hi guys just tryed to had a new 2nd wdc sata hard drive to my pc which is on windows xp pro o.s but the pc is not reconizing it on boot up but in disk mangement i get disk unknown with the red circlre with a line through . any help appricated to get this sorted ....thanx

If the drive shows Unknown, right click on the word Unknown and choose Initialize. Follow the wizard, accepting the defaults. The drive should now be labeled Unallocated.


If the drive shows as Unallocated, right click on the word Unallocated and choose New Partition (2000/XP) or New Simple Volume (Vista/Win7). Follow the wizard, accepting the default settings. Clicking finish will begin the format process. The format will generally take 10-15min, but can vary depending on drive size. When the format is complete the drive can be found under My Computer labeled New Volume.

If you wish to change the name of the drive, right click on the for the drive icon and choose rename from the menu.

could try This suggestion

Originally Posted by unison

If the drive shows Unknown, right click on the word Unknown and choose Initialize. Follow the wizard, accepting the defaults. The drive should now be labeled Unallocated.


If the drive shows as Unallocated, right click on the word Unallocated and choose New Partition (2000/XP) or New Simple Volume (Vista/Win7). Follow the wizard, accepting the default settings. Clicking finish will begin the format process. The format will generally take 10-15min, but can vary depending on drive size. When the format is complete the drive can be found under My Computer labeled New Volume.

If you wish to change the name of the drive, right click on the for the drive icon and choose rename from the menu.

cheers unison...that did the trick ..thanx again for takin time to help

Originally Posted by basher

cheers unison...that did the trick ..thanx again for takin time to help

glad you got it sorted