I joined this forum recently and found everyone so helpful that I thought I would return as I now have another problem and want to learn more.

I have jsut assembled a new system, I have it set up with a small c: drive (20gb) that has windows xp installed on it, I also have a dvd drive (e:) and a cd drive (d:). I have just plugged in a second hard drive (Maxtor 80gb) to be used for saving 'documents' on such as photos, the new drive is visible within device manager but when I go into 'My Computer' it is not showing.
Device manager states that the drivers are all up to date etc.

I am at a loss as to why it cannot be seen or used. Any one got any ideas??

Thanks in advance
Dan :)

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All 34 Replies

Is your second hard drive new? Did you format it yet? If not, you can use the maxtor utility that came on the cd with the drive to format it. You should see it then.

Yes it is new but it didnt come with any driver utilities or disks at all, it just came on its own from Novatech. I thought you should still be able to see a second drive in my computer even unformatted and be able to format it in there? I am also unable to see it if I go to a dos prompt as I did think about trying to format it there.

Well I have managed to fix my problem. I attempted to download the Maxtor utility drivers from their website and use them but to no avail.
To solve it I had to right-click 'My Computer' and select Manage, when in there I had to click on 'Disk Management' and then right cick the drive to enable it and then format it from there - hey presto a second drive working.

I hope this can help someone else with the same problem.

commented: Dan... I just got my new drive today(7 years later than you) and was pretty sad that I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't show up. And then I came across this. You are the man! +0

Dan, I can't believe that it was that simple!!!
I have been unable to see my SATA drive since forever (it had disappeared after my 1st system drive crashed) even though all the management tools could see that a drive was present. I tried everything (or so I thought!) - but....
I followed your instructions up to clicking on disk management; there it was listed as 'foreign' -- I clicked on 'import foreign' and voila! I have my disk back after months of frustration.

Just to make sure - I have been listening to some music I picked up using Morpheus from the old days before I ran spybot removers

Thanks loads for the suggestion,0 <<anyone know where this '0' is coming from?>>
0<<here is another one!>>
0

I had the same damn problem. Thanks to you a lot, you saved me a lot of pain. Wondering how windows could behave like this.

Ok unfortunately the disk management did not solve my issue.. I have a 40gb maxtor drive that is running xp pro.. the slave drive is a 120gb maxtor that i have used as storage for movies but never as a boot drive.. its shows fine in cmos and the device manager but i cannot access it with dos commands and it doesnt show in my computer nor does it show in the disk management.. i was excited when i saw that answer but it didnt help me.. any suggestions?

Hi,

I have a semilar problem. I can see the drive on Disk Management but not on Mycomputer. On Disk management the drive States "UNALLOCATED". I've tried everything possible but to no avail. I actually have some 120 GB of data in it and a little scepticle to do anykind of formating. I don't wanna or can't lose any data from the drive.

Can someone suggest anything or help.
my email address: mike25kerr@gmail.com

I think you should start a new thread - the only people who can see this one are the people who have already posted to it - copy what you want and start a new one to get a wider audience.

If all else fails, you could try getting a USB adapter kit and trying to access the data through the USB drivers.

thank you so much. worked like a charm

Well I have managed to fix my problem. I attempted to download the Maxtor utility drivers from their website and use them but to no avail.
To solve it I had to right-click 'My Computer' and select Manage, when in there I had to click on 'Disk Management' and then right cick the drive to enable it and then format it from there - hey presto a second drive working.

I hope this can help someone else with the same problem.

Hi all, new to the forum here thought that i'd just let everyone know

if your having problems with a drive which has previously been formatted and works fine in other operating systems, but does not appear in windows 7 / my computer.

then you can fix this by right clicking my computer

then manage and disk management

right click your drive and select change drive letter and paths

press add and asign the following drive letter then Ok.

This worked wonders for getting my 80gb Maxtor to appear in my computer.

Note: this solution only gets previously formatted drives to be viewable, such as those used with other operating systems before.

Hope this helps some of you

David

I have a similar prob, I had a 40gb hdd installed which had 2 partitions C and D where D was 30GB and C almost full then I installed Partion Margic 8 to increase the size of C after installation I restarted as it's usual procedures but after restarting the Drive was lost with a msg there is no disk installed then I fixed a master drive and changed the former drive to slave in order to read the data that it contain but even I can't access it in Device manager.

What can I do to get this fixed? or atleast get the information back.

Thank you

Please all,

Who can help me?

You need to start your own thread; this one is marked 'solved'.

Hi the same problem with me. I thought of doing what you told but mine says to initializes but if I do that, will I lose my hard drive contents?? Let me asap please

: I can see my second hard drive in Device manager but not in 'My Computer'

pls help me

Wow, 4 years later and it saved my bu.. Such a simple solution and so hard to find. I did have to change drive letters, it seems like XP assigned the same drive letters to both external drives. I changed the drive letter in disk managment and my second drive started working!!

Well I have managed to fix my problem. I attempted to download the Maxtor utility drivers from their website and use them but to no avail.
To solve it I had to right-click 'My Computer' and select Manage, when in there I had to click on 'Disk Management' and then right cick the drive to enable it and then format it from there - hey presto a second drive working.

I hope this can help someone else with the same problem.

Hard disk shows up in Device Manager but not in My Computer and in bios
hard disk is detected properly.But in windows XP SP2 partition didn't showing.

and in my hard drive i have very very important data.if any body can help
me so please make a message or a call to me n just inform me

0092-332-5047537
i ill wait

my original had drive was split two (A&B) both was crashed i lost all my files and photos, know computer working with another hard drive how can i bring my files back from my old hard drive.

I just wanted to thank Dan. You saved me hours of trouble. You're awesome! I can't believe I didn't think of that.

EVERYONE...... try Active@ Partition manager, it is free. But be careful as you can wipe a PARTITION OR THE WHOLE DRIVE IF UR NOT CAREFUL.

OMG thank you so much. This has bugged me for the past month and I can't believe it was this simple. GOD BLESS YOU

Not sure who you're thanking, but from everyone, your welcome.

Thank you!!!! 2012 Windows 7 did not see two added NEW hard drives :-D! You helped me get them on My Computers radar. XOXOXOXOX

BIG HUGS
Shannon

Well I have managed to fix my problem. I attempted to download the Maxtor utility drivers from their website and use them but to no avail.
To solve it I had to right-click 'My Computer' and select Manage, when in there I had to click on 'Disk Management' and then right cick the drive to enable it and then format it from there - hey presto a second drive working.

I hope this can help someone else with the same problem.

Hi Guys, This actually worked. following was my configuration - Running windows 7 on a mac. I had four hard disks. one of 1 TB and 3 of 2 TB. These were easily detected by mac but when I ran windows 7 on the same box, it wasn't able to show me the 3 - 2TB disks. I also tried to club them to create a 6 TB drive and even then it as just visible in the disk management and not in "My Computer". Then I renamed the drive by right clicking in the disk management and changed the drive letter and bingo - it appeared in the explorer everywhere.

I had also tried to find out the enable / disable option on the disk management right click context menus, but it isn't there anymore in windows 7 I guess.

I se 2 hard drives on my pc. One is "protected" and I can not view anything in it. I am somewhat computer avy,very. I am running a keyloge to monitor u onpc but sometimes I notice for hours when I am away from the computer, there is no activiity when I know the kids have been using it. I have a 20 year old son, and would like to kno if there is a way to "over ride"a keylogger program by using a 2nd "protec" disk drive. This is goingto sound silly and may just be typical computer "protocol" but I never noticed 2 disk drives before, and certainly none that were "protected", this one though is confusing because it's labeled : "microsoft office click to run- 2010 (protected) (Q:)

Do each of your children have their own accounts on the computer? (individual login and password, etc) Depending on the type of software you are using, you may find that you are just monitoring your own account.

May I suggest, please, that you start a new thread (post) and summarise what you want to monitor, along with the issue you have noticed with the previously unnoticed 'drive'.

My first impressions from the information you have given us is that, whatever you have set up software-wise isn't able to do its job at the moment. The apparently 'new drive' may be a mounted image of Microsoft Office for the purpose of installing it without the use of a Disc. It may also be a different partition, or USB Pendrive that may be inaccessible due to its having a drive letter higher than the Dise Drive. (an occasional, little known, bug) But, all of this is speculation until you are able to provide more information.

This said, because your question involves what is a family, you may not want to give us anymore information. With this in mind you may like to look into OpenDNS, which allows you to monitor and filter Internet access at the point of the router. Or, there are programs such as CyberPatrol which allow you to overtly or discreetly lock-down features of of the computer and Internet completely.

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