Can't Allocate Hard drive?

[Mr. Koaliti]

I am using an adapter to use an IDE hard drive but when I go into Disk management it says it's Unallocated. When I right-click it I can't make a new simple volume. I am new to hard drives and such, any help? Thanks in advance.

 

[RaDiKaL_]

What error do you get when trying to make a new simple volume? which windows version are you using, what kind of adapter are you using?

 

[Mr. Koaliti]

What error do you get when trying to make a new simple volume? which windows version are you using, what kind of adapter are you using?

I don't get an Error, it is simply grayed out. I am using Win7 64Bit and using the inateck USB 3.0 IDE Adapter (UA2001).

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, RJ_gamingBoss!

First you need to initialize it, afterwards you need to partition and format it. I believe these tutorials can help you with that.
Steps 1: How to initialize or write a signature to an HDD in Windows: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=K8fyjn
Steps 2: How to partition and format an HDD in Windows: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=EkP5jZ

Hope this helps you! Keep me posted if you need further assistance!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Mr. Koaliti]

Hey there, RJ_gamingBoss!

First you need to initialize it, afterwards you need to partition and format it. I believe these tutorials can help you with that.
Steps 1: How to initialize or write a signature to an HDD in Windows: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=K8fyjn
Steps 2: How to partition and format an HDD in Windows: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=EkP5jZ

Hope this helps you! Keep me posted if you need further assistance!
SuperSoph_WD

I restarted my computer over night and now it won't show up in disk management, even though I can see it in device management under disk drive. I have tried un-installing it and re-installing it and that did not work. I also tried disabling it and re-enabling it and that did not work. Is there a way to make it come back into disk management?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hi again,

Have you tried using a different SATA port and a different cable?
Another thing you can try is to plug the drive in another computer and see if it will get detected there properly.
This way you'll know if the problem comes from the HDD itself or something else.
I'd also suggest to use the Command prompt (CMD) in Windows and try to assign a drive letter to the drive there.

Open Start menu and open Run > Type cmd > Type diskpart >
At the DISKPART prompt, type: list volume >
At the DISKPART prompt, type: select volume x >
(where x is the volume's number, whose drive letter you want to assign or change)
At the DISKPART prompt, type one of the following: assign letter=y
(where y is the drive letter you want to assign or change)

Hope this helps you! Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Mr. Koaliti]

Hi again,

Have you tried using a different SATA port and a different cable?
Another thing you can try is to plug the drive in another computer and see if it will get detected there properly.
This way you'll know if the problem comes from the HDD itself or something else.
I'd also suggest to use the Command prompt (CMD) in Windows and try to assign a drive letter to the drive there.

Open Start menu and open Run > Type cmd > Type diskpart >
At the DISKPART prompt, type: list volume >
At the DISKPART prompt, type: select volume x >
(where x is the volume's number, whose drive letter you want to assign or change)
At the DISKPART prompt, type one of the following: assign letter=y
(where y is the drive letter you want to assign or change)

Hope this helps you! Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD

It plugs in Via USB 3.0 and I have tried different ports and in each one it still shows up in device manager but not disk management. It also does the same thing on other computers. I tried using command prompt to assign it but it does not show on, probably because it isn't in disk management. I also have to old hard drives, and the other one does the same thing. Also, do I need to change the jumper? I have been trying this without a jumper in it so I am not sure I need one or not. I do have one though.

 

[Mr. Koaliti]

The hard drive now appears in my Disk management for some reason, not sure what I did. But when I try to Initialize it it says: "The request could not be preformed because of an !/O device error." I am not sure what that means or how to fix it. And in case you need to know I am using the Western Digital WDC WD800BB - 22JHA0, so it is very old.

 

[RaDiKaL_]

If you've tried with other HDDs and got the same issue, it seems to be a problem with the adapter, either it's drivers or the device itself is faulty.

 

[Mr. Koaliti]

I don't think it's the adapter because I can install the hard drives and see them in my Device manager. I feel like it's more of a setting on my computer that I need to fix.
This is my build btw: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GNGKxr

 

[Mr. Koaliti]

I plugged in my main hard drive into the adapter and booted into windows through the adapter, now I know it isn't the adapter. I just don't understand what it is but I am almost %100 sure it is windows.

 

[fzabkar]

Can you retrieve the drive's SMART data with a tool such as HD Sentinel or CrystalDiskInfo? Does either tool provide Identify Device information?

 

[Mr. Koaliti]

Can you retrieve the drive's SMART data with a tool such as HD Sentinel or CrystalDiskInfo? Does either tool provide Identify Device information?

I am not sure what you mean by retrieve the Drive's SMART data but I can see the name and model # of both drives when I plug them in. I also found a spare sata drive and it worked fine so I am going to say its the old hard drives. They are probably too old to work with either Windows or my Newer PC.

 

[fzabkar]

Each drive reports "health" attributes using the ATA SMART protocol. Tools such as HD Sentinel and CrystalDiskInfo can access these data. These tools will also report other important information such as the capacity of the drive. When a drive fails, it sometimes reports a 0 capacity.