New external disk not recognized by OS

[heliman]

My setup is a Dell 1.7Mhz with 512MB RAM, and two internal hard drives containing 160GB of space.

I have a new USB2 160GB external hard drive, by IOGEAR, that arrived with five partitions, four of which are approximately 32GB in size.

Neither Windows Explorer or My Computer recognize this external HD is attached. However, I can see the partitions when in Partition Magic and I can also access the drives using the command route.

I want to use the external for backups but unless I can get the Explorer or My Computer to "see" it, I don't see how I can use it for backups or backup restore. IOGEAR techies seem to be completely stymied and cannot understand why my computer, a simple Dell setup, does not "see" their HD.

The thing cost me over $150.00 and is a name brand. The 30 day return warranty by NewEgg has run out and they won't refund and the maker won't refund because I bought it from NewEgg. NewEgg did send me another same model but it is behaving exactly as the original.

Can anyone advise me of how I can make this external HD work? Could it be something set up in my computer that makes it invisible to Explorer and My Computer?

Thank you.

Bill

[Randomized]

I'm not sure, but have you tried plugging it in while the computer is on? For some of my stuff if you plug it in when the computer hasn't started, the computer doesn't recognize it, but if I pull it out and plug it back in it works fine.

[Cricket]

Does Disk Management see the external HDD and the partitions?

Have the partitions been formatted yet?

A hard drive has to be partitioned and formatted before Windows can use it.

Cricket