Hi, I've just bought myself an external USB2 3.5 IDE Enclosure, want to make use of an old HD on my Laptop, thought this was the best way. As I'm using XP, the drivers are already there, so I don't have to install anything, just 'plug 'n play' or so I thought. Everything is powered up ok and the drive spins and is 'seen' in Device Manager with no conflicts. I can not see the device in Explorer so I can not use it, any ideas please? One thing though, I have the drive configured as a 'master' does it need to be a 'slave'? Any help appreciated as this is driving me crazy, all the best, John It's not that I can't remember things as I get older, it's just that my hard drive's full.

Does the drive appear in Disk Management? Was the drive formatted before you put it in the enclosure?

Is the drive formatted? If not look for it in storage management. You should have an icon in the tray when the enclosure is connected and powered. click on it and see what it says. If mass storage device, double click on that. As far as the jumpering goes, it depends on the brand. on some brands you don't use any jumper if Master alone.

"Is the drive formatted?" "want to make use of an old HD" "You should have an icon in the tray when the enclosure is connected and powered. click on it and see what it says" "I can not see the device in Explorer so I can not use it" >>> Perhaps I should have said - "I can not see the device in Explorer or anywhere else other than in Device Manager so I can not use it" "Does the drive appear in Disk Management?" Had not thought to look here, yes it does, but has the yellow error sign beside it, Any suggestions, have now spoken to two friends on the phone and they both tell me that they have had exactly the same problem and have given up!!! John It's not that I can't remember things as I get older, it's just that my hard drive's full.

If you don't need the data on the drive, see if you can get the Disk manager to format/partition it. Do yourself a favor BACKUP!

OK, I setup my external drive kit some time ago and used a fresh harddrive at the time so I dug out the CD that came with it. The help files state that you need to run the installation CD for ALL versions of windows. I'm not sure exactly what is installed. If you got a CD with your drive kit you may want to read the installation instructions. My questions in Response #2 were directed at determining if ONLY the enclosure was showing, or if the harddrive itself shows. When I click on the Icon for safe hardware removal in the tray by the clock, it shows a USB mass storage device. When I doubleclick that listing it then identifies my WD 250GB as a WDCxxxxxxUSB device. This indicates that windows is seeing both the enclosure and the HDrive. I have two removal USB devices that show up in that Icon I mentioned. The install CD for my enclosure has an .exe file on it to install that Icon. It is useful because abruptly disconnecting a USB drive can result in data loss or corruption. Many folks here have problems with thumb drives and I suspect that is why.

OtheHill, hi, yes, if I go to the 'Safely Remove Hardware' & click on the 'USB mass storage device' I do see the HD, any ideas on how to make it appear in Explorer? Thanks for the help, John