Hard Drive Not Initialized

hi
i have 40 gb internal drive that i use to transfer data within two pcs.One of my PC is new an AMD 4200+ with Asus A8N motherboard and the second one is an old celeron based system.However from the past 15 days am experiencing a strange problem.the older pc doent show the second drive that i connect through IDE cable internally.It displays the drive as a 8gb drive that is "Not Initialized" in the computer management.if i click initialize it gives an error that the task is not completed and all the dat on the disk is also lost.Although the drive works on the newer pc perfectly.
What shud i do to make the drive work on the older pc without losing the data on it.
thanx

What operating systems do both PC's use?

both have windows xp with service pack 2

one thing more i restarted my pc in the morning and everything worked fine but after another reastart the drive is again gone with Not initialised in computer management.So i gusess i shouldnt be initialising the drive as the problem lies somewhere else but have no clue what it is

does anyone experienced such a problem

try to slave the drive using an USB 2 enclousure. check the jusmper as well. and the IDE cable too...

hey man check even the HDD to see if there are any bad conectrors see also the cable. best try a new one, SEE EVEN THERE IS ENOUGHT POWER FROM THE POWER SUPPLY IT GAVES STRANGE SIGHTS SOME TIMES.


AND FOR TRANSFERING DATA USE A USB 2 ENCLOUSURE AND A LAPTOP HDD THEY LIVE MORE :p:p:p:p