Or, more properly, two hard drive questions. No, not hard questions - well, not for one who knows the answer (which makes them hard for me, as I don't know the answer 'cos if I did I wouldn't be asking, would I?) and I'm sure there's one (or perhaps two) out there who know the answer. Machine: modern(ish) dual-core ex-Dell, 3GHz, 8Gb RAM. Two HDDs, one (C) running the OS and programs that want to be adjacent to it, one HDD (the one in question) for data, downloads, games and assorted junk. Running Windows 7, all legit and up-to-date. HDD Q1: concerning a recently-purchased and installed hard drive. It appears in the Explorer tree, then it disappears. Sometimes it shows up and is usable, other times it is as if the thing doesn't exist. Its predecessor was always visible and usable, but this little feller is elusive. It may be the cause of the odd BSOD I've had since fitting it, I suppose. I've changed the power source cable and the data (SATA) cable to no avail. Here's the nub: is it the drive at fault? It isn't very old: less than two months it's a 2Tb Samsung Spinpoint and it came from dabs.com as new. HDD Q2: concerning an external connection kit. A weird and wonderful thing, it consists of a power supply with a 240V adaptor with two leads for SATA and PATA connections and a data lead, USB to either SATA or PATA. The HDD lies on top of the PC case, powered up and working fine. The question is - why won't my older PATA drives work? I suspect it is because the W7 install is 64-bit and the older drives are 32-bit: when I connect a SATA drive it just works as any external drive would. Connect a PATA drive and it comes up with a dialog box teling me the drive is formatted incorrectly and all it will do is format the drive. Am I right? If so, it would be a PITA as tehre's all sorts of stuff I'd like to recover - this was the reason for buying the connector and the big new drive, both of which seem to be hellbent on frustrating my desires. If I am right, is there a way around the problem? I suppose I could revive an old box and stick 32-bit XP on it, but that's obviously a PITA on its own, unless I have to - and if I did, how do I get the data off the XP machine and onto my current machine then? Ok, so more than just two questions, but I suspect the answers are linked although the detail eludes me and my googling skills - I betcha there's some PC whizz out there who can put me right (fuck off, oldbloke, don't start, OK?) and give me a plan I can follow. I'd be mighty obliged if there is.
