Need help with an external hard drive

[Barracuda]

Well as you may already know, I run windows ME. The problem with that is that it doesn't recognize the external hard drive that i just purchased. Ive experienced the same issue with my dads external when he converted its format.

To the best of my knowledge, I think i have to install a driver or something like that. Can anyone help me out here?

EDIT: Oh crap, just after i typed this post, it decides that it wants to show up now. I had manually installed some things and then restarted my computer, but forgot to check if it was working, sorry.

EDIT 2: Nevermind, its still not working . It recognizes that the device is a usb, but i can't access it and it doesn't show up as a device in the menu thingy (whatever its called)

 

[DustDriver]

Is the External drive formatted in NTFS or FAT32.
ME only works with FAT32, so NTFS partitions aren't visible

Maybe this link can help:
http://www.themobiusproject.com/mirrors/www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/NtfsWindows98.html
A sort of driver so that ME can read and write on NTFS partitions

 

[Barracuda]

Luckily after talking things over with my dad, and not having the receipt for the external, he decided that he would finally upgrade me to xp. Right now we are just searching for the cheapest price. 3 or so years ago i saw xp pro at best buy for $100, but when i looked for it at office depot today xp pro was $200

On the topic of xp, is there any way to have xp, but have the ability to navigate my computer like i do now. What i mean is, i find my computer to be very easy to navigate because I have a bar at the top whenever i open any folder:

 

[DustDriver]

It's still there + you have a bar on the left with some usefull things like creating a new folder and sharing a folder.
Plus 4 links to other relevant places on the computer, like My Computer and Shared documents

 

[Barracuda]

That's awesome then. You want to hear something funny, my computer is actually 12 years old , I'm wicked proud of it now

EDIT: I lied, it came with 98. My dad had thought it came with 95, but it didn't, so its 9 years old

 

[DustDriver]

Well, first have a look at the recommended XP requirements.
The minimum requirements work too, but much slower.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/upgrading/sysreqs.mspx

 

[Barracuda]

Well, first have a look at the recommended XP requirements.
The minimum requirements work too, but much slower.

I have a Pentium 3 processor (minimum requirement) and 512mb of RAM (xp requires 128mb) so im all set.

 

[opendriver]

Well, first have a look at the recommended XP requirements.
The minimum requirements work too, but much slower.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/upgrading/sysreqs.mspx

You might want to try out Ubuntu first and see how you like it. Those system specs are a little low for windowz. Pop in a 7.04 live CD and see how you like it.

I still hate vista, even though my laptop runs it, XP should run on your machine, but it might be really slow

 

[DustDriver]

I have a P4 2,4 ghz and 512MB and XP Pro runs very good on it.
(even with resource consuming applications in the background)
So a P3 should also be able to run XP, especially the home.

Ubuntu 7.04 uses a good deal of ram also and his dad doesn't like changing much concerning the pc (from what i understand).
So making the switch to linux isn't an option for him me thinks

Recommended specs for ubuntu 7.04:
*500 MHz x86 processor
*192 MB of system memory (RAM)
*8 GB of disk space
*Graphics card capable of 1024x768 resolution
*Sound card
*A network or Internet connection

 

[Barracuda]

I now have xp and its running perfectly. So many programs that i couldn't use, so many programs with silly obsolete versions, I am wicked excited.

 

[Azuremen]

Good, its about time you got rid of ME. Quite possibly the worst thing Mircosoft has produced since windows 3.1

And your computer can't be 12 years old. The P2 came out when I was 11, and thats only 11 years ago. The P3 was not produced until 1999. Furher more, if you had bought 512 megs of ram 12 years ago, it would have cost several thousand dollars.

Minimum requirements are lie, just so you know. Running XP on anything less than 512 megs of ram is painful, and I personally think it needs 1 gig to run smoothly. That aside, enjoy that wonder of actually have NTFS so you can have large partitions and SUB devices that work.

 

[wfooshee]

Do you believe us now, all this time we kept telling you to dump ME, it was the worst of all possible MS failures?

 

[Barracuda]

And your computer can't be 12 years old. The P2 came out when I was 11, and thats only 11 years ago. The P3 was not produced until 1999. Furher more, if you had bought 512 megs of ram 12 years ago, it would have cost several thousand dollars.

That's why i said:
"EDIT: I lied, it came with 98. My dad had thought it came with 95, but it didn't, so its 9 years old"

I bought the extra RAM less than a year ago, and that is its maximum.

I don't care what you guys say, I love WinME. I don't know whether or not you have had to use ME but it is not as bad as you make it out to be. For an operating system that old, it could still run most of what i wanted to, granted that it would have to be older versions. Yes XP allows me to do a lot more things than i could, but i will still somewhat miss ME.

 

[Azuremen]

That's why i said:
"EDIT: I lied, it came with 98. My dad had thought it came with 95, but it didn't, so its 9 years old"

I bought the extra RAM less than a year ago, and that is its maximum.

I don't care what you guys say, I love WinME. I don't know whether or not you have had to use ME but it is not as bad as you make it out to be. For an operating system that old, it could still run most of what i wanted to, granted that it would have to be older versions. Yes XP allows me to do a lot more things than i could, but i will still somewhat miss ME.

You don't understand though, 98 could do everything ME could, just more stably. ME is really the worst Windows version ever, in virtually everyone that has worked with computer's opinions (some people might point at 95, but at the time it was new, 95 was better than ME, imo). ME was and is unstable, has none of the benefits of XP, while having none of the stability of 98. And its not just that I hate new things, cause I Switched to XP after using it shortly, because it was much better than 98 (except for resource use, but it wasn't bad).

There are reasons why tech groups and magazines called it Mistake Edition and Miserable Edition. If I had to choose between 98 and ME, 98 hands down. Yes, I've used both extensively, but far more often have I had to trouble shoot ME computers, etc.

A similar thing is happening now with Vista vs XP. Many experianced users are opting for XP because Vista is simply having way too many problems. Only thing redeeming about Vista it is using new architecture, not a horribly mangled version of a current OS, so it actually has hope once all the driver issues are sorted out.

You can love ME, I am just saying its like loving a Yugo only because it was your first car. Or its like the EP series Civic Si - outdone by both the version that preceded and the version that came after it.

I'm done with that rant. Sorry I did not see your edit, but you computer can only be 8 years old at max, due to the P3 in it.

On a more helpful note, you can set XP up to look like ME/NT if you want, I just find those older style start bars, etc, to be rather ugly. Should be in your themes setup when you look at display properties.

 

[Barracuda]

You don't understand though, 98 could do everything ME could, just more stably. ME is really the worst Windows version ever, in virtually everyone that has worked with computer's opinions (some people might point at 95, but at the time it was new, 95 was better than ME, imo). ME was and is unstable, has none of the benefits of XP, while having none of the stability of 98. And its not just that I hate new things, cause I Switched to XP after using it shortly, because it was much better than 98 (except for resource use, but it wasn't bad).

There are reasons why tech groups and magazines called it Mistake Edition and Miserable Edition. If I had to choose between 98 and ME, 98 hands down. Yes, I've used both extensively, but far more often have I had to trouble shoot ME computers, etc.

A similar thing is happening now with Vista vs XP. Many experianced users are opting for XP because Vista is simply having way too many problems. Only thing redeeming about Vista it is using new architecture, not a horribly mangled version of a current OS, so it actually has hope once all the driver issues are sorted out.

You can love ME, I am just saying its like loving a Yugo only because it was your first car. Or its like the EP series Civic Si - outdone by both the version that preceded and the version that came after it.

I'm done with that rant. Sorry I did not see your edit, but you computer can only be 8 years old at max, due to the P3 in it.

On a more helpful note, you can set XP up to look like ME/NT if you want, I just find those older style start bars, etc, to be rather ugly. Should be in your themes setup when you look at display properties.

I knew about the classic theme, but i'd rather stick with xp's theme (though i'd really like to have it be a black bar with the green start button)

I knew ME had problems, and after a while i just got used to them. It wasn't to rare for my computer to freeze and have to be crashed. The blue screen of death also became a good buddy of mine