HDD Not Responding Correctly

[RKelly]

I have a Maxtor 320 GB HDD which is a PATA device. I installed it in my old computer (Sony Vaio P4) and had error free usage for approx 6 months.

I recently bought a new computer, but was not able to install this HDD into that unit (won't fit) , so I bought an external enclosure to house it in for my new pc. However, it is not responding. When I turn on the external enclosure, the HDD is active (its spinning, making noise, etc) and my pc makes a noise to indicate its found something, but nothing shows up on my pc.

I have an older 120 gb drive Western Digital Enhanced IDE HDD which I plug into the same external HDD enclosure, that boots right up and shows on my pc without problem, though that drive still had some files on it.

Any idea as to what the problem is?

One possible reason I have thought is when I recycled my old pc I wiped the HDD drives clean using this program: http://dban.sourceforge.net/

Could wiping it clean be causing this problem?

Specs: HP AMD 64 6000+ Vista Premium.

Thanks for any and all help!

[bendixG15]

Have to ask the obvious..Did you format the drive after wiping it with dban ??

[redwudz]

And you have the jumper set to 'Master'? You may need to partition and format the drive if it's completely wiped.

You also may need to go to 'Computer Management' in 'Control Panels' to partition it.

[RKelly]

Thanks for responding and asking the obvious. No I did not. That being said, are there programs/methods that will allow me to do this? I <obviously> am pretty unfamiliar with this whole process and I appreciate the help!

[redwudz]

Try 'Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Storage>Disk Management (Local)' and see if the drive is shown. If so, you should be able R click on it to partition and format it there.

If you don't see it, check in 'Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager' and you should see it there. If not, the computer doesn't know it exists. That can be a problem. Also, as mentioned, you want to set up external drives in an enclosure to be 'Master' most times.

External drives can be a pain to partition some times. If all this fails, you might temporarily put it in a computer and partition and format it there.

[RKelly]

thankfully the HDD showed up under your first suggestion. In terms of partitioning, I don't see that option. I do see an option to initialize. Is that what you're talking about? thanks again.

[RKelly]

Never mind, I think I figured it out. Thanks again for your help. I think this is a great website. I really love how friendly and helpful people are on these boards, you all have helped me out many many times!

[redwudz]

Glad to help. Most times a 'Wizard' will show up when you find the drive there and the OS will offer to do the partitioning and formating for you. Think of partitions as the containers for the data and the formating as arranging the empty spaces for the data. The drive will not be usable until both are accomplished.