If you have Windows 2000 or XP -- DO NOT USE Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools Diskette!!!!

[thatsright]

I have to re-install XP Pro cause of this Damn diskette. I just got off of the phone a while ago with WD Tech support and even the guy said NOT to use it if I have XP or W2K. And no where in the Retail Kit of my new WD 120G HD was this mentioned anywhere!

I formatted my new WD HD on Sunday using the Data Lifeguard diskette, and then I installed XP Pro onto the primary partition, BIG MISTAKE according to WD Tech Support. I am stunned that despite such a high quality product, support and service that something like this important could be overlooked?? I discovered why this was a problem when I had to boot into the XP recovery consol, and my drive was only recognized as one single drive, not the 4 different partitions that I created in the Data Lifeguard Utility. So that, and a corrupt IE6 install, are causing me to reinstall XP Pro (Yipeeeeeee). O' well at least I don't really have much on here anyway. I've only had the PC up and running for like 4 days.

Just wanted to warn Anybody/Everybody

 

[DurocShark]

BAH to friggin HD install diskettes.

I've always been a fan of using the OS's tools to install a new disk. Only way to be sure that your os will be happy...

 

[LiLithTecH]

Did you ask the Tech "Why do they specify WINDOWS 2000/XP on their website?"

 

[Lord Evermore]

Cross-posting is a no-no.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Not meaning to offend, but why use the WD disk in the first place? I agree with Duroc - use the XP format tool to create the partitions...

 

[thatsright]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
Not meaning to offend, but why use the WD disk in the first place? I agree with Duroc - use the XP format tool to create the partitions...

Not offended at all. I guess it was a ('not a first timer') first time mistake. Yeah that may not make too much sense, but at the time of the HD setup/XP Pro install it was like 1am on Monday morning, and I thought that it would not of hurt if I partitioned the HD with the WD utility. Well I definitely learned the Hard Way. I guess I violated THE 1 Rule of PC builders: Never Install any Hardware or Software When/If your tired in the slightest; as you'll just want to rush it along, just to 'get it done.' And of course by doing this you'll over look the basic stuff you need to do the simple stuff step-by-step, like I did I guess.

And frankly, for such a experienced PC man as myself it is rather embarrassing to even bring this oversight on my part up. After sooo many different O/S version Installs, on different Hard Drives over the years, this was the first time I did this; and the last time.

Uhhhh........ I guess I'm 1% wiser now.........

.......maybe 2%

 

[Postmortem6]

Don't use format tool in setup either.
Just make primary partition with some space, not all. Once installation is complete, there is Disk Management Tool (diskmgmt.msc) that can make partitions. It can make up to 4 primary partitions, which I like ( no need for extended and logical drives )

 

[marmasatt]

Wow. Thanks for the heads up. I am adding a 120 G WD to my system and am installing XP Pro for the first time this week. Was going to partition too. This in formation is huge.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: thatsright

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
Not meaning to offend, but why use the WD disk in the first place? I agree with Duroc - use the XP format tool to create the partitions...

Not offended at all. I guess it was a ('not a first timer') first time mistake. Yeah that may not make too much sense, but at the time of the HD setup/XP Pro install it was like 1am on Monday morning, and I thought that it would not of hurt if I partitioned the HD with the WD utility. Well I definitely learned the Hard Way. I guess I violated THE 1 Rule of PC builders: Never Install any Hardware or Software When/If your tired in the slightest; as you'll just want to rush it along, just to 'get it done.' And of course by doing this you'll over look the basic stuff you need to do the simple stuff step-by-step, like I did I guess.

And frankly, for such a experienced PC man as myself it is rather embarrassing to even bring this oversight on my part up. After sooo many different O/S version Installs, on different Hard Drives over the years, this was the first time I did this; and the last time.

Uhhhh........ I guess I'm 1% wiser now.........

.......maybe 2%

LOL....It seems like my entire computer experience has been "learned the hard way". I remember back in the Windows 3.1 days and tinkering with the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to get every last bit of memory free.

Thanks for the heads up though regarding the issue.

 

[emjem]

Well, I just used the WDC utility to partition and format a new 40 gig hdd -- Win2k -- with no problem whatever. Only set up one partition though. So maybe it's the size of the hard drive and/or the number of partitions that's a problem?

Why use the drive manufacturers utility?? Because it formats a new hard drive in under a minute whereas the Windows format process takes mucho time.

 

[foxkm]

The only reason to use the WD tools disk is to install a drive overlay which will fool older bioses to accept larger drives. This is really only necessary for 95/98/ME since 2000/XP is smart enough to not even bother reading the bios and will go by what the drive's firmware says and not the motherboard says. If your system can't detect drives larger than 40 gig properly, you probably don't want to put 2000/XP on the machine anyway. Keep the disk since you wil want wddiag when your drive fails.