Internal h/d used as external storage using docking station problem

[andy g]

i have a docking station (recently acquired )that you can insert an ide/sata internal hard disc and use it as an external storage device (similar usage as a caddy but easy removal of h/d).

i admit this docking station can be temperamental but it seems to work, i have used an ide h/d in it and this shows up in 'computer' (Windows 7).

Today i acquired a sata external h/d (500gb off ebay) and tried it out in the docking station, unfortunately it is not recognised in 'computer' the docking station is recognised but not the sata h/d

this sata h/d is recognised in 'device manager' and in 'disc management' so i thought i would 'format' it from there sadly on right clicking the largest partition (464gb) of the disc the only option i have is 'delete volume' and 'help' all the rest is greyed out.

i have had this problem before but with a different device (R-Driver 3) which was a lead instead of a docking station, but thought the lead might be faulty.

any help on this will be appreciated, thank you.

 

[PrvtChurch]

Deleting and then Remaking the partition is the same as formatting.

 

[andy g]

Deleting and then Remaking the partition is the same as formatting.

out of curiosity why isnt this h/d showing up in 'computer' like all the other 'external' hd i have (these ones were bought already in a caddy)

i find this baffling as i originally acquired this docking station in case myself or a friend had problems with their pc (would not load) but needed files/folders off their hd, this would be pointless if i had to format the h/d to get it recognised.

 

[PrvtChurch]

Have you tried restarting with the drive plugged in? It may be something to do with the way windows detected the drive.

 

[andy g]

i will have a go at that.

to be honest this is doing my head in as obviously the laptop is detecting it as it wouldnt be showing up in 'disk management'

 

[StellarPhoenixS]

sametimes till the time new hardware is installed on the system it may not show-up in my computers. you just need to reformat the drive and it is for sure not a docking station's error. The fact that the drive is showing in BIOS means that connector is working just fine

 

[andy g]

thanks all i did a 'delete volume' and seeing that this hd was new (to me) and had no data on that was mine, and this did the trick, it is now 'browsable'

thanks again