external (portable) harddrive help

[Divy]

does anyone know anything about (portable) external harddrives?? i bought one because i have used up alot of mb space on my comp so thought a external harddrive would be good its 120mb

my problem is that it comes with a installer cd but on the cd it has like 8-9 folders an different programs n other stuff i dont know in the folders

and i dont know which one to click on to install so i can use the harddrive?

any help with my problem would be very much appreciated guys

 

[stumbows]

Ok i am sure you mean the HDD is 120GB not MB and you won't need the install cd it's only drivers that your computer will most likely already have assuming you have at least windows 2000.

You will 1st need to format the HDD... Make sure you have connected the power and USB cable to your PC then power it on and it should automatically recognize the drive and you will most likely need to format it if it hasn't been already but windows will prompt you through most of it making it pretty easy and then your set to go.

 

[darb110]

yeh just plug it in and go =) you should be right buddy =)

 

[Divy]

sorry yep i mean gb not mb lol i have windows xp i think

the one i have doesnt have a power cord it uses the usb cord for power too

i plugged it in using the usb the power light on the harddrive goes on i can hear the harddrive is on but nothing happens on my comp?

oh the usb is a cord i havnt seen before one side it has one connection an the other side has two connections

 

[stumbows]

That just means you are using a laptop HDD so it doesn't have a dedicated power supply.

It has 2 USBs at the computer end to draw more power from your computer so one for data and one for power in a sense.

If nothing happens when plug it in you may need to initialize the drive.

Right click My Computer > Manage > under the storage heading click Disk Management...

There you should see a Disk called " " and it will 120GB and be greyed out you need to right click on it and select initialize.

Hope all goes well for ya man.

If you think you might need more help add me to MSN [email protected]

 

[benox]

Well is it detecting the drive? It should have a little pop up in the bottom right corner saying "Found new hardware" if it isn't doing that, you're going to need to pop in the CD and find something along the lines of a driver, search through each folder and you'll eventually find something.

If this still isn't working right click on "My Computer" then click on manage then in the list click on Disk Management. If you can see "Extrenal HDD" or something along the lines/similiar to your external HDD name.. Right click on it and go "Format" . If it is there but greyed out, right click on it and select "Initialize".

If this still doesn't work you can go to Control panel, then System then click on the Tab "Hardware" then click on "Device Manager".. A big list should come up .. the top one being "My Computer" and just below it "Disk Drives" .. Press the Squire next to "Disk Drives" with the + on it. It will extend it into a list of Disk Drives installed. If your HDD Isn't there its another tell tale sign that it isn't installed.

If it is there, right click it and go "Uninstall" .. Then Unplug your external HDD, try plugging it back in and see if the PC recognizes it. If it is in the list but has a yellow warning button logo next to the name of your HDD.. It means it hasn't got the right drivers installed for it to work. Right click on the name of your HDD and click on "Update Driver".. It will then have 3 options, Connect to Windows update all the time to get updates, Connect to Windows update once and No, not this time. Click on no, not this time and go next.. Then pop youR CD in and click on "Install the software automatically" then click next and it should start installing drivers for your external HDD.

I hope to jesus any of this works, because this is absolutely all I can think of Divy. Good luck mate

 

[stumbows]

Little late benox but it's cool man.

Divy drivers are really unnecessary because if the drive hasn't been detected then drivers won't help you with detection just go with the Disk Management solution it's your best bet and as benox did mention you could try the device manager but if disk management doesn't work then device manager is a no hope solution.

 

[benox]

Haha, no worries mate. Stumbows do you work with computers? I don't just been using them for a very long time and went through a stage of absolutely loving everything about hardware and the ins and outs of PC's

Oh, this is a no-hoper but.. Maybe try a different USB port.. I've been having some issues with detecting hardware in some of my USB ports.. Just try them all out and see how you go.

 

[stumbows]

Yea dude i do work with computers.

Database engineer now but i started out as tech support for a software company.

And i agree try a different USB port because if you're using 1.1 you may have some issues.

Are you using USB at the front of the PC if so try the rear because in most cases it's USB 1.1 at the front and 2.0 at the rear.

It's also possible that you don't have updated drivers or an actual 2.0 USB port on your machine.

It should work on 1.1 but i've seen HDDs claimed to run 1.1 in the past and don't until they get 2.0.

 

[benox]

Are you using USB at the front of the PC if so try the rear because in most cases it's USB 1.1 at the front and 2.0 at the rear.

Yup, thats where I'm having my problems !

Currently got 6 ports filled in the back, and 4 in the front of my case..
The front ones are a bitch with any hardware I want to use.

Thats great man, I love computers and all, spend 24/7 on em.. But I'm really confused if going into a IT job is for me.. oh well, still 3 years of school .. I'll decide by then

 

[stumbows]

Yea well I can give you advice if you need man...

I can tell you if you constantly have friends/family asking you for help it gets a bit much you know fixing other peoples prob 8 hours a day then you come home to more, it's gets a bit harsh.

I really want to get into graphic design but i don't wanna go back to tafe/uni so that won't be happening and i am also considering trying to get into the Fire Brigade towards the end of the year.

I like the whole regiment and ranking type of things because i actually joined the Air Force about 18 months ago but i met a girl yadda yadda and well didn't want to move so far away and she was at school didn't wanna come with me so i stayed lol i guess the FB is the next best thing lol.

What ever you decide to do i can assure you that you will want a change at some point.

So give something a try and if you don't like well at least you made some doe and got some experience.