Drive letter assignment

[Kennyb1956]

Hello,
I have installed an external hard drive, a hibachi g drive slim to be exact, windows did not assign a letter, when I go to my computer and manage I highlite the file to change/ assign drives but it won't let me change it, any ideas?

 

[jsmakkar]

Hello Kennyb1956,

Just a thought - Did you format your HDD or it came pre-formatted.

 

[Kennyb1956]

I was told it was already formatted, just had to plug it in, it shows up in my computer,and never did create a short cut etc

 

[jsmakkar]

Try this:

Disconnect HDD, Reboot and connect HDD again.

 

[Kennyb1956]

I have tried that a few time...no luck

 

[Kennyb1956]

Should I perhaps format? If so can you briefly tell me how? Kinda new at this sorry

 

[jsmakkar]

You could go to Disk Management (where you assign drive letter) and should see an option to format.

 

[jsmakkar]

But did you follow all instructions for this HDD - like if it came with some CD/software etc.

 

[Kennyb1956]

In disk management it says the drive is Healthy ( GPT Protective Partition) Does that mean anything as to why it's not assigning?

 

[jsmakkar]

Is it 3TB HDD?

 

[Kennyb1956]

It is a 500GB

 

[Kennyb1956]

I installed a seagate but didn't like it so I un installed it, it installed right out of the box and windows assigned it the letter E

 

[jsmakkar]

Where did you buy this HDD - I mean is it Brand New out of box.

 

[Kennyb1956]

Yes new out of the box, bought it at an apple store and I was told as soon as I plugged it in that windows would recognize it, no need to format etc

 

[jsmakkar]

Ya there shouldn't be any need to format then

 

[jsmakkar]

Reboot and try to connect to a different USB port. If its a Desktop PC, try to connect to a port at the back of your PC.

 

[Kennyb1956]

Yes new out of the box, bought it at an apple store and I was told as soon as I plugged it in that windows would recognize it, no need to format etc

 

[jsmakkar]

Please reboot and try a different USB port. If you have a desktop, connect to a port at the back.

 

[Kennyb1956]

Disk manager will not allow me to format...I see the file in there just won't let me highlite it so format

 

[Kennyb1956]

How do I ensure that everything from E drive has been deleted? Perhaps that is why it won't assign, not sure what else I can do,

 

[jsmakkar]

Going by this link http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Change-add-or-remove-a-drive-letter - it says "•To assign a drive letter if one has not already been assigned, click Add, click the letter that you want to use, and then click OK."
Hope you did the same way

 

[keisuk3]

here is da step on how to initialize a new HDD and assign letter to HDD

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/partition-hard-drive-windows-7.htm

here is a vid of it

http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Initialize-a-New-Hard-Drive-165865361

 

[molo9000]

The drive comes pre-formatted in HFS+, a file system made by Apple that Windows can't read.

You have 2 options:
- Format it in NTFS. Works fine with Windows XP/Vista/7 but Mac OS X will have read-only access.
- Format it in exFat. Works fine with Windows 7 and Mac OS (from version 10.6.5 onward) but Windows XP needs an update first.

 

[Kennyb1956]

Thanks for the response, but here's the problem, I have found the program in disc management, it's called disk 1. When I click on it a window opens up but the change drive letter/ format options won't open. Windows tells me the program is running but I have no way to access it.

 

[Kennyb1956]

Kennyb1956
Thanks for the response, but here's the problem, I have found the program in disc management, it's called disk 1. When I click on it a window opens up but the change drive letter/ format options won't open. Windows tells me the program is running but I have no way to access it.