# Windows ME doesn't recognize new HD **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-doesnt-recognize-new-hd/341045 "2006-01-22T00:12:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-doesnt-recognize-new-hd/341045/1 "2006-01-22T00:12:36Z")
I’m in the process of updating my wife’s PC, and I put in a new 60 GB HD so I can clone the old 15 GB to it, before installing XP. BIOS recognized the new disk, and I managed to partition it and format it just fine. However, when I restarted the system, the existing WinME doesn’t acknowledge the new hardware. Any ideas why? FWIW, when I formatted the drive, I used an XP install disk as my bootable media, and I formatted for the NTFS file system, just in case that’s the problem… ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-doesnt-recognize-new-hd/341045/2 "2006-01-22T00:19:26Z")
Yep, that’s the problem. ME doesn’t recognise NTFS - you need it formatted in FAT32 ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-doesnt-recognize-new-hd/341045/3 "2006-01-22T00:45:16Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > I’m in the process of updating my wife’s PC, and I put in a new 60 GB HD so I can clone the old 15 GB to it, before installing XP. > > BIOS recognized the new disk, and I managed to partition it and format it just fine. However, when I restarted the system, the existing WinME doesn’t acknowledge the new hardware. Any ideas why? > > FWIW, when I formatted the drive, I used an XP install disk as my bootable media, and I formatted for the NTFS file system, just in case that’s the problem… Yeah, what GM said. But why bother copying the stuff off the old drive? Just do a clean install of XP on the new drive and mount the old drive on as the second drive. Then you can pull anything you like from the old drive. Note that you will have to reinstall your app software on the new drive. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-doesnt-recognize-new-hd/341045/4 "2006-01-22T00:59:42Z")
> [@nivlac](#): > > Yeah, what GM said. But why bother copying the stuff off the old drive? Just do a clean install of XP on the new drive and mount the old drive on as the second drive. Then you can pull anything you like from the old drive. Note that you will have to reinstall your app software on the new drive. Because: - I don’t want to reinstall all that crap… - The XP I have to install is an update edition, not a stand alone - I don’t have any ME disks to do a clean install on the new HD. Compaq didn’t send them. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-doesnt-recognize-new-hd/341045/5 "2006-01-22T01:06:35Z")
FYI, I’m pretty sure that installing an update edition _doesn’t_ require you to have the previous version actually installed. At the appropriate moment during installation, you can insert the full old version CD and point it to that - that will be enough to verify that you qualify for the upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-doesnt-recognize-new-hd/341045/6 "2006-01-22T03:46:37Z")
**DarrenS** is right - Windows XP (and indeed all upgrade editions of Microsoft Windows products) _will_ work like that. You can have it either [ol] [li]upgrade the currently installed OS[/li][li]detect a currently installed OS and then format the disk and do a clean install of the new OS[/li]or [li]let it fail the search, and insert a CD for an older OS version when it asks you to, then continue with setup.[/li][/ol] As an aside, I recommend the NTFS format over FAT32. As for your applications… that’s still up to you. If it’s that big a deal, go ahead and try it - you can always do a [clean install](http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316941) if you’re not happy with the results. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-doesnt-recognize-new-hd/341045/7 "2006-01-22T05:01:00Z")
Indeed, I _strongly_ suggest you do not upgrade to XP over top of WinME. ME has too many problems and they’ll tend to migrate and mutate when XP is installed over top. (I speak from experience unfortunately) XP is happiest and most stable when installed cleanly. You may have to reinstall all your apps and the like, but it really is the best way. If you do an upgrade install, it won’t be long before you’ll have to redo your system again and do a clean install – your migration almost certainly won’t go cleanly and the problems that will make their way in will make life harder down the road. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-doesnt-recognize-new-hd/341045/8 "2006-01-22T16:05:06Z")
> [@Mindfield](#): > > Indeed, I _strongly_ suggest you do not upgrade to XP over top of WinME. ME has too many problems and they’ll tend to migrate and mutate when XP is installed over top. (I speak from experience unfortunately) This is very good advice - I strongly advise you to take it. > [@](#): > > - I don’t want to reinstall all that crap… Depending on the vintage of some of your old applications, XP may not want to play with them - compatability mode is pretty good, but it does fall over sometimes, particularly with apps which were pushing the limits a bit in their day, usually games and such. In any event, I think you’d be better off reinstalling old apps rather than relying on them getting picked up properly. Having said that, I have tried everything up to and including yanking a disk out of a working machine and putting it in a new box, booting it up and feeding it dozens of driver disks as it worked through a whole PCs worth of ‘new hardware’ - it’s amazing what you can get away with… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-me-doesnt-recognize-new-hd/341045/9 "2006-01-22T21:11:08Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > Because: > > - I don’t want to reinstall all that crap… > - The XP I have to install is an update edition, not a stand alone > - I don’t have any ME disks to do a clean install on the new HD. Compaq didn’t > send them. - Your crap may become crappier under XP. See **slaphead** ’s comments. - The XP update edition is the full edition. But if you do a clean install on the new hard drive, you will be prompted to insert a disc with the old OS to prove that you can use the update. So you will need to get your hands on such a disc. Ask Compaq for it or borrow a disc from a friend. Just about any older version of Windows will qualify. I’ve done many XP installs, and a clean install is the way to go if you want to avoid downstream aggravation. But it’s up to you.