I have a WD MyBook external hard drive, capacity 250GB.  It is a USB device 
and needs no drivers, or at least it didn't when connected to my previous HP 
notebook running XP.

When I connect it to my latest HP notebook (Compaq 6720s), it shows up in 
Device Manager, which lists it as working properly.  However, there is no 
sign of it in Explorer or in Computer.  When I look in Admin Tools under 
Disk Management, it is shown as Disk 1, but with no drive letter.  If I 
select it and right click and choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths", I get 
an error message saying:

"The operation failed to complete because the Disk Management console view 
is not up to date.  Refresh the view using the Refresh Task.  If the problem 
persists close the Disk Management console, then restart Disk Management, or 
restart the computer."

As you will guess, neither refreshing nor restarting makes any difference. 
What on earth do I do to perform this apparently simple operation?

Any help appreciated.

Andy

You mentioned only that it is visible and that you can't change the
drive letter.   Does it work normally ?


-- 
JimB
Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com

No, it does not work.  It is not shown in Explorer.  It has no drive letter
anywhere.

Andy

"JimB"  wrote in message 
news:JimB.3e3844@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com...
>
> You mentioned only that it is visible and that you can't change the
> drive letter.   Does it work normally ?
>
>
> -- 
> JimB
> Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com
>

Use DISKPART 
Select the disk
SELECT DISK [ID]
*LIST partition [id]*

now select the appropirate partition
SELECT PARTITION [ID]
*ASSIGN*


-- 
Ramesh MVP

'Ramesh Kumar' (http://itsmywindows.com)
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ramesh MVP's Profile: http://winvistaclub.com/forum/member.php?userid=17
View this thread: http://winvistaclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19005

Trying to do what you say, but assign apparently only works on a selected 
volume, (not a partition).  I can list a partition for the disk in question 
but I cannot list or select a volume.....

Any ideas?


"Ramesh MVP"  wrote in message 
news:Ramesh.MVP.3e3pbx@winvistaclub.com...
>
> Use DISKPART
> Select the disk
> SELECT DISK [ID]
> *LIST partition [id]*
>
> now select the appropirate partition
> SELECT PARTITION [ID]
> *ASSIGN*
>
>
> -- 
> Ramesh MVP
>
> 'Ramesh Kumar' (http://itsmywindows.com)
> Microsoft MVP
> Windows Desktop Experience
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Ramesh MVP's Profile: http://winvistaclub.com/forum/member.php?userid=17
> View this thread: http://winvistaclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19005
>

I'm not sure here, but is there stuff on it ? Otherwise I would format
it in NTFS (eventually partition it) from within the OS on which it is
connected; than I guarantee you it will be able to assign drive letters.


-- 
JimB
Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com

"Andy G"  wrote in message 
news:e2riv4U$IHA.4156@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>I have a WD MyBook external hard drive, capacity 250GB.  It is a USB device 
>and needs no drivers, or at least it didn't when connected to my previous 
>HP notebook running XP.
>
> When I connect it to my latest HP notebook (Compaq 6720s), it shows up in 
> Device Manager, which lists it as working properly.  However, there is no 
> sign of it in Explorer or in Computer.  When I look in Admin Tools under 
> Disk Management, it is shown as Disk 1, but with no drive letter.  If I 
> select it and right click and choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths", I 
> get an error message saying:
>
> "The operation failed to complete because the Disk Management console view 
> is not up to date.  Refresh the view using the Refresh Task.  If the 
> problem persists close the Disk Management console, then restart Disk 
> Management, or restart the computer."
>
> As you will guess, neither refreshing nor restarting makes any difference. 
> What on earth do I do to perform this apparently simple operation?
>
> Any help appreciated.
>
> Andy

Have  you  initialized and  formatted the  external  HDD ?.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEyvdhZemSg
rgds
Roberto

Well, there is stuff on it, which is my only backups!  I'm loath to format 
the drive as I cannot backup to DVD first, as that has stopped working too. 
So if the format fails, I'd be in a difficult place.

From what I can glean from various utilities, Vista, (and Diskpart), see no 
volume on the drive, although they both see a partition...

My old XP machine mounts the drive straight away, and I can see and use all 
files.


"JimB"  wrote in message 
news:JimB.3e5go6@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com...
>
> I'm not sure here, but is there stuff on it ? Otherwise I would format
> it in NTFS (eventually partition it) from within the OS on which it is
> connected; than I guarantee you it will be able to assign drive letters.
>
>
> -- 
> JimB
> Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com
>

What happens when you try and assign a Drive letter to the Partition?
My world book backup uses the drive letter I assign to the partition.
"Andy G"  wrote in message 
news:eSqDJws$IHA.4740@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Well, there is stuff on it, which is my only backups!  I'm loath to format 
> the drive as I cannot backup to DVD first, as that has stopped working 
> too. So if the format fails, I'd be in a difficult place.
>
> From what I can glean from various utilities, Vista, (and Diskpart), see 
> no volume on the drive, although they both see a partition...
>
> My old XP machine mounts the drive straight away, and I can see and use 
> all files.
>
>
> "JimB"  wrote in message 
> news:JimB.3e5go6@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com...
>>
>> I'm not sure here, but is there stuff on it ? Otherwise I would format
>> it in NTFS (eventually partition it) from within the OS on which it is
>> connected; than I guarantee you it will be able to assign drive letters.
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> JimB
>> Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com
>>
>

I suggest you BU the drive to another one using your XP. Afterwards
format it on your Vista using Diskpart.  I must honestly say that I had
once to buy another HD just to be able to return a HD to the shop I
bought it from. It was acting strange, and I got another one. Now I
always use a second HD to BU the first I use as a BU. So I always have 2
BU's.


-- 
JimB
Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com

What would be the way to do that?

I don't seem to be able to do anything via "Disk Management, (see my very 
first post), and as far as I can see you cannot assign a drive letter to a 
partition using "Diskpart", only to a volume, which does not seem to exist.

Is there something else I can try?


"Curious >" < wrote in message 
news:078594D1-EF1E-48CD-9B0B-B6C453B00581@microsoft.com...
> What happens when you try and assign a Drive letter to the Partition?
> My world book backup uses the drive letter I assign to the partition.
> "Andy G"  wrote in message 
> news:eSqDJws$IHA.4740@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> Well, there is stuff on it, which is my only backups!  I'm loath to 
>> format the drive as I cannot backup to DVD first, as that has stopped 
>> working too. So if the format fails, I'd be in a difficult place.
>>
>> From what I can glean from various utilities, Vista, (and Diskpart), see 
>> no volume on the drive, although they both see a partition...
>>
>> My old XP machine mounts the drive straight away, and I can see and use 
>> all files.
>>
>>
>> "JimB"  wrote in message 
>> news:JimB.3e5go6@no-mx.forums.vistaheads.com...
>>>
>>> I'm not sure here, but is there stuff on it ? Otherwise I would format
>>> it in NTFS (eventually partition it) from within the OS on which it is
>>> connected; than I guarantee you it will be able to assign drive letters.
>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> JimB
>>> Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com
>>>
>>
>