format & partition hard drive?

[sothsegger]

I just bought a new external hard drive 40gb for backup. The instructions say that because it is a "blind drive" that I have to format and partition it. However, after installing it, I checked its "properties" using Windows Explorer and my system (Win98se) is able to "see" it as a 40 gb hard drive (it also shows me how much of it is used and how much is free space)--without my ever formatting or partitioning it. I also tried copying data to it and it seemed to work successfully. The only thing I cannot do is check the "properties" of my backup files created by Win 98 backup utilitiy. When I try to check the "properties of individual items on the external hard drive, it hangs Windows Explorer; I don't see this as a problem. The question still remains: Do I still need to format and partition the drive.

 

[Zepper]

You probably should do as the instructions recommend. That is probably why WE doesn't work right.
.bh.

 

[sothsegger]

FYI

I solved the problem by installing the correct driver. Apparently, I had initially installed the wrong one.

S