Windows XP setup doesn't detect my Hard drive

I currently have windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 installed on my computer that I have had for 2 years now. I have a hard drive partitioned into two drives, C: and D: and I also have my old hard drive E:. Because my PC is so cluttered with programs (probably virusses and malicious ware as well), my computer is so slow and windows explorer and Internet explorer crash alot. Some times my computer goes so slow, then I open Windows task manager and see that there are 250 processes running. Many processes that are just cmd.exe.

So, I decided I want to format my new hard drive partition C:, and clean install windows xp all over again. The PROBLEM now: When I boot from the Windows XP CD, setup runs, it is initilizing everything okay, but when I go to the place where I must select which hard drive I want to install windows to, Setup can't detect my new Hard Drive C: and D:. It only detects my Old Pc's drive.

I have searched all over the internet, and don't know what I can do. Can someone please tell me why setup can't detect my hard drive? What should I do.

Thanks alot for any help.

Bertus

P.S. I am not all clued up on windows anymore, having grown up in the DOS era, so please explain in easy to understand language.

 

Good evening & welcome to the BBS Bertus,

I'll try to lend a little guidance but am first going to need a little help from you. The new drive you want to install to is either an IDE dirve or a SATA drive and the procedures are going to differ somewhat. (I guess you could also have a SCSI drive or a SSD, but I'll assume its IDE or SATA) Can you give us some information on the drive itself. Secondly, you referenced C,D & E and I'm a bit confused with the possible ambiguity. Is E your old system drive (past 2 years of MCE) or is this just a regular old drive from another computer that you added to the machine after MCE was already up & running? Thirdly, is the C & D you referenced your new drive or was that C & D in system before you decided to add a new drive and do a clean installation? Lastly, if and only if its your new hard drive, how did you format and partition it?

I look foward to your response.

 

Hi, thanks for replying. I would appreciate your help a lot. I made one mistake. My old drive is the F: drive, not E:. I just took out this drive from my previous PC and connected it to my "new" PC two years ago. I didnt set any jumpers and stuff, I think.

1.) I ran DxDiag for info on my disk drives:

Drive: C:
Free Space: 10.6 GB
Total Space: 75.8 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: HDT72251 6DLA380 SCSI Disk Device

Drive: D:
Free Space: 11.6 GB
Total Space: 76.3 GB
File System: FAT32
Model: HDT72251 6DLA380 SCSI Disk Device

Drive: F:
Free Space: 6.1 GB
Total Space: 38.2 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: WDC WD400EB-11CPF0

2.) My F: drive from my previous computer was the system drive from that computer and still has Windows installed on that, but I boot from my my Drive C. I just use F: for extra storage space now. I installed this drive after I bought my PC and it was already up and running.

3.) C: and D: was already partitioned and setup like this when I bought my computer from the store. (2 years ago) I want to move all files that I need to my D: partition now and just clean format and install windows over my C: drive so that my system drive is clean, and uncluttered from mal ware and unnessary programs. I didnt buy a new drive for the install or anything.

4.) My drives are still same as it were before, I didnt install windows yet. I just tried, and setup couldn't detect my C: or D: drives, so I couldnt format and install windows. So i just quit the setup and rebooted.

I hope this helps. Thanks a lot, I look forward to your assistance.

 

You've got the picture thanks to Pete, however, when looking at the combined free space on both drives or all three partitions, I'd be a little concerned if I were in your shoes. Unless there is a lot of duplication that you plan to eliminate, you are going to be hard pressed to move any "keepers" from C to D or F. Be thankful that you couldn't go any further on your first attempt unless you've already moved everything off of C that you want to keep. I'd also advise you to disconnect F (both power and IDE) before you start your installation.

 

Thanks a lot guys. Drivers issues again, haha. Such an easy sullution for my problem, but seeing that I dont have a floppy drive, its going to be quite a mission to do the alternative. Will try that tomorrow, but am sure that it will work. Thanks a lot, you are both great.

Dont worry about my drives thats so full. Its mainly a lot of junk that I dont worry about parting with. hehe. Thanks again.