0b81c3ab   
   XPost: alt.windows-xp, microsoft.public.windowsxp.setup_deployment,   
   microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support   
   XPost: microsoft.public.windowsxp.general   
   From: greegor47@gmail.com   
      
   External hard drive cases are cheap on eBay,   
   often direct from Hong Kong to your door.   
   I got one that was beautiful unless you look   
   at the adapter circuit board closely.   
   Flux mess and corrosion on solder joints.   
   Failed too, but it was so cheap and it was all shipping   
   and on buyers part for returns so not worth returning.   
      
   I got some other IDE/SATA adapter boards for   
   other purposes.  Had good luck with one type but   
   some others are not worth effort to ship back.   
      
   You got lots of good advice but I would add the suspicion   
   about the adapter circuit board being no good.   
      
   Do you have a desktop system with an IDE port?   
   I'd put each IDE onto another system's IDE port   
   and run up the Windows Install CD to delete   
   partitions and create new partitions.   
      
   If you use the options right in the install CD you   
   can partition all three then exit or reboot.   
      
   Until the drive is formatted it may not show up   
   in parts of Windows.   Unformatted partitions   
   do show up in the disk manager utility.   
      
   Control Panel >   
       Administrative tools >   
         Computer Management >   
             Disk Management   
      
   That utility allows formatting of raw partitions.   
      
   I don't fully trust third party programs for formatting.   
      
   Once you have a known good formatted drive, then   
   if you hook it up through the external adapter and USB   
   you eliminated the possibility of bad drive.   
      
   If you have a spare power supply UNIT power   
   the external IDE using that to eliminate power   
   usage as the culprit.   
      
   OLD IDE drives tend to use more power than   
   later model IDE drives, too.   
      
   That's why a POWERED external USB drive   
   case would be better than one that gets power   
   from one or two USB connectors.   
      
   Doesn't SP3 include drivers for external usb drives?   
      
   So:   
   Eliminate possible format issue by doing that   
   directly or on a working good machine.   
   Eliminate power drain issue using a good old power supply unit   
      
   Then let us know how it goes!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)