external hard drive problem

M

Meth

New Member
recently i purchased a 320 GIG hard drive. I plugged it in, tested it, ran forensics, etc etc. It ran perfectly. I decided to reinstall windows. and i think i deleted the partion on it. It no longer shows up under my computer. How would i go about creating a partion on it because i have a 90% hunch that thats the problem. thanks for reading.

-Meth Melons
 
Without having downloaded the software for the factory Fat32 type partition seen on them the one option now would seem to be booted up with GParted live for cd in order to create a new NTFS type partition there. The Disk Management tool in Windows should then be able to detect and format it.

When reinstalling XP lately here the need for the software wasn't there since the usb external drive here had already been reformatted from Fat to NTFS. XP automatically treated the drive as a new hardware found.

Once you are able to get a new partition onto it go to the support site and still see the software usually unpacked from a zip file onto the drive. That will include the autorun.inf file for bringing up the autoplay popup in Windows if the drive is replugged in while Windows is running. Otherwise being left plugged in it should shutoff along with the system.
 
Thanks all fixed. I had to delete everything on it though =\

If your wondering how I went about it, i opened Disk Management in windows and partioned it to the maximum amount of gigs (320) then formatted it. Thanks =D
 
You did see the drive listed there which made that even easier. Good for you!

Just don't forget to go to the support site for the replacement of the factory software while NTFS will readily be seen in both XP and Vista alike. That's simply a precaution since the Fat volume was replaced as usually recommended anyways for Windows users.
 
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