As some of you may remember, I had an issue with an internal drive by Seagate a few months ago so I decided to try again and get an external one. Things went better this time but I'm still getting problems. It's a 160 GB drive. I haven't been able to partition it or anything. This wouldn't be a problem for installing it would it? Being a 160 GB drive. It said it's compatible with Win 98SE and Win ME.

Basically, I set it up as directed, pluged it in, powered it up and I got the "Locating USB drivers" message then I got a message that windows couldn't find them.

I did some searching on Google and managed to find the files in C:\WINDOWS\OPTIONS\CABS\CAB2.CAB and extracted them to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS

The files were
USBSTOR.SYS
USBNTMAP.SYS
NTKERN.VXD (within VMM32.VXD and as a separate file [I have ver. 4.10.1998 there but ver. 4.90.3000 on the others, this is the only version I could find for downloading)

Yet, it still doesn't show up, the drive is apparently functioning and showing up in the device manager as USB Mass storage device but there is a question mark by it and when I click properties I get:

Device Status:
The NTKERN.VXD device loader(s) for this device could not load the device driver (Code 2.)

To fix this, click update driver to update the device driver.

I tried this numerous times, it finds all drivers and I get this message:

"The best driver Windows found is already installed for this device. Click back to install a different driver, or click next to reinstall this driver.

Location of driver:
C:\WINDOWS\INF\USBSTOR.INF

If I try this it doesn't work as I said above.

Also, it is NOT showing up in My computer at all.

What can I do? There are no other drivers available on the system, I did a manual check for all compatible drivers.

Faris,

http://www.usbman.com/forum/UltraBoard.cgi?

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/select-system.pl?PRODTYPE=24&NAVDISP=pc

Ok, never mind all that, I managed to get it working, but that's only half of the problem resolved. I tried plugging the drive into my Win 98 desktop computer and it worked, so I copied the necessary files from it to my Win ME system and then the drive worked on the laptop! The drive shows up as a USB drive without any problems and also shows up in My Computer. But here is the problem:

Now, it works and all, so I FDISK'd it from within Windows (from DOS isn't possible because it doesn't show up in DOS) and it took 2 hours to complete and the whole time it kept saying that it's size was about 15000 MB which worried me then when it was complete, I chose to make the primary partition be 75% of the drive = 120 GB in order to be able to use Scandisk and such and I didn't create a secondary one yet with the remaining 25% but I intend to, and I did the FORMAT E: command (it's listed as Disk E on my system), it said the drive size was around 47 GB for the current parition. So, after 10 mins and only 2% complete, I cancelled it for fear of worse problems as not to waist my time. Is this drive only going to show up as 47 GB or 15 GB or what exactly? If so, how do I access the full 160 GB?

Thanks,
Faris,

You didn't specifically state what external HDD you bought but I'm guessing it's a Seagate?

Win98/ME doesn't support USB 2.0 without the installation of special drivers, but you'd still need the USB 2.0 controller in your PC or laptop. With an older desktop, all you need to do is install a USB 2.0 PCI controller card, but your older laptop does NOT support USB 2.0 & there's no way to make it do so. It's strictly a USB 1.0 machine. The ext HDD will work (once you get the bugs worked out), but data transfers will be slow.

The HDD *should* have come pre-formatted as FAT32...you shouldn't have messed with it. But to set it up (partition, format, etc), you should be using the software that was specifically written for it. Did a CD come with the HDD?

I thought I said it was a Seagate, anyway it is.

No, I managed to get it to show up in my computer and everything. No, it wasn't preformatted because it said the filesystem was "RAW" when I clicked on the disk properties and I couldn't get a pie chart to show up like the other drives have. When I checked it's info in FDISK, I got the file system listed as "5UNKNOWN". I have no idea what that means other than it didn't have one.

No, no CD came with it, just a little instruction paper, nothing else. But I still have the "Disk wizard for Windows" program still installed from when I had the Seagate internal drive, can I use that?

Thanks,
Faris,

I just tried the Disk wizard program and it worked. I created a partition of 111 GB apparently that works. But I typed in 122880 MB which should have been 120 GB. I don't know how to create a second partition for the remaining space. I couldn't find any options/help files that said how to do it. How can I create a partition for the remaining space on the HD? I did use the Windows format command because the disk was still being reported as "not formatted" after I used disk wizard.

I'm hesitating FDISKing it again for the remaining space.

Thanks,
Faris,

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/external/index.html#external

Well, I mean this in the best possible way, but what I need is someone to walk me through the way to create a second partition using diskwizard for windows for this drive because I couldn't find anything on that website about creating a second partition, I've read the help files and couldn't figure out how. Can someone please give me step by step instructions on how to create the 2nd partition?

Personally, I hate partitioning but I have to or I won't be able to defrag it or run scandisk.

Thanks,
Faris,

What are you planning on doing with this thing anyway?

"But I typed in 122880 MB which should have been 120 GB"

Your 122880 number isn't quite correct for 120GB. A true GB equals 1,073,741,824 bytes....manufacturer's use 1,000,000,000. You should have entered 128849MB to get 120GB.

Like I pointed out, your system only supports USB 1.1 which has a max data transfer rate of 12 Mbits/sec...USB 2.0 has a max transfer rate of 480 Mbits/sec. ATA has a max transfer rate approaching 100MBytes/sec. Notice that the USB drives transfer rate is in Mbits & the ATA drive is in MBytes. Since there are 8 bits per byte:

USB 1.1 = 12Mbit/sec = 1.5MB/sec

USB 2.0 = 480Mbit/sec = 60MB/sec

So theoretically, USB 2.0 is 40 times faster than USB 1.1.

http://www.seagate.com/support/ts/external/usb_perf/01_usb_limits.html

So if you expect to be defragging your external HDD regularly, you may wanna consider multiple smaller partitions or it's gonna take forever!

http://www.seagate.com/support/ts/external/usb_perf/03_defrag.html

Well, it's backup for all my massive amounts of data on my HD, I have nowhere near 100+ GB but I have a lot of files and don't want to run out of space anytime soon, I know it's an overkill but I know I'll need that space someday, I probably don't have more than 25 GB of data but as I said above, I'll have more someday, basically, it's going to serve as a backup in the case of data loss. I won't be defragging or anything very often but I want to be able to have that option.

Ok, I understand that now, the drive manufacturer uses a different definition of space than Windows does, I guess I can fix that then.

I understand that my system doesn't support USB 2.0 but that's ok as this drive is a backup, not for regular use.

Again, how is it that I can even create more than 1 partition for this drive? If there isn't a way on my system to do so, please just let me know, otherwise, what might it be? It's not that I don't appreciate the links but what would really help me is a step-by-step instruction.

I managed to find this for Win 9x
http://www.seagate.com/support/ts/ata/drive_setup/win98_me.html

But it says to use FDISK which is what I tried that didn't work too well and it seems to be for use of an HD with a computer with no OS.

Thanks,
Faris,

Not to be pushy here but I pretty much need an answer for this on how to make a SECOND partition before tomorrow mourning otherwise I'm going to have to return this thing and buy one that's under 120 GB.

Thanks,
Faris,

You can be as pushy as you want...no one is obligated to help you & I've done all I'm gonna do. Google is your friend...USE IT! And try the Seagate website while you're at it. And try searching this site for others who have asked the same question.

The answer is out there!

Look, I'm sorry but I am TERRIBLE at finding things online like that, that's why I come here. Do you think I would wait the time of others if I could find this myself? Or is this just because you don't like me because of disagreements in past posts?

Is it going to kill you to take 5 minutes out of your time and tell me how to do it? I don't think that's too much to ask for. I'm returing this damn thing tomorrow if I can't get an answer, just forget about out past disagreements and at least walk me through it.

The only help I got is on the site is that thing to use FDISK but that doesn't work for me.

Faris,

Without digging back thriugh all the above...

Make a Me boot floppy; ensure that FDISK and FORMAT are on it.

Put the 120G on an IDE cable with no other drives.

Boot on the floppy. Use FDISK to remove any existing partitions, reboot then create one primary partition, reboot and format it.

=====================================
If at first you don't succeed, you're about average.

M2

Well, thanks a bunch but this is a laptop computer and an external drive, I don't think I can do what you specified.

Thanks,
Faris,

You still have never stated which external HDD you have. I know it's a Seagate, but what model?

According to the Seagate site, "Your drive is factory-formatted for a FAT32 file system and no further formatting is needed for Windows operating systems"

It also says, "Windows XP/2000/Me operating systems have built-in, up-to-date drivers for a USB interface. You don’t need to install any drivers if you are using one of these operating systems, but make sure you have downloaded and installed the latest service packs from Microsoft to ensure that you have the latest drivers available for your OS."

Aren't you the guy that refuses to run Windows Update?

"Note. Certain OEM installations of Windows Me call for a file named USBNTMAP.SYS while attempting to load drivers for the portable drive. This file can be located on the Windows Me installation or recovery CD in the WIN9x\BASE2.CAB folder."

"...you can reformat with either the built-in Disk Management application provided by Microsoft, or the Seagate DiscWizard™ for Windows application located in the files directory of the Seagate Extra Value CD."

"To use the DiscWizard for Windows application, launch the DiscWizard for Windows application in the Files directory on the Seagate Extra Value CD and follow the easy-to-use, on-screen instructions."

The bottomline is everything you need to setup your HDD should have been included in the box. You should have gotten the Extra Value CD that is mentioned above, plus a manual explaining how to use it.

"In the box, you'll find the external drive, USB cable, quick start manual, and CD-ROM of software and additional reference material."

http://www.seagate.com/cda/newsinfo/newsroom/coverage/article/1,1113,3145,00.html

... such whining

"Is it going to kill you to take 5 minutes out of your time and tell me how to do it? I don't think that's too much to ask for."

Good grief

You appear to be under the impression you are (somehow) owed an answer.

That is not the case

Saying that XP is the most stable MS OS is like saying that asparagus is the most articulate vegetable

Report Offensive Follow Up For Removal

Wow, thanks, I appreciate that.

But I didn't get an "Extra value CD". Does this mean I am coming up short here? Are the contents downloadable? If they are, I downloaded the disk wizard online already.

jboy: I see where you're going at, but I mean, why bother going to a post and then just leaving a weblink in place of instructions? That is how I see it.

Faris,