Primary or Logical partition on new External HDD?

Hi All!
I've just installed ATI 8.0 latest build. I'm running P4 2.4 GHz, XP Home SP2. I've read the reviews and this forum (yikes!).

I decided to go ahead and install an external drive, WD IDE, for backup images, and hope for the best.

I need clarification on the new external drive. Should I go logical extended partition or primary (non-active) partition?
I only want to store complete full images for backup, as this is only a safety measure on a basic gaming, web surfing, and e-mail machine. I just don't want to re-format when the HD crashes or I have a real bad OS problem.

Also, the new HD shows up in Disk Management, wether its primary or logical, it shows up in device manager also, primary or logical. But, so far it won't show up in My Computer, primary or logical. I don't know why?

Will you all intelligent and experienced folks please help me out?

I only want to create a single partition, maybe with separate folders for the different full image backups.

Also, I am using a AMS, Venus DS3 enclosure, combo style, UBS and FireWire. Presently enabled in the FireWire mode, after all the USB controversy! And a WD1200JB HDD, 120 GB, 8MB buffer.

Thanks!

 

I'd partition the USB/Firewire drive as a primary partition, but it really shouldn't matter. I'd format it NTFS.

After formatting, you will see the drive in My Computer and Windows Explorer.

 

I've done as above and I do not see the new external drive in My Computer and Windows Explorer.

It does show in Disk Management as:
online
healthy
basic
NTFS
Primary Partition So its OK there.

It does show in Device Manager as:
Oxford Semiconductor Ltd.
Oxford IDE Device LUN 0
IEEE 1394 SBP2 Device
Working Properly

Properties:
Disk 1
Type Basic
Status Online
Partition Style MBR
Capacity: 114471 MB
Unallocated Space: 0MB
Reserved Space: 0MB
Volumes:
JB Backup (F: )
Capacity 114471 MB So its OK there too.

I know this may be a small problem compared to the big problems I've read about on this forum, but, I'm just starting out with this complex program and I just want to start out as pristine and correct as possible. Through knowledge and generous guidance I may be able to avoid the potential pitfalls.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

Hello jaybee333,

Thank you for choosing Acronis True Image (http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/).

We are really sorry for the inconveniences.

According to the info you have given this disk should be visible under the letter F:. If it is not please check whether this disk is visible under Acronis True Image. Also please navigate to "Disk Management", right click on the external drive and choose "Change Drive Letter and Paths". Then please change the drive letter or add one if there is no letter assigned.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Ilya,

The Drive is visible as F: in both Device Manager and Disk Management, but not in My Computer or Windows Explorer.

As per your help instructions I changed the Drive letter to G: , but still no happiness. It does show in Device Manager and Disk Management, but not in My Computer or Windows Explorer.

Please instruct me as to how to check whether this disk is visible under Acronis True Image. I navigated to the Acronis True Image opening screen, but then I didn't know how to check for the presence of the new external firewire drive.

Thank you for the help.

 

Hello jaybee333,

I am sorry for the vagueness of the instructions. Please launch Acronis True Image and launch "Create Image" wizard. Please see whether your external drive is shown in the screen where you choose which partition you want to back up. If so, your disk is visible for Acronis True Image and the problem concerns Windows rather than Acronis software. If it is not seen please create Acronis Report (please see https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=55317 for the instructions) and send to support@acronis.com along with the link to this thread indicating that you want to contact Ilya Toytman.

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Thank you, Ilya for your prompt replies.

Yes, the drive does show correctly in Acronis True Image.

So I am OK to write an image to it.

I am still perplexed as to why the disk would show healthy and recognized in all three: Acronis True Image, Disk Manager, and Device Manager and not in My Computer or in Windows Explorer.

I know this question may be outside any of your responsibility to answer, but may I ask you, do you, or any of the other knowledgeable folks have any guidance or suggested help with this problem?

 

Hello jaybee333,

Actually this problem is really beyond the subject of this forum. This seems to be a problem of Windows and a letter to Microsoft Support is one of the best solutions for you. However if you wanted to use your external drive only as a backup storage you do not need any letter to be assigned (though it is not convinient). Please create Acronis Bootable CD, boot from it and see whether your external disk is available then.

Just for diagnostical purposes you may try to do the following:
- Open "My Computer" -> "C:" (or any other existing drive);
- In the address bar input
F:
and see whether you get to your external drive or any error message (choose another letter if you have replaced F with some other).

The main problem is that according to your description the letter is already assigned to your drive and there is no obvious reason why the drive is not shown in "My Computer".

Thank you.
--
Ilya Toytman

 

Drive now shows in My Computer and Windows Explorer

Thanks for your sincere attempts in helping me.

I posted to several other forums and a kind mod helped me out. He pointed me to TweakUI. And once I had checked the drive letter I had assigned to the drive, the drive came up in My Computer and in Windows Explorer!
Cool Beans!

Maybe someone else will benefit from my experience. I hope so.

 

OK, you do have a very odd situation. I thought you had not formatted the disk, but you have.

At this point, I'd use Disk Management in Windows and remove the partition entirely, reboot and then recreate the partition and reformat it in Windows. That way everything is done under Windows. If that isn't visible, you have a truly unusual situation.

 

jmk, I got it fixed! Look at the post just above yours. The problem came from TweakUI. I had all the drive letters hidden except the ones I was using. When I checked the new drive letter that made it now visible and the drive showed up in My Computer and in Windows Explorer.

All is well now. I am proceeding to test the new drive by transferring files back and forth between the hard drives as well as transferring video files and playing them from the new external firewire drive, all good so far.

Very soon I will proceed to creating my first complete drive image and placing it on the external drive.

jmk, I want to thank you very much for your contimued help in this matter. I consider you one of the most knowledgeable posters to this forum. You help alot of people.

Are you connected to the Acronis Co. in some way? Sometimes by the tone of your messages it seems that you may be part of the Acronis Team in some way.

 

How did you happen to hide all the drive letters? Was this an accident or something you did intentionally?

I'm a computer consultand who is a user of Acronis products and in no way connected with them professionally.

 

Hi John,

I hid the drive letters by mistake just bumping around in TweakUI, acting like a noob. Last year, after I built my machine, I installed TweakUI and was foolin' around with it and I figured I'd just x-out the drive letters I wasn't using. No harm I thought. Then I forgot I'd done so, I didn't really know what x-ing out the drive letters meant anyhow. There really wasn't any explanation there.

Anyhow it's solved now, and I got the experience of joining 3 new help forums and spending a morning trying to figure this self-created problem out.

Thanks again for your help.
See you on the forum.

John (my name is John too)

 

OK, as long as you remember that you did it to yourself. TweakUI is a wonderful way to make your life more interesting but harder. When I see it installed on a client's computer, I know there will be problems.

See you on the forum also. This is a very interesting and active place.