external HDD wont work

[cashcroft1]

i recently attempted to make a FAT32 partition on my external HDD with partition magic but an error occured and termanated the process
now when i connect the external drive to the laptop it only recognises the enclosure interface but not the actual drive inside
it even spins up the drive but nothing after that
anyone know how to fix this?

 

[eyeCpc]

Are you running a version of Windows from the 9x-ME family or one newer like 2000/XP/Vista? The factory Fat32 partitions seen on external drives sees an application allowing the NT cored versions to see the Fat partition and use it. The support site for the drive manufacturer generally sees a download in zip file format for replacing the original software the drive comes with.

For Windows only and not Windows/Mac the standard advice seen for external drives is simply to reformat them to NTFS for readily available access in 2000-Vista since Windows will automatically detect and install the drive as a new logical drive. If you plan to see files transferred between two systems or a laptop and desktop each running one of the newer versions then NTFS is the preferred file system.

For going between an older Fat based Windows and any newer version then you simply need to download the replacement zip file and unpack the files onto the external drive once reformatted to NTFS for the installation and then try changing to Fat where you then unpack them onto the drive in case another reinstall is needed.

 

[kmote]

You could try checking in control panel -> administrative tools-> computer management -> disk management

 

[cashcroft1]

i am running XP and the external had one main NTFS partition but my PS3 only reads FAT32 so thats the reason behind trying to make the partition.
the drive was originally from my other laptop wich is broken but needed the files so bought an enclosure so the defaults were of the laptop wich was in NTFS.
i dont really want to reformat the drive as all my files are on it and have no backup outside of that.

You could try checking in control panel -> administrative tools-> computer management -> disk management

the drive is showing up there but i still have no way of accessing the files

got it working now. just assigned a drive path and all is good again

thanks for the help guys, much appreciated

 

[eyeCpc]

Make sure you download a backup copy of the software for that model just to be on the safe side. In XP the installer should appear right away if you plug it in while Windows is running.

The alternative for getting at files left on a Fat partition while running 2K upto Vista is simply to boot from a live distro like ubuntu since you can have ready access to Fat as well as NTFS and Linux partitions for copy + paster operations. Have a look at the screen capture of one transfer in progress while booted live with ubuntu.