External HD not recognized 'completely'

Just got a Seagate 320G 7200 for external use (w/Vantec Nextstar CX enclosure and USB 'Y' wire) for connection to my T61. Running Vista Ultimate 32, [email protected] and 2GB RAM. For some reason, when I go to Back Up Computer in Control Panel/System and Maintenance, it will not recognize the external as an option. The hard drive 'box' remains blank. The LED is lit up on the external - and the tray icon for "Safely Remove Hardware" has it listed as connected, so there is some connection. However, the only option the backup seems to recognize is DVD. I've refreshed the hard drive option on that page, but it still won't recognize the connection and points me back to the DVD. I've tried it with just one USB and with both plugged in. Probably something really obvious that I just can't see. Thanks.

 

Try going to start menu, right click on computer, manage, -> storage -> disk management. It should see your other drive. You'll need to give it a drive letter and partition it.

 

Thanks very much - I'll give that a try. Learn something new every day, I hope!

 

Thanks. That did the trick and it's now NTSF format - status: Health (Primary Partition) according to the Computer Management window. Can I now just use the Vista Ultimate Complete PC Backup and Restore to copy the entire hard drive onto the new hd - and then simply swap the hard drives so I'll have a new 320GB HD in my computer? Or is it more complex than that?