Disk utility & D lockout

Hi folks,

A very good New Year to you all.

I installed a second drive back in May last year to backup my Word docs, pics & XLS programs etc. After I formatted my C drive and reinstalled W98SE and reinstalled MSO 2000, I discovered that I could open my Word docs with MSO 2000 on C drive, even tho the docs were on D drive. This is wonderful I thought, no need to copy my word files back to C drive, leave C drive clear of excess data etc etc.

The idea has worked very well for all that time without a hitch. However, tonight I discover that I cant open any of my docs or any thing else on D drive. I get a message "D:\ not accessable, device not ready ".

If I try for an XLS proggy I get "Selected disk drive is not in use, check to make sure a disk is inserted" !!!??? Insert a disk into a hard drive, I know thats not correct!

I have closed all files and rebooted, no solution there. I have read these boards and cant find anything relevent, except a comment about 'disk utility' which I know nothing about.

What have I done since yesterday? I had a look at the "options > file locations > selected My Documents" in Word. I was trying to see if I could open a doc with Word, directly from D drive. After that, my access to D drive failed.

Any idea's folks?

My PC is a hybrid P2, 350MHz, C: =6Gig, D: =2.5Gig, 384Mb RAM
All pro built back in 1998. I have 4.8Gig free space on C. And according to Windows Explorer my D drive is blank??

 

farwind

Go to system properties--device manager tab and remove the D: drive...then reboot and windows should detect and reinstall the drive.

 

Hi there rcerrato,

Thanks for your prompt reply.

Your solution worked a treat, I now have access to all my Word, XLS and jpg files. I will write this experience up in my "maintenance files" for future reference.

Thanks a million from West Australia