Why doesn't my computer "see" my external hard drive?

Question

A client sent me a "G Raid" external hard drive that connects via FireWire 400 or 800. I turned the drive on, connected it and heard Windows XP give the "bing bong" connected sound, but no drive showed up in My Computer.

So, I went to the Disk Management tool. The drive is there, but it's listed as uninitialized. My only option is to initialize it. I haven't done this for fear of losing any data that "should" be on there.

Ideas? Is it possible that this drive was initialized on a Mac and there's some discrepancy between the two computers?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

look if there is a switch on the drive

Answer 2

I bet the problem is your JUMPER settings. The jumper is the set of pins on the back of your hdd. You will see a plastic dillie that is placed in a certain position on the pins. The settings of this position tells the computer if that drive is a slave or a primary drive. If the jumper is set for a primary, and you already have a primary, then you have problems. Check the jumper settings in that hard drive's manual for the correct location of that plastic "dillie". If you dont have the manual, and know the brand, then you can get on the web and google it very easy. Alll Hard drive manufacturers, if they are worth anything, publish these settings on their websites.
Good luck!
D@N

Answer 3

My advice is to check the drive on another computer to see if there is any data. Find out from the client if there is stuff on there or not. You might have to reformat the disk so Windows can see and use it properly. But again, check with the client if there was data on there or by plugging it in to another computer.