Solution 1: Try first because it's easy if it's the problem.

Have you checked the status of excluded folders? Database>Excluded folder settings.

1. Go to Database -> Exclude Folders
2. Verify that EHD is not listed in this list. If it is in the list that is your problem. Click on it and select Remove. (So now you really are removing it from the exclude list which means it is being included.) Things should work now.

Solution 2: Give your drive a serial number

If the External hard drive mounts as removable rather than a system drive (some externals do this for some reason... it's pretty hit and miss) or there is no serial available for that drive (or the serial is 0000-0000) then ACDSee won't be able to manage images for that drive.

Directions for Windows XP & Vista.

To determine if this is the problem,

1. Go to Start -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Information. This is a neat tool to show info on your whole system.
2. Click on Components, Storage and Drives. The right window now should show all your drives listed.
3. Scroll down to find your external hard drive.
4. You want to find Volume Serial Number for it. If it does have a serial number then this isn't the problem and the rest of the solution will not help. If the serial is zero or Not Available, then carry on with these directions...

I would expect you are seeing this:

System Info for a Seagate EHD:

Drive E:
Description Local Fixed Disk
Compressed No
File System FAT32
Volume Name SEA_DISC
Volume Serial Number Not Available

Power up my EHD & keep it on and connected throughout this process.

1. First you need to go to Microsoft's website and download this small tool: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/VolumeId.mspx
   
2. Save it to your desktop.
3. After downloading it, unzip the file and save the unzipped volumeid.exe to your desktop.
   
4. Next bring up Windows Explorer and with your EHD attached see what drive letter it is assigned to. Mine is "S".   Yours will most likely be different. Remember the letter.
   • Previous User Questions:
   • This won't change what it was before VolumeID, right?  Currently my EHD is drive E: and I'm concerned (anxious really) that by doing this, it will reassign that drive to a different letter - and if that happens, won't it affect every file I have on my EHD - in essence they no longer will be there?
   • ANSWER:  This program should not change the drive letter or reassign it. What you are doing is putting a serial number on that drive letter. You should not lose anything.
5. Shut down any applications you have running.
6. On XP: Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt.
   
7. On Vista: From Start -> All Programs -> Accessories Right-click on the Command Prompt shortcut, and select the Run As Administrator command.  This should bring up that lovely black screen where you can type.
8. On XP: type "cd Desktop" with no quotes and press Enter  (the promt should now say:  "C:\Documents and Settings\your_user_name_on_computer\Desktop>")
9. On Vista:type "cd c:\users\your_user_name_on_computer\Desktop" with no quotes and press Enter
10. Let's verify that you can find the volumeid.exe file.  At the prompt, type: "dir volume*" with no quotes and see if volumeid.exe is listed in the results.  If it is continue on...   If you do not see it, you need to make sure you are in the right folder.  Either move the volumeid.exe to the folder you are in using Windows Explorer or type "cd foldername_where_volumeid is in"  Repeat "dir volume*" and keep repeating this step until you can see volumeid.exe in the list.  For example if you unzipped it and it created a folder, you may need to type "cd volumeid".
11. Using the VolumeId Tool:
    • You now want to type something with this formating:
    • "volumeid driveletter: xxxx-xxxx"
      • where driveletter is the letter you remember from that previous step.
      • The xxxx-xxxx are some number that is all not zeros. My understanding is you don't have to a specific number. My ehd has a 9425-0e02. I think you can be creative. So in my case I would type:
      • "volumeid s: 1234-1234" (do not type quotes)
    • After a successful attempt you should get something like this:

      • 			C:\>volumeid s: 1234-1234
        			
        
        			 
        			
        
        			
        
        			VolumeID V2.01 - Set disk volume id
        			Copyright (C) 1997-1999 Mark Russinovich
        			Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com
        			
        
        			
        
        			Volume ID for drive s: updated to 1234-1234
        			
        
        			

12. At this point, your computer may be respond with errors if you try to access the ehd.
13. Exit the C prompt by typing "exit" (do not type quotes) and pressing enter.
14. Reboot as normal. Start -> turn off computer -> reboot.
15. Hopefully after reboot, ACDSee should recognize your EHD and you should be able to catalog.