External HDD refuses to work on my XP PC

[Exhuminator]

it negates the convenience that I am going for and I still have a lot to learn about networking in general

It's dirt easy. Get a NAS that is self contained with a built in ethernet port. Get a dumb switch, like a cheap four port. Two ethernet cables. Hook your desktop to the switch, hook the NAS to the switch. In XP's Explorer map the NAS as a networked drive using its static IP. It's as easy as that. Or it was the last time I messed with a NAS. From there you will configure the NAS over your computer's internet browser by hitting its static IP as a URL. You might not even need the four port switch if you just use a crossover ethernet cable.

It's more convenient to do it all wirelessly though, and it's not really any more complicated. Actually it can be less complicated if the NAS supports direct access over wifi and your desktop has a wifi card in it.

Or you could be totally crazy and update to Windows 7, considering it's about to be two generations behind as an OS, maybe it's time?

[Anapan]

Those larger than 2TB hard drives from Seagate have a different format than windows reports on them out-of-the-box. It's actually many incompatible with windows partitions. I think Seagate may have them RAID'd through their USB3 interface. Still, the USB3 speeds are awesome.

[nightrnr]

@samsonlonghair
Don't worry, I'll give that a go tomorrow and report back. I have my doubts, but it's worth a try.

@Exhuminator
Yes, I think I could handle that, but I'd have to find a good deal on an NAS thingy. Looking them up, it seems like another $50+ expense, which I'd rather put towards another 2T drive.

Also, [and this is where you're going to think I'm insane], I do have Windows 7 on another PC and the install disc to put it on any PC I want (hand-me-down from a sibling). Not that my current PC in use could benefit much from the install. I'm maxed out at 2GB RAM.

The other PC, just runs really hot and loud. Thinking about getting a single core processor for it, as fresh thermal paste and installing a nicer fan/heatsink didn't help much.
That said, Win7 is nice enough and I like it WAY better than 8.

@Anapan
Yeah, they don't officially support XP anymore. I'm dealing with that fact.
The USB 3.0 speeds are definitely nice (and a future perk for me). But none of the PCs I currently own have compatible ports.
And besides, speed is not all that important for my uses.

[nightrnr]

Well, I separated the drive into 3 equal NTFS partitions (at 32K clusters because I read somewhere that it might be more compatible). It is still not recognized by Windows XP.

I also tried Seatools again. After about 10 minutes with my PCPU usage at 99%, it finally opened and showed my drive. It appears that all it will let me do is run some tests on it. It does not allow me to store any files on the drive.

So I'm still at square 1.

I think the NAS/server option is probably the best solution then.
Or I'll start using the other PC with Win7.
It'll be a while before I'm ready for either option though.