Unable to find wdc wd20ears-00mvwbo in windows 7

I am using Windows 7 32-bit. Western Digital Caviar Green 2 TB states that its "prepared for use, as it is" in the latest operating systems, however, when I go to "My Computer" I cannot locate the hard drive my desk. I did get a message that says "WDC ATA 00MVWB0 WD20EARS-installed ready for use," but nothing to find. Does this mean I have to go to "Disk Management" and initialize and format? Or maybe build bridges or running the line WDC?

I just want to use the WD20EARS as secondary storage to back up all my data for safe keeping, but I'm worried after reading that has failed for the diagnosis of many people. How reliable is a hard drive only for storage and backup or an external box? Also I have to initialize and format it so it can be detected in Windows 7?

Yes, you should go to Disk Management to "initiate", "partition" and format the drive. Internal hard drives are never delivered "format", because you never know what operating system is installed WDC.

External drives are considered better backup option instead of backup unit on board. You can also turn off the power and data cable to the disk internal backup once the backup finished. Yes, go to Disk Manager and initialize, partition and format the disk. Select the allocation unit size of 64K when formatting for better performance. No need to use WD rank for Win7.If your motherboard supports only two SATA (3 GB / s) may need to use a jumper on pin 5 and 6 on the hard drive if you have a problem with the automatic detection of speed.

Just one last question, however, are these new WD20EARS reliable storage? I'll save my work lives of all data on it in case any of my external hard drives to fail. So much is at stake in the WDC-WD20EARS 00MVWB0. If you believe that the model is dependable .I happily buy a Western Digital that has less troubles then the variety known Caviar Green, other than I necessitate to know before dumping my entire collection of photos, movies, MP3 and other jobs that.

I would not trust any new drive if I were you. Especially the big ones. Always have two backups instead of one and products using two different manufacturers, if possible. Always good idea to keep a backup line in a safe place. If you need actual backup, using synchronization tools such as MS-free Sync Toy to produce a mirror image of separate folders / chosen. So having a clear view of the elements that had supported. Most backup software compressed backups occur and can sometimes cause problems when trying to restore.

I am also having problems with this disc and Windows 7 64 bits. I installed the update to Windows after buying had a week ago. At first, I was able to access the disk management first time to partition and format then stopped being detected in windows disk management and complete. I have 4 other units in this system. 1 SATA DVD, 2 IDE, SATA Seagate 500 GB Caviar Green 1 and 2TB of this WD. For a while I could not see the new unit at all so I started to change cables and channels.

When that did not work I updated my MB bios.Immediately after I was able to see the new drive in drive management partition so I started again and finished even format the partition first, before disappearing again. Again, I cannot see anything in either the BIOS or windows. I can see all the other units. It also makes a lot of noise when it spins up. More than any of my other albums. Has anyone seen these units disappear like this?

If possible, try using another PC or use a USB external enclosure to test the unit. I am suspecting a hardware failure on the disk. You may return the disk (s) to sell or contact WD for replacement warranty. Again, if there is a chance, try to get a different model.