Storage: WD Passport works with Vista but not XP
WD Passport works with Vista but not XP
by Karahuna - 12/29/08 5:49 PMHello, world.
I just bought a used, 120gb WD passport on eBay. The seller was a Vista user and didn't reformat the drive before sending it to me. I tried the HDD on my XP PC, and though the power light came on and the computer recognized it, I couldn't see it in Explorer. When I go into Disk Management, I can see it there, but when I right click on it all the options - including Format - are greyed out.
The drive works fine on my Vista laptop though. When I went into Disk Management there with the drive connected, I could see it and reformat it. So I did, but when I plugged it back into my PC it still didn't appear in Explorer.
I've also tried a fix I read in some other forum - disabling my 1394 connection and rebooting, but that didn't work either.
I need the drive to work on both systems so I can transfer files from my PC to my laptop. I'd appreciate any help.
Next time.
by R. Proffitt
- 12/29/08 6:24 PM
In reply to: WD Passport works with Vista but not XP by Karahuna
Use DISK MANAGEMENT to remove the partitions on that drive (in XP) and then create it anew, format it and it will likely work. I'll leave it to you to research how Vista can do this.
Bob
Nope.
by Karahuna - 12/29/08 6:40 PM In reply to: Next time. by R. Proffitt
I can't interact with the external HDD at all when it's plugged into my XP pc. The "delete partition" option and all others are greyed out in Disk Management when I right click on it. But, unlike my two internal hard drives, this one has little diagonal grey lines through it's section of the lower right pane, and it reads "Healthy (GPT Protective Partition)" instead of "Healthy (Active)."
Next step.
by R. Proffitt - 12/29/08 6:51 PM
In reply to: Nope. by Karahuna
Use google.com and catch up what "GPT Protective Partition" is and how to deal with it.
Ohhhh
by Karahuna - 12/29/08 7:14 PM In reply to: Next step. by R. Proffitt
Googling! Why didn't I think of that! 
Actually I think I found a fix - HDDGuru's HDD Low Level format tool. http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2006.04.12-HDD-Low-Level-Format-Tool/ I'm reformatting the drive right now.
That's a good way to deal with GPT disks.
by R. Proffitt - 12/30/08 6:30 AM
In reply to: Ohhhh by Karahuna
There are a number of such free formatters but I can never tell anyone which to use. It's why I try to help others find out about the issues and what words to use at Google or search bars.
Bob
Well
by Karahuna - 12/30/08 8:40 AM In reply to: That's a good way to deal with GPT disks. by R. Proffitt
Actually, it turned out that program didn't work for me. But I did find another fix - http://blog.paulgu.com/2008/01/06/how-to-delete-gpt-protective-partition/ - that showed me how to use DOS commands to completely wiped the drive, and that worked. ^_^
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