Vista - IMPORTANT: Anyone Having Hard Drive Recognition Problems READ

Hello ALL,

For the last week, ever since I loaded Vista Ultimate, I have been having
problems with Vista recognizing my HD in the "Computer or My Computer" area.
I added a 2nd Internal Drive and could not get it to show up there for
nothing. Searched, questioned, searched some more and no luck. Mind you
this hard drive was recognized everywhere else! So, 3 days go by, no
answers, so what to do, Drop back and PUNT!

The following actions were performed and the problem was fixed, actually ALL
my issues with the area under "Computer or My Computer" have magically been
Fixed! Here is what I did:

1. I re-read the new Internal Drive directions (Imagine that, eh). The
directions said to disconnect the old ribbon cable attached to the Mother
Board and use the New One which came with the drive. Something about the
older ribbon cable not being able to communicate the Large Drives correctly.
So, I took out the old and in went the new, who would know, yeah read
directions!

2. Next the manual pointed out that the Ribbon Cable had 3 different color
connectors. The BLUE connector attaches to the Mother Board. The BLACK
connector attaches to the Old Internal Drive and the GRAY connector attaches
to the New Internal Drive. I don't have a clue why there is a difference in
the BLACK and GRAY connectors, but there obviously is one since it was
pointed out!

3. New Internal Drive jumpered to Master. Old Internal Drive jumpered to
Slave. Or vice versa. My New Internal Drive is a faster, higher performance
drive, that is why it was bought.

4. Installed everything, connected all of the cables and closed up the case.

5. Next, Reinstalled XP Pro. Went through the whole recovery process and
reloaded XP Pro! As soon as that was done and I got to the desktop, I
checked "My Computer" and wholla, ALL drives are showing and everything is
reading like it is suppose to! A beautiful thing to see for sure! All
hardware installed and showing up...

6. Do I DARE? What the hey! Re-Installed the Vista Ultimate Upgrade and
wholla! Everything is working and showing up where it is suppose to be! A
Beautiful thing to behold and a sigh of relief for sure....

Now I don't know which step or steps fixed the problem. Maybe it was 1 or
maybe all. All I know, is they all lead to the final resolution, Problem
SOLVED! Since there are many threads out there relating to this type of
issue, maybe, hopefully, this will Help others solve there HD issues. My
best suggestion if I may, READ the directions and follow them to the letter
no matter how stupid they may seem. I didn't see the need and look where it
got me, 3-4 days of non-productivity and hair loss, which I cannot afford LOL!

Good Luck! Joey

In case you are wondering what drives I have:
** INTERNAL: Seagate Barricuda 500GB @ 7200RPM with 16MB Burst, Hitachi
Deskstar 250GB @ 7200RPM NO Burst.
** External: Western Digital My Book Premium 750GB @ 7200RPM.