XP doesn't detect Lacie external disk...!

[vinegar_tom]

Hi all,

I need some advice...

My Lacie external HD has a problem talking to Windows XP. XP knows it's there, and I can see it in Device Manager. The entry in Device Manager says it's working OK, but in My Computer, the drive doesn't appear. Nor does it appear in context menus (so I can't transfer data by right-clicking on folders and sending-to, as there's no drive to send to).

Any idea why this might be happening? Do I need a Lacie GUI to interact with it?

One thing...it is and has been used also by Mac users. Could this be the problem?

Thanks for your help and advice.

vinegar_tom

 

[vinegar_tom]

how do i find out if it has been formatted or not? i think that it has as it has some data on it. do macs use a different formatting system?

the drive appears as 'disk 2' on the disk management utility and is listed as 'basic' (what does this mean); it says it has a capacity of 465.77, is online but 'unallocated' and is in black. does the fact that it is 'unallocated' indicate that it is not formatted and/ or has no information on it?

when i right-click it offers the option of 'new partition...'. if i do this, will i put any of the data that is on the drive at risk?

thanks for your help,

vinegar_tom

 

[vinegar_tom]

hi all,

thanks for your help and advice on this.

will macdrive allow me to write to the hfs-formatted disk?

if not, will fat32 definitely allow read AND write on mac and PC without any issues?

thanks again,

vinegar_tom