External Harddrive Problem...

[Christato]

Hey Guys,
My Dad and I bought a External Harddrive Enclouser (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817113007) we put one of our old Windows 98 Harddrives in it, when we plugged it in to his computer the light turned on, the harddrive started up, and the bubble on the taskbar said "Installation Failed"!. I posted here before and you guys said it would work (Make My Own External Harddrive?.
I NEED HELP!

-Chris

[Christato]

plz help

[muarrif]

Is it formated ?
i.e. did you format the drive before taking it out of the previous computer? IDE

[Christato]

well the problem is that we can't because the computer we took it out of is dead

[muarrif]

So it is a possiblity that the drive may have died with the computer?

However things to check:

• Do you have USB1.1 or USB 2.0 in the new computer that you are trying to use this drive with?
  
• Can you possibly connect the hard drive (without enclosure) as a second drive to your PC IDE and format it?
  
• What are the jumper settings? i.e. Cable Select (CS), Master (MA) or Slave (SL)?
  
• Check if power is connected to the drive (internal connector as well as external check)

[Bizkitkid2001]

If the hard drive was pulled from a name brand computer (Dell, Compaq, Gateway, ect...) it most likely has a system identifier code on it that prevents the hard drive from working in a different computer to avoid people stealing the OEM Windows installation. The only way to get around this is to format the drive which would delete the code.


However, the drive should AT LEAST show up under disk management, however it will not be shown as a bootable or working partition.

[Christato]

The drive is not appearting under Disk Management nor is is showing up as a removeable drive in "My Computer." However, the icon for "Safe Removal of Hardware appears in the taskbar. It was originally formatted under Windows 98SE and the system I am trying to use it with is running XP. What should the jumper settings be set at? Any other suggestions?

[Christato]

anyone there?

[Ol'Tunzafun]

Jumper should be set to Master or Single (no slave).
Check the connections.
You can always try installing it into your XP system. That way you'll at least know where the problem lies.