IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I connected a usb hard drive to my dish dvr, and it reformatted it. I connected the drive to my computer, and the disk manager (the only way I could find the drive on the computer) says it is partitioned into 4 partitions, all of which are “unknown partitions”.

I want to be able for the dvr and my computer to read, swap, and play the videos on the hard drive.

I called Dish and they said they reformat into fat32, but again, my computer (XP Pro) doesn’t recognize it. Help???

The problem is the hard drive isn’t partitioned in a way your computer or DVR understands.

To fix this, plug the hard drive into your computer. Wait until the Removable Device icon appears or a message saying a new device has been installed.

From the desktop right click on My Computer and select Manage

In the Management Console go down the left hand side list and select Disk Management.

The right hand side of the Management Console will now split into two. The top half shows the formatted partitions such as the C: and D: drives. While the bottom half shows the actual disks.

In the bottom half scroll down until you find the new disk. It will show the disk split into four partitions with each marked as “unknown”.

Right click each of the unknown partitions and select Delete Partitionand follow the wizard.

After deleting all four of the unknown partitions you can start create a new partition by right clicking the drive and selecting Create Partition

Windows will start a Partition Wizard. Of the options you receive, you should choose to create a Primary partition and select the largest size possible.

At the end of the wizard you’ll be asked to format the drive. You need to do this and select Fat 32 in the File Type box when asked.

Keep in mind FAT32 has a number of limitations including being limited to 2Gb files which can create problems for backups and saving DVD sized files.

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