[rWmS]

I have a "sharkoon rapid case 3.5'' Sata" which is an external usb enclosure for 3.5'' SATA HDDs. I bought just today a brand new "WESTERN DIGITAL 640GB WD6400AAKS CAVIAR SE16 SATA" HDD and I instaled it in the case. I know the case works because I used it before but because the HDD now inside is new I want to know what software I need to make it run like a Plug and Play External Hard Disk.

Note that when I connect it now, the "safely remove hardware" icon appears on the taskbar buy there is nothing in My Computer. Also when I doubleclick on the "safely remove hardware" icon and check "Display device components" the HDD appears under the USB Mass Storage Device. When you go into it's Properties ---> Volumes and click Populate, it's status appears to be "Not Initialized"

Hope you can Help
Thanx in Advance !!

[abkTech]

I think your USB drive has not been assigned a drive letter in Windows.
After connecting your USB drive go to Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Computer Management->Storage->Disk Management. Find your drive listed there and assign a drive letter to it. Make sure you do not temper with any other drive's settings as it may cause other (major) problems. Now your drive should appear in My Computer or any explorer window.

[rWmS]

I got to Disk Management and it didn't appear on the top half of the window. It appeared below.A wizard poped up and I followed it. Now it's stil in the bottom half but it sais Basic, 596GB, Online but it stil wont appear above so I can assign a letter to it.

little more help mate..?

EDIT: I think I converted it to a dynamc disk after following the wizard

[parasolution]

You needed to initialize and format the drive.

Not sure where you're at right now with it, so to make it simple. Go back to Disk Management and right click on the new drive. You should have the option to format the drive. Select format....from there select quick format. Once complete, you should be up and running.

[Courtneyc]

Convert it back to a Basic disk. Windows should not allow you to convert a removable drive to a dynamic disk (removable defeats the purpose of a dynamic disk). If you don't, you may find that if you connect the drive to another system, it will need to be reformatted.

Make sure the drive is listed as formatted (it will give you the drive size and the format type), and Healthy. Only then can you assign a drive letter, or map it to an empty folder.

Courtney

[rWmS]

I fixed it and it was nothing of the above !!!
I just created a partition and now its ready to go !!!
Thanx for the help