My new WD 500Gb internal drive isn't recognized by the BIOS I think.

[EEVIAC]

remove the disk and reboot the computer...

It's been a while since I used Recovery Console...  It may not let you remove the disk right away...  Type EXIT, when finished.  Reboot the computer, and just don't select to boot from CD when prompted.. See if it will boot from the hard drive

[Computer_Commando]

Thanx for your reply Computer_Commando.    Cloning would normally be a great idea but it's not such a good one in my case.  My 160 drive is so ridiculously bloated and overloaded with programs and junk that over the last year or so, it's become a really sluggish system.   It's time for a fresh Windows install on a new drive to get my system running fast like it were new again.  I'd still have the same bloated slow computer if I cloned it.  I should have mentioned that cloning isn't an option in the original post.   Thanx again.

Clean & clone, or clone & clean, your choice.  Try the latter, just to see if Acronis works for you.

[patio]

The other option not mentioned would be to boot to the Data Lifeguard tools CD that ships with WD drives and use it to prep the drive for use...

[Computer_Commando]

The other option not mentioned would be to boot to the Data Lifeguard tools CD that ships with WD drives and use it to prep the drive for use...

CD, cable, mounting screws are not included unless it's Retail Boxed.  Otherwise, it's only the drive & nothing else.

[EEVIAC]

How about using a Hex Editor    

Of course, this would be the hardest way.  I just found an excellent tutorial on DiskProbe myself and printed the whole thing..  Looking forward to learning some low-level editing  

[patio]

And we know it's not retail boxed...how ? ?

[Computer_Commando]

And we know it's not retail boxed...how ? ?

Don't know if it is or it isn't, just pointing out that there is a difference.

[patio]

If there is no CD the utility is Free at WD's site...

[Lee43]

http://www.thecomputerparamedic.com/files/rc.iso

Click on the link..  Download the file and burn it to a CD with Image Burn.

Download Image Burn and when you run it, select "Burn Image to Disk" to burn the file to CD.

Boot off of the CD and press "R" when prompted to do so, at the menu.  Select "1", press enter, to select which Installation to repair.  Enter your
admin. passowrd, press enter.  You'll then be at a prompt...  Type  cd \  to get to the root directory, then type:  fixmbr

Accept the prompt to allow the Recovery Console to repair the Master Boot Record, remove the disk and reboot the computer...

Sorry for the delayed response, work took over and I had to put this on hold...    But here's the latest update.  I downloaded, burned, and ran the Recovery Console disk on the new 500Gb drive following your exact instructions. (This pic shows the new MBR created: http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/6443/img7481u.jpg  What I'd like to know is why it loaded up XP Home?

Anyway, it seemed to work but at the end, I got the same error message of "Drive not found!" followed with the same
"MBRInst" message.  Despite those same errors, when I rebooted, Windows actually loaded up this time!  Unlike before when I rebooted and got just a completely black screen.  Needless to say, I felt much better but the only problem is that I got this uneasy gut feeling that if this brand new out of the box hard drive gave me trouble from the start, then it could give me trouble in the future which could mean the drive might just crash on me out of the blue down the line.

So as a last resort,  I decided to exchange this drive at the Best Buy store for another one which
I'll do tomorrow..(monday)..and when I put it in my system and if I get the same errors msg's, I'll know it has to be something else. Hopefully all will go well this next time around.   So please give me a couple/few days and I will be back to let you know how the replacement drive worked out.   Thank you for your time and patience.  I truly appreciate all the help!

[Lee43]

Well folks, I've hit a brick wall and I don't know what to do.  I went back to the store and exchanged the 500Gb hard drive for another identical one.  I haven't done anything with it yet though. I want to do it right this time around.   I decided this time to call Western Digital's tech-support for help to see if there was anything I needed to do before installing the OS on it using the recovery disk that came with my system.

He says I can't use the recovery disk...saying something about it requires that there already be an OS installed on the drive beforehand.  I don't have a full Windows Media Center version on CD...just the recovery disk.
Then he suggested using the WD Acronis True Image program to clone the drive. I told him I  had a basic idea of what cloning a drive meant but that I'd never done it before and had no clue on how to do it. And then he sent me an email with the link (http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=3682) to learn how to do it.

I was under the impression that cloning a drive to a new drive would create an exactly identical drive. One that had completely, file for file, created a duplicate hard drive. For example, if my old drive had 98,370 files and 41,312 folders on it, then the cloned drive should have the exact same # of files and folders on it.....right??   From what the guy on the phone told me, that cloning doesn't copy the operating system over to the new drive.  Is that really true??  I really need to know this.  It's got me frustrated that according to this WD tech-support guy, I have to have a full version of Windows on CD in order to use this new 500Gb drive.

Thing is, I do have a full version of XP Home I could install on this drive but I don't want XP Home.  But if I do that, could I then use the recovery disk to install my XP Media Center Edition onto it?

What should I do? I don't want to just return this drive and give up, I'm determined to get this thing in my system.  Please help me...I'm at my wits end here...

[Salmon Trout]

I was under the impression that cloning a drive to a new drive would create an exactly identical drive. One that had completely, file for file, created a duplicate hard drive. For example, if my old drive had 98,370 files and 41,312 folders on it, then the cloned drive should have the exact same # of files and folders on it.....right??

Right.

From what the guy on the phone told me, that cloning doesn't copy the operating system over to the new drive.  Is that really true??

Are you quite sure he said that? If he did he was wrong. "Clone" means "exact copy". If the disk you are cloning from has a bootable OS installed, then the disk you are cloning to will also.





  I really need to know this.  It's got me frustrated that according to this WD tech-support guy, I have to have a full version of Windows on CD in order to use this new 500Gb drive.

Thing is, I do have a full version of XP Home I could install on this drive but I don't want XP Home.  But if I do that, could I then use the recovery disk to install my XP Media Center Edition onto it?

What should I do? I don't want to just return this drive and give up, I'm determined to get this thing in my system.  Please help me...I'm at my wits end here...


[/quote]

[Lee43]

Are you quite sure he said that? If he did he was wrong. "Clone" means "exact copy". If the disk you are cloning from has a bootable OS installed, then the disk you are cloning to will also.

Oh he definitely said that allright. What he said threw me for a loop and didn't want to believe it.  He was wrong, no doubt about it!  But that's water under the bridge now...and all is well again.

[Computer_Commando]

Oh he definitely said that allright. What he said threw me for a loop and didn't want to believe it.  He was wrong, no doubt about it!  But that's water under the bridge now...and all is well again.

Do you care to share what you did after you "hit the brick wall"?  You went from "crash & burn" to "all is well".

[Lee43]

Well folks, I got my new 500Gb drive up and running!     I downloaded WD Acronis True Image and used it to clone the old 160 to the new 500 drive.  And then used the recovery disk and successfully got Windows installed onto the new 500Gb drive without getting that "Drive not found" error.

But what was really strange was that when I cloned the 160 to the 500, it may have copied everything (OS and all) to the new drive but when I setup the 500 as the master and booted up off it, I went to My Computer, right clicked on C: drive and then Properties, it showed that its size was only a 160Gb drive! I also dropped to DOS and ran "chkdsk" which showed the same thing. What happened to the other 340Gb's? That was completely unexpected. Does that normally happen when you clone a drive? Does the destination drive always become the same size as source drive?

Well whatever caused that to happen is a mystery (I wouldn't mind knowing why) but it was fixed when I installed Windows with the recovery disk.  It's now showing it as being a 500Gb drive. (Whew!)  And my system is running beautifully! It's like having a brand new computer all over again.

Thank You everyone for all your help!!  You guys are the greatest!!!

[Lee43]

Do you care to share what you did after you "hit the brick wall"?  You went from "crash & burn" to "all is well".

I was actually doing that when you posted this..   I just wanted to quote and reply to Salmon Trout real quick and then reply to everyone to share everything I did.