Hard drive problem

Just_landed

I wonder if there is someone can come up with the answer to the problem I have. I installed a new MAXTOR 160 GB hard drive as a slave unit to my computer with windows XP installed, everything works almost. I have even partitioned it in device management no problem. I can save as to the slave drive from my documents BUT the problem I have is when in my documents working in a folder and want to send it to the slave drive in other words right click on the folder etc then click send to it comes up with all the other drives except my slave drive letter. Where is it ? PLEASE.

DatabaseError

do a search for SEND TO and you should find a few folders, inc yourname, go to the folder and create a shortcut to your new drive (easy way drag and drop from my (your) computer)
you may need to change view to shoe hidden/system files, anywindow>tools>folder options etc..

benjus

I don't think new drives are automatically added to the Send To menu, but you can customize what goes in the Send To menu. Open the following folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\SendTo
(replacing USERNAME with your username)

You can put into this folder a shortcut to any drive, folder or program which will then appear in your Send To menu.

I must say I rarely use Send To to copy files to other drives - the problem is that all the files you copy will end up in the root folder of the drive - which probably isn't what you want.

Just_landed

Thanks for the info you guys, benjus the the hard drive I fitted as a slave is to have a second copy of everything, just in case. You say you do something else can I ask what ?

benjus

I would normally copy files by dragging and dropping or using copy & paste. In some cases I would use the command line but I don't do this very frequently. The point is that I know exactly where I'm copying to, and I can organize where I store things.

If you're using Send To to copy entire folders it's not so much of a problem, but when you do it with individual files it's a pain as they all end up in the same folder and it will quickly become unmanageable.

BillScarab

As it's a Maxtor drive you are entitled to a free copy of Acronis True Image (although it's rebranded as DiskWizard). This enables you to take an image of your current C Drive so you can restore the whole machine very easily. It would be worth downloading and taking an image backup of your current disc.

Then you can just copy any data that changes over to your backup disc as and when you need to.

Just_landed

Hello again benjus I presume you have a short cut on your desk top or do you have to open (MY COMPUTER) to drag and drop to, in my case (I) as the drive :question:
Thanks for your help BILLScarab:beer: , I downloaded DiskWizard and tried that, all it said was you have to be using MAXTOR products. I am using 2 MAXTOR internal hard drives 1 MASTER & 1 SLAVE (new) I also have 1 EXTERNAL MAXTOR hard drive which has let me down this is why I am at this point in time. I think I can recover whats in there when I get over the shock of the cost, (if I can make my mind up if it's worth it) to use seagates recovery program. My files show up in there. What do you think of why I cannot run the program?












hello again

benjus

To copy files I normally open a "My Computer" window by pressing the Windows key and E together and navigate to the source location, then open another window and navigate to the destination. This is fine for occasionally copying files but neither this approach nor Send To are ideal for performing backups.

You could try using the built-in Windows backup tool to back up selected parts of your main disk on a scheduled basis. I haven't used this myself - I have used commercial backup software but it's probably not worth the expense for a home user.

Note that backups should really be separated from the computer in case of a fire, electrical fault etc that takes out the entire computer. This means either using removable media (e.g. a DVD writer or a tape drive) or a remote backup service (e.g. see http://www.pcpro.co.uk/labs/100131/carbonite.html)

You can reproduce a lot of the functionality in products like DiskWizard by creating a Linux utility CD (e.g. Knoppix). However, this approach is not for the faint-hearted and requires a fairly high level of expertise. If you do the wrong thing you may end up with a trashed hard disk.