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Thread ID: 85232 2007-12-04 06:35:00 External hard drive problem -help please! mettaverse (12447) Press F1
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617760 2007-12-04 06:35:00 Hi there folks, long question here, so read on if you dare . . .

I have a one week old seagate 320GB external hard drive that I bought to use as video recording storage for a satellite Set Top Box that has the ability to record to USB devices . The STB formatted the drive to FAT32, and I was then able to record satellite TV to the hard drive . It didn't work as well as I'd hoped though - the STB sometimes couldn't access the drive properly, to play or record ( but it works fine with a USB flash drive) . So, I changed my plans, and now want to use the drive as a standard external drive with my computer . The problem is that after connecting to the comp, it does not appear in My Computer, although it does appear as an external device in System Tray . Running Disk Management, it does not appear as a volume, but it does appear below that as Disk 1, with 300~GB Unallocated (Disk 0 is the only other disk, which has everything else on it) . In Device Manager, it reports as working properly, but the partition style in volumes is listed as Master Boot Record (which I'm guessing is the problem) .

So does anyone know how I can convert this drive back to a NTFS volume (or FAT32, I don't mind right now), that will appear as a standard drive? I'm running Win XP SP2 .

Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for any ideas . :thumbs:
mettaverse (12447)
617761 2007-12-04 06:41:00 This is how (support.microsoft.com)

You can convert a hdd to NTFS

The only prob with FAT32 (esp with video), is its got a 4GB limit.

So nothing will go beyond 4GB.

Whatever gets recorded.

Which, is why NTFS should be used.

I would put the hdd back in the case, then format it in NTFS.

If its already in the case, go to disk management right mouse and reformat it.
Speedy Gonzales (78)
617762 2007-12-04 06:45:00 Running Disk Management, it does not appear as a volume, but it does appear below that as Disk 1, with 300~GB Unallocated Go back into disk Management, select the drive, right click and tell it to format the drive. That should make it readable to Windows. This will erase any data on the drive of course as well. wainuitech (129)
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