Cannot access my second hard drive

ATTN: Long Message :-) I was trying to be as detailed as possible.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Hello:
A few days ago my desktop was running Windows ME. I started having trouble
with the OS and felt it was time to upgrade to XP (my laptop has had XP for
about a year and I have grown to like it more than ME). I have a 80GIG Hard
Drive on my desktop along with a 20GIG Hard Drive which I use to back up
files. Before installing XP (Full Home version, not an upgrade) I moved all
of the files I wanted to back up to the second 20 GIG Drive. The install
went smooth, and before I knew it XP was up and running.

After setting up a few basic settings I went to My Computer to bring some of
the files over from the second drive, but to my suprise the second drive was
not being listed at all. After looking around for a few minutes I found that
the drive is listed under the device manager and Disk Management, but not
listed in My computer, so I had no way of accessing it. Under the disk
management I noticed that there was no letter assigned to the drive and I
was not able to assign one either. By right-clicking on the drive the only
option I had was to delete the partition. It listed the drive as Healthy
and Active, but would not let me assign a letter to it. I did a rescan and
a refresh but nothing came of it.

I even went as far as uninstalling xp, formatting again, and re-installing
ME to see if that would show it...and nothing was there.

When in DOS I would try every possible drive letter and nothing showed up.
What was odd though was in both XP and ME, the drive was listed under the
device manager. Also, when I used FDISK, it listed the drive with all of
the info.

I then formatted again, put in the WIN XP CD, and click "R" for repair. To
my shock (and happiness) I noticed that the drive was listed under F:
(though there was no sign of that in DOS or when in the OS, I had tried F: a
few times). It also listed all of my files, but gave me no way of accessing
them. So I re-installed XP thinking that maybe now the files would be
listed under F: But no such luck. Once again though it is listed under disk
management. So where do I go from here????

I APOLOGIZE FOR SUCH A LONG MESSAGE, BUT WANTED TO BE AS DETAILED AS
POSSIBLE. I had seen this question asked many times during my never ending
Google search to find an answer, but did not see any answers....hopefully
someone out there has had this problem and can let me (and others) no how to
fix it. It is very important that I get these files on my drive.

Thanks
Adam
adamh05@yahoo.com

Hi
This is a shot in the dark but did you assign your second
drive to slave? and not still as the master drive and did
you connect your new drive up first at the start of the
cable and the slave one next
Try with your new drive first get that up and running the
install the slave drive

>-----Original Message-----
>ATTN: Long Message :-) I was trying to be as detailed

as possible.

>---------------------------------------------------------

--------

>Hello:
>A few days ago my desktop was running Windows ME. I

started having trouble

>with the OS and felt it was time to upgrade to XP (my

laptop has had XP for

>about a year and I have grown to like it more than ME).

I have a 80GIG Hard

>Drive on my desktop along with a 20GIG Hard Drive which

I use to back up

>files. Before installing XP (Full Home version, not an

upgrade) I moved all

>of the files I wanted to back up to the second 20 GIG

Drive. The install

>went smooth, and before I knew it XP was up and running.
>
>After setting up a few basic settings I went to My

Computer to bring some of

>the files over from the second drive, but to my suprise

the second drive was

>not being listed at all. After looking around for a few

minutes I found that

>the drive is listed under the device manager and Disk

Management, but not

>listed in My computer, so I had no way of accessing it.

Under the disk

>management I noticed that there was no letter assigned

to the drive and I

>was not able to assign one either. By right-clicking on

the drive the only

>option I had was to delete the partition. It listed the

drive as Healthy

>and Active, but would not let me assign a letter to it.

I did a rescan and

>a refresh but nothing came of it.
>
>I even went as far as uninstalling xp, formatting again,

and re-installing

>ME to see if that would show it...and nothing was there.
>
>When in DOS I would try every possible drive letter and

nothing showed up.

>What was odd though was in both XP and ME, the drive was

listed under the

>device manager. Also, when I used FDISK, it listed the

drive with all of

>the info.
>
>I then formatted again, put in the WIN XP CD, and

click "R" for repair. To

>my shock (and happiness) I noticed that the drive was

listed under F:

>(though there was no sign of that in DOS or when in the

OS, I had tried F: a

>few times). It also listed all of my files, but gave me

no way of accessing

>them. So I re-installed XP thinking that maybe now the

files would be

>listed under F: But no such luck. Once again though it

is listed under disk

>management. So where do I go from here????
>
>I APOLOGIZE FOR SUCH A LONG MESSAGE, BUT WANTED TO BE AS

DETAILED AS

>POSSIBLE. I had seen this question asked many times

during my never ending

>Google search to find an answer, but did not see any

answers....hopefully

>someone out there has had this problem and can let me

(and others) no how to

>fix it. It is very important that I get these files on

my drive.

>
>Thanks
>Adam
>adamh05@yahoo.com
>
>
>.
>

Hi,

If you set the jumper on the 80 gig to master or if the
drive is a WD(western Digital) it may be pre set to CS
(computer select) and you set the 20 gig to S (slave)
there might be a problem. You could try setting the slave
drive to CS(both drives would be set to CS) or remove the
jumper(on the 80gb)completely to make the first drive the
master(80gb to master, 20gb stays set to slave).
(you will in any case need to set the jumpers for the
hard drive(s)you have connected, see the jumper settings
for each drive, if they are different brands/makes you
will need to set them accordingly)
Also, you need to make sure the BIOS settings for the
drives are correct, set them both in the bios to auto-
detect so that the drives make and specs are showing up,
not just primary or secondary.
Remember to connect the master at the end of the IDE
cable and the slave to the middle connection on the
cable.

-David

>-----Original Message-----
>Hi
>This is a shot in the dark but did you assign your

second

>drive to slave? and not still as the master drive and

did

>you connect your new drive up first at the start of the
>cable and the slave one next
>Try with your new drive first get that up and running

the

>install the slave drive
>

>as possible.

-

>--------

>started having trouble

>laptop has had XP for

ME).

>I have a 80GIG Hard

>I use to back up

>upgrade) I moved all

>Drive. The install

>Computer to bring some of

>the second drive was

>minutes I found that

>Management, but not

it.

>Under the disk

>to the drive and I

on

>the drive the only

the

>drive as Healthy

it.

>I did a rescan and

again,

>and re-installing

>nothing showed up.

was

>listed under the

>drive with all of

>click "R" for repair. To

>listed under F:

>OS, I had tried F: a

me

>no way of accessing

>files would be

>is listed under disk

AS

>DETAILED AS

>during my never ending

>answers....hopefully

>(and others) no how to

>my drive.

>.
>