Hard Drive doesnt work. :(

[lolage]

Hard Disks

Basically, for some time now ive had a 500gb hard disk just sitting in my room and i basically dont know why it wont work. At the moment i have an 80gb hard drive in which DOES work but im running out of space rapidly.

I plug my 500gb into my computer and for some reason when i open up 'My Computer' it reads 2 cd drive's and 1 hard disk. It should read 1 cd drive and 2 hard disks.

Any ideas why it thinks my 500gb is a cd drive?

Also my 80gb hard drive had a port which my 500gb diddnt. I happened to be using the port on the 80gb one which the 500gb diddnt have?

Here are a few piccies.

80GB

500GB

Motherboard


Thanks for any help, would like to get this problem sorted tonight/this weekend.

 

[Senture]

Right click on My Computer, then go to manage. Then click on Disk management and see if your 500GB is in there. It might have a red symbol next to the drive though, right click on it then choose Initialise Disk, then you can format it/assign a drive letter, which ever is needed.

 

[dazz25]

Yep just sounds like you need to format it!

 

[lolage]

haha thats good news then!

thanks guys!

 

[lolage]

whats the difference between

dynamic disc and basic disc?

 

[lolage]

also, approx how long will it take to format a 500gb HD?

Its only on 1% over 5 mins

 

[lolage]

Does this look ok? Im put of with one being basic and the other being dynamic?

 

[fobose]

Why didn't you ask about this before?

A normal format probably takes about 1.5 hours max on a 500GB drive. I think my 640GB's took just under 2 hours but I cant remember exactly.

 

[AbsenceJam]

You don't need to do a full format it is completely pointless, cancel it and check the box for quick format, also change the cluster size to 64KB.

 

[lolage]

You don't need to do a full format it is completely pointless, cancel it and check the box for quick format, also change the cluster size to 64KB.

ive already formatted it. :

Just wondering what dynamic means compared to simple?

 

[AbsenceJam]

I should have looked at the screenshot.

Basic disks lets you create regular old partitions. With Dynamic disks you create 'volumes' of various types which can be like regular partitions or you can have them span multiple disks and have striping, mirroring and so on. The only difference is more flexibility and for most people it makes no difference.

 

[lolage]

Can i still partition a dynamic hard drive?

 

[rpstewart]

Yes.