Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

sob · 03-11-2005, 06:18 PM

I hope this question makes sense.

I'm running an HP 3.2 GHz with a gig of memory, and WinXP SP2. I also have one of those convenient enclosures that has four memory card slots and holds a hard drive, which connects to the computer via USB 2.0.

The computer's hard drive is a SATA 200 gig. I've got 5 or 6 old IDE hard drives lying around that I occasionally used on an older computer. I originally used them as full drive backups, so I wouldn't have to fool with reinstalling all of my programs in case of a crash. Later, I installed an OS on them and used them to test software that contains adware, or new programs. I used a slide-in mount so nothing could contaminate my everyday drive.

Anyway, I'd like to be able to boot from the USB hard drive on occasion, in order to make sure I don't mess up the current HD. On my last computer, as I said, I'd installed a slide-in hard drive bay. Worked fine. On this HP, they've made sure you can't do that easily. Thus, the attempt to do it via a USB connection.

The point I'm laboring toward is that on only one of these old drives, my computer finds it via USB, even asks if I want to boot from it, but it does not show up in My Computer or Windows Explorer when I have it connected, but boot from the regular HD. I am unable to access files on the USB HD like I can with my other drives. (It worked fine on my old computer, which is now in my garage with a fried motherboard. It was not in the computer when the motherboard died.)

When I "safely remove hardware" it shows up as "USB mass storage device." I finally got pissed off and connected it as a master drive on another channel. Same result--the computer knows its there, but it doesn't show up in My Computer, and I can't access its files.

Does anyone have any idea why a properly formatted, non-erased drive would not want to give up the goods? It's NTFS from Win2000, non-encrypted, non-compressed.

My apologies if this is rambling and/or unclear.

03-11-2005, 06:18 PM	#1 (permalink)
sob Banned	Slightly related to external hard drives I hope this question makes sense. I'm running an HP 3.2 GHz with a gig of memory, and WinXP SP2. I also have one of those convenient enclosures that has four memory card slots and holds a hard drive, which connects to the computer via USB 2.0. The computer's hard drive is a SATA 200 gig. I've got 5 or 6 old IDE hard drives lying around that I occasionally used on an older computer. I originally used them as full drive backups, so I wouldn't have to fool with reinstalling all of my programs in case of a crash. Later, I installed an OS on them and used them to test software that contains adware, or new programs. I used a slide-in mount so nothing could contaminate my everyday drive. Anyway, I'd like to be able to boot from the USB hard drive on occasion, in order to make sure I don't mess up the current HD. On my last computer, as I said, I'd installed a slide-in hard drive bay. Worked fine. On this HP, they've made sure you can't do that easily. Thus, the attempt to do it via a USB connection. The point I'm laboring toward is that on only one of these old drives, my computer finds it via USB, even asks if I want to boot from it, but it does not show up in My Computer or Windows Explorer when I have it connected, but boot from the regular HD. I am unable to access files on the USB HD like I can with my other drives. (It worked fine on my old computer, which is now in my garage with a fried motherboard. It was not in the computer when the motherboard died.) When I "safely remove hardware" it shows up as "USB mass storage device." I finally got pissed off and connected it as a master drive on another channel. Same result--the computer knows its there, but it doesn't show up in My Computer, and I can't access its files. Does anyone have any idea why a properly formatted, non-erased drive would not want to give up the goods? It's NTFS from Win2000, non-encrypted, non-compressed. My apologies if this is rambling and/or unclear.