XP thinks hard drive is removable

  • Thread starter Thread starter Katie
  • Start date Start date
K

Katie

In order to upgrade to XP, I've installed a new hard drive
in my computer and made the existing drive a secondary
drive. XP installation went smoothly, or so I thought, but
for some reason XP thinks my old hard drive is a removable
drive, and when I try to access it, keeps asking me to
insert a disk in the drive! How do I convince XP that the
secondary *isn't* removable?

Thanks,
Katie
 
Firstly, you need to make sure both the hard drives are
connected to the Proper IDE. Usually if you have two hard
drives they should preferably be on the same IDE
[especially if you have CD-roms]. Make sure both the Hard
Drives have the correct Master/slave settings both on the
hard drives themselves [there should be Jumpers on the
hard drive themself for this] and in the BIOS.
Also, try using the "Computer Management" feature [you
need admin rights to access this]
From the Start Menu:
Programs_Administrative Tools_Computer Management.
Once that has started [a new window should appear],
expand the "Storage" + and click onto "Disk Management".
This should show you what devices [cd-roms, hard drives]
are physically attached to the machine [along with any
partitions the drives may have]. You may need to change
the Letter assignment and/or also change the type of
drive that the [secondary] hard drive is.
At worse, completely remove the secondary hard drive,
start the computer as per normal, then shut it down. Add
the Hard drive, and once Windows has started if it
doesn't automatically detect the hard drive you may need
to use the "Add New Device" function [which is accessible
from: Control Panel_System_Hardware Tab_Add Hardware
Wizard] and actually add the device yourself.
 
Katie, go to Control Panel>AdminTools>Computer Management>Disk
Management. Rt click on the Drive if there and
choose Change drive letter and path. Assign the drive a different drive
letter.
 
Rich,

Thanks for the reply; it sounded promising. Unfortunately
Change drive letter and path is grayed out!

Any other thoughts?

Thanks again,
Katie
 
Yup, both drives connected to the correct IDE, and jumpers
are set. But Disk Management has the "change drive letter
and path" as grayed out.

I'll have to try your other suggestion, I guess. *sigh*

Katie
-----Original Message-----
Firstly, you need to make sure both the hard drives are
connected to the Proper IDE. Usually if you have two hard
drives they should preferably be on the same IDE
[especially if you have CD-roms]. Make sure both the Hard
Drives have the correct Master/slave settings both on the
hard drives themselves [there should be Jumpers on the
hard drive themself for this] and in the BIOS.
Also, try using the "Computer Management" feature [you
need admin rights to access this]
From the Start Menu:
Programs_Administrative Tools_Computer Management.
Once that has started [a new window should appear],
expand the "Storage" + and click onto "Disk Management".
This should show you what devices [cd-roms, hard drives]
are physically attached to the machine [along with any
partitions the drives may have]. You may need to change
the Letter assignment and/or also change the type of
drive that the [secondary] hard drive is.
At worse, completely remove the secondary hard drive,
start the computer as per normal, then shut it down. Add
the Hard drive, and once Windows has started if it
doesn't automatically detect the hard drive you may need
to use the "Add New Device" function [which is accessible
from: Control Panel_System_Hardware Tab_Add Hardware
Wizard] and actually add the device yourself.

-----Original Message-----
In order to upgrade to XP, I've installed a new hard drive
in my computer and made the existing drive a secondary
drive. XP installation went smoothly, or so I thought, but
for some reason XP thinks my old hard drive is a removable
drive, and when I try to access it, keeps asking me to
insert a disk in the drive! How do I convince XP that the
secondary *isn't* removable?

Thanks,
Katie
.
Click to expand...
.
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top