2nd drive not showing in My Computer.....

  • Thread starter Thread starter Barry Gibson
  • Start date Start date
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Barry Gibson

Hi all

I am trying to help a friend of mine at work who has just replaced his
main hard drive and re-installed XP on that drive. His problem is that
now XP does not show his second drive through My Computer.

If he goes through Disk Management, XP sees the drive and reports the
size, free space etc, correctly but does not show a drive letter. I
have had this before when swapping drives and have always managed to
assign a drive letter to it and all has worked OK afterwards.

The only difference from what he has told me is that the option on the
R/click menu to change drive letter or path is greyed out and so is
unable to select this option to assign a drive letter.

The only thing he has done is to change the main the hard drive, the
second has remained in situ . As usual he has made no back-up and
needs to access the data on the second drive.

Can anyone offer any assistance as to where the problem may lie?

Thanks in advance.....

Barry
 
it will be recognized as a simple drive under disk management.
right click on my computer icon, then manage, disk management.
 
Thanks but we have tried this and it doesn't want to play ball. I offered
this solution originally but it doesn't seem to work for him. As stated,
the drive shows up as active and healthy, used and free space is showing
correctly, just no drive letter assigned.

Barry
 
BigJim responds...

Barry Gibson said:
Thanks but we have tried this and it doesn't want to play ball. I offered
this solution originally but it doesn't seem to work for him. As stated,
the drive shows up as active and healthy, used and free space is showing
correctly, just no drive letter assigned.

Barry
Click to expand...

Barry:
Just to make sure I understand the problem...

Your friend originally had a single working HDs in his machine which was
functioning properly. He subsequently replaced that drive with a new one and
did a fresh install of XP on the new drive. The new drive boots without a
problem and is properly functioning. He installed his former primary drive
as a second drive but that drive is not recognized by the system although I
assume it's detected in the BIOS. Do I have this right?

If so, did your friend re:jumper the second drive when he installed it? I
assume it was originally jumpered as Primary Master. If it's now a Slave to
the new PM is it properly jumpered as such? Has he re:checked the IDE data
cable connection as well as the power cable connection connecting to both
the drive and the motherboard's connectors to ensure they're securely
connected?

If all the connections look OK, have him (or you) do this...
1. Uninstall the second HD.
2. Boot just to the primary HD.
3. Shut down the machine.
4. Reinstall the second HD, making absolutely sure it's properly
connected/configured.
5. Boot and see what happens.

If the problem still exists, install the second drive to another IDE
connector, anywhere on the Secondary IDE channel (assuming it's now
connected as PS).

I assume his XP OS is still installed on the problem drive. If he
disconnects his new drive, can he boot to the problem drive? If you suspect
there's a chance that the problem drive is defective, can you use a
diagnostic utility available from the HD manufacturer to check it out?
Anna
 
Are there any error codes showing in device manager for the second hard
drive..?
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310123
In device manager have you tried uninstalling the drive and restarting the
computer to let windows find and install the drive..?
Have you tried to assign a drive letter from the cmd prompt..?
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...elp/33cc9af7-f68c-4656-af97-82e804a9c1e0.mspx
Browse these sites, if any apply..
http://www.google.com/search?q=XP seconddrive hard
j;-j
 
Anna

His system originally was two drives each a single partition. The master
drive was replaced for a larger drive and XP (Home) reinstalled. Second
drive remained in situ. Both drives are displayed in the BIOS and were
also picked up during the setup process during install. Both drives are
seen in Device Manager and both are seen in Disk Management which displays
the size of the disk, type of file system (NTFS), shows as active and
healthy and shows the used and free space, except that the second drive no
longer has a drive letter assignment.

Have tried your suggestions except changing to another iDE connector but
no joy.

Barry
 
Anna writes...

Barry Gibson said:
Anna

His system originally was two drives each a single partition. The master
drive was replaced for a larger drive and XP (Home) reinstalled. Second
drive remained in situ. Both drives are displayed in the BIOS and were
also picked up during the setup process during install. Both drives are
seen in Device Manager and both are seen in Disk Management which displays
the size of the disk, type of file system (NTFS), shows as active and
healthy and shows the used and free space, except that the second drive no
longer has a drive letter assignment.

Have tried your suggestions except changing to another iDE connector but
no joy.

Barry
Click to expand...


Barry:
So the second drive - the problem drive - is the identical second drive he
was using previously before replacing his primary boot drive, right?

Presumably he still has his original primary HD. What happens if he installs
that drive as his second drive, replacing the problem drive?

In nearly every case we come across similar to the one your friend is
having, the problem originates from one of the following...
1. A defective HD - deformed data pins
2. Incorrect installation of the drive - misconnected/misconfigured, e.g.,
data/power cables not securely connected; incorrectly jumpered.
3. Defective IDE data cable
4. Defective IDE connector on the motherboard.

All I can recommend at this point is to re:check everything as noted above.
Anna
 
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