just my thoughts

when ever i get errors of similiar devices *sound card, hdd, etc* i throw in a copy of knoppix or a live distro that is compatiable with the device from boot...just to make sure i can use it....cause in my world...if linux doesnt help...then not much else will

so recomendations....get your hands on knoppix or knoppix-std, see if lin recognizes the drive, partation it using cfdisk *just do a fat32 partation to start...you can switch to ntfs if you choose...i belive you should use w95 fat with LBA* and then reboot to windows and see if it is visibal

if not then you know the hard drive is not the problem but either the device drivers or the motherboard...being it worked in linux...it should be able to work in windows.....

if you have any experience with linux then go ahead....if not then back up first....if none then dont worrie about it