second ext. HD partition is not accessible.

My WD 1Tb external hard drive has two partitions, a FAT32 (called Mac capable) and a NTFS (called Liam Dewhurst).

I have just recently upgraded my graphics card, motherboard, and re-installed windows 7 on a SSD. This is the only problem that has come about.

When plugged into my pc, only the FAT32 partition displays. This doesn't happen in other computers, including my laptop.

In disk management, I can see the partition but if I attempt to view properties or change anything then it gives me the error that the console is not up to date (see attached screen shot).

I'm open to any and all suggestions, thanks!

Note: I have upgraded HD twice, and this is why I have so many partitions (I realize this is a shambles and needs to be addressed).

Also: I had a good search of the forums but if this is a repost please let me know.

zephod said:

My WD 1Tb external hard drive has two partitions, a FAT32 (called Mac capable) and a NTFS (called Liam Dewhurst).

I have just recently upgraded my graphics card, motherboard, and re-installed windows 7 on a SSD. This is the only problem that has come about.

When plugged into my pc, only the FAT32 partition displays. This doesn't happen in other computers, including my laptop.

Can you post a screenshot from DISKMGMT.MSC (or Partition Wizard) of that drive when viewed from your laptop, where you say you can see the contents of that NTFS partition?

How did you create that problem NTFS partition? Is it a "copy" of another partition on one of your other drives? Or was it simply newly created and then formatted at some time in the past, and if so when was that done and what did you use to create/format the partition?

Was this drive and that partition formatted on a Mac? Mac uses HFS+ file system which Windows cannot read.

Those computers - where you say you can access the partition is true - might have been installed with some program like HFS Explorer which facilitates reading HFS by Windows.

Most probably there are more than one user of the computers in your household and there is also a Mac and one does not know what the other has done. :)

Hi all,

Cheers for the quick replies here!

- The partition was created using partition magic (version 8.0 I think?) as an empty NTFS sector (using win 7 on my laptop) and then populated with files.
- I was at design school in Wellington and used the FAT32 partition on the macs there, so there's no longer access to a mac based OS (unless I beg/borrow/steal from a colleague).

I'm at work - and will post a screen grab of the disk manager from my laptop in 8 hours time...

- The point about HFS explorer is interesting and sounds like it may be worth a try? I'll post that at the same time.
- Also to note: the drive is 1 year old, and has lived a sedate life - I don't think this is a hardware issue. I have checked event/error log just in case, and ran the WD ext HD lifeguard diagnostic tool.

Hi all,

- I installed the HFS explorer just in case, after a restart and an attempt at a read from device (see image) I didn't have any luck.
- I've attached two snips of the healthy partition in my partners desktop - it shows that I can change the drive name. I altered the name just in case that might solve the issue.
- I also shifted several reference letters for drives in case I needed to clear room. (i.e. I moved drive J to K, so that one early spot was clear)

- It sounds like my computer is the problem.
- Is there a maximum number of drives that can be displayed other than 26 due to the 26 letters? (though I just plugged in an additional drive and it displayed fine)

Note: I have hooked in a single partition NTFS drive and it displayed perfectly.

Cheers for the continuing help?? I am perplexed.

I am now getting confused.:)

When you say you used Partition Magic, is it the old PowerQuest (taken over later by Symantec) Partition Magic ( which is dead now - will not work with Windows 7) or are you referring to the MiniTools Partition Wizard as Partition Magic?

I used a copy of partition magic that was given to me by a friend. It looks very similar to this site here Download Partition Magic 8.0

But I can't be sure. It's something I installed, used and then removed.

I don't need my fat32 partition much anymore. I'm tempted to just delete it. Can i format the fat32 partition, and just expand the main ntfs drive?

Of course this is in the hope that nzs time warp will make the drive magically appear...