp.
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Mar 23, 2008
I have a new pc with only 256MB of RAM- how hard is it to add memory? Also, how do I find out how many GB the hard drive is?
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