[SOLVED] Help.... Seagate Expansion+ Ext HDD not working on Windows XP ?

[oakmead]

I've bought a new Seagate Expansion+ Ext HD, to copy content etc from an old pc running Win XP.

The HD has been detected and assigned a Drive location but when I click on it, a pop-up states it needs formatting ?

Before buying, the store and online tech spec said it's compatible with Win XP ?

I've used a different Ext HD on same pc and I don't remember having to format it.

Is the new Seagate HD not suitable or do I format it ?

Once files etc are copied, I'd like to access them on a pc or laptop running the current version of Windows, no good to me if formatting the new drive means they're only accessable on a Win XP device.

 

[xenthia]

I've bought a new Seagate Expansion + Ext HD, to copy content etc from an old pc running Win XP.

The HD has been detected and assigned a Drive location but when I click on it, a pop states it needs formatting ?

Before buying, the store and online tech spec, said it's compatible with Win XP ?

I've used a different Ext HD on same pc and I don't remember having to format it.

Is the new Seagate HD not suitable or do I format it ?

Once files etc are copied, I'd like to access them on a pc or laptop running the current version of Windows, no good to me if formatting the new drive means they're only accessable on a Win XP device.

Hi it seems this is a totally new unformatted hard disk which is very good. If you have not previously format this disk, then it needs to be formatted to a NTFS partition so it can be used.

In order to check for it, using the keyboard combination "Win ⊞ + R" open the run window. in Run type: "diskmgmt.msc" and then hit enter, this should open "Disk Management" applet. In there try and find your hard disk, and see if it is initialized or not, if not initialize it using either GPT or MBR, (GPT is suggested).

After that you have partition it, by right clicking the empty area and create your partitions.

All of the above assumes that your disk has not yet been partitioned or initialized. If it has been formatted previously like on another machine, using a different file system, or if it has been encrypted on another machine, the same thing can be seen, doing the above can only wipe all your data. So do be careful.

 

[oakmead]

Thanks for your prompt and thorough reply.

Yeah, it's brand new, just out of the box & never been used or formatted.
Its only been plugged into USB port and when clicking on it, the "needs formatting" messages appears.

The current Win XP internal HD has been partition but I was hoping to just cut n paste copy drive C and D onto the new Ext HD without partitioning it.

When accessing Disk Management, am I looking for the new Ext HD and changing the setting to GPT ?

Will just selecting " Format Drive" and without initialising, make any difference or must my new drive be initialised and partitioned ?

 

[fzabkar]

Seagates's external drives are usually configured with a sector size of 4KB and an MBR partition table. That's how they ensure that they are compatible with Windows XP (which doesn't understand GPT).

 

[oakmead]

Seagates's external drives are usually configured with a sector size of 4KB and an MBR partition table. That's how they ensure that they are compatible with Windows XP (which doesn't understand GPT).

I don't understand what this means, can you explain ?

 

[fzabkar]

The problem with Windows XP is that it doesn't understand GPT partitions, only MBR. However, MBR partitions are limited to a maximum capacity of 2TiB. The way that Seagate enables an MBR partition to support drives up to 16TiB is by increasing the sector size from 512 bytes to 4096 bytes. This is done in the firmware in the enclosure.

You should be able to format the drive using DiscWizard. That's Seagate's OEM version of Acronis True Image, AFAIK.

 

[oakmead]

Thanks for all the replies, although the last two are beyond my understanding but all sorted now.

Thanks again