Windows XP wont recognise my External Hard Drive!

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rachel53usa

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I have recently purchased a Hitachi 30GB USB 2.0 External Hard Disk Drive. When I plug it into my laptop (Toshiba Satellite 2450 with Windows XP) it "bings" to let me know its been recognised, and shows up in the "Safely Remove Hardware" options but not in "My Computer".

I've looked here & at some other tech help sites & they suggested going to Disk Management & assigning a drive letter to it, but i can't do that as it doesnt show up in Disk Management. It shows up under Device Manager, Disk Drive & it says there that the device appears to be working fine.
really don't know what to do!!

Have all the latest windows/microsoft updates/Service packs etc...the hard drive works fine on another PC and have tried disconnecting/reconnecting (there is no external power supply needed), the drive gets connected straight through to the laptop via usb cable. Also tried another usb cable incase it was that but no different!:confused:

Any ideas?!

Any help would be greatly appreciated otherwise ive just wasted a lot of money! grr
 
does the BIOS pick it up as a removable drive? also try putting it in to a different usb port?
 
Hi. thanks for replying.

have tried different USB ports & no change but not sure what you mean by BIOS picking it up as a removable drive!?

the computer knows its there (hence it being in the device manager section) but just doesnt recognise it as a drive for some reason
 
External HDD

Are you in the UK? Also what is the product code for the external hard drive, that way you can go to the Hitachi site to see if their are any known conflicts when running with XP?
 
yes am in the UK - why?



tried the hitachi website but didnt have any luck



MODEL: HTS428030F9AT00



A/A0A0 A/A



CYL16383 H16 S63



B1APAC25J827



Thats all the numerical info on the back of the drive!!
 
there is no external power supply needed
Click to expand...
Borrow, beg or buy a "powered HighSpeed USB Hub", (make sure it says HighSpeed) cheap enough ... possibility your laptop is not powering up the HD

;)
 
Try this ...

Go to Start/Run, and type DEVMGMT.MSC
highlight the USB Hub devices, Action menu, "Uninstall", then restart Windows, it should find the device drivers again automatically.

may even be cheaper than buying a hub. :D
 
muckshifter said:

Try this ...

Go to Start/Run, and type DEVMGMT.MSC
highlight the USB Hub devices, Action menu, "Uninstall", then restart Windows, it should find the device drivers again automatically.

may even be cheaper than buying a hub. :D

Borrow, beg or buy a "powered HighSpeed USB Hub", (make sure it says HighSpeed) cheap enough ... possibility your laptop is not powering up the HD

;)
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Click to expand...

I tried the uninstalling thing...just the same as before.

But with the power stuff, I think you might be onto something. was confused about why the USB cable it came with had 3 connecting points (1 for hard drive, then 2 the same for laptop usb) perhaps 1 is meant to be connected to an external power supply.

no-one i know has a "powered HighSpeed USB Hub"...any suggestions where to buy a cheap but realiable one?
 
thanks everybody for all your help! really appreciate it.

just noticed on the instructions that came with the drive it says:

"The USB bus can provide a supply with rated power or 5V/500mA for USB equipment. when purchasing the hard disk, please note that no seperate supply is needed for USB hard disk if the current of your hard disk doesnt exceed 500mA. when supplying the hard disk with usb bus, it is a better choice to connect your usb hard disk you choose exceeds 500mA, you may need a power line specially for computers supplied by the manufacturer. supplies for some usb interfaces of laptop & desk-top computers are not sufficient & an external supply is necessary."

so i think this is agreeing with muckshifter that may be something to do with power supply.

don't really know what a "powered HighSpeed USB Hub" is so any suggestions on where to buy from (or more specifically what to buy!) would be greatly appreciated!

i had a little look on the internet and found these couple of sites...is this what im meant to be getting? (sorry sound so thick...really not sure bout gadgety things!!)

http://www.directusbstore.co.uk/cnb...&op=catalogue-products-null&prodCategoryID=21

http://www.dabs.com/ProductList.aspx?SearchTerms=powered%20HighSpeed%20USB%20Hub"&SearchMode=All&SearchKey=All&PageMode=3&NavigationKey=0&SearchType=1
 
Any computer "store" will have them ... I personally would not pay over £20 ... the Key words to look for is "HiSpeed" (as a blue & red logo) and it has its own power pack ... :thumb:

http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/

... even Maplin has them. ;)
 
again. thank you for your help & getting back to me! found some on the internet (including on maplin - thanks for that) but just wanted to check they were the right thing before i bought them...would you mind just confirming that these are okay to get?



http://www.directusbstore.co.uk/cnb...catalogue-product_info-null&prodCategoryID=21

i was thinking the " [font=Arial,Geneva,Helvetica,Geneva,Sans-Serif]Powered Version of the Four-Port Mini USB 2.0 Hub from LinkWorld "[/font]

http://www.directusbstore.co.uk/cnb...catalogue-product_info-null&prodCategoryID=21

I was thinking the " [font=Arial,Geneva,Helvetica,Geneva,Sans-Serif]4 Port Pocket Hub with Mains Adaptor"[/font]

http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...l&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0&v=2#infoarea

http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...l&SearchMode=All&NavigationKey=0&v=2#infoarea

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx...red HighSpeed USB Hub&ModuleNo=35787&doy=19m3

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx...red HighSpeed USB Hub&ModuleNo=37065&doy=19m3

Are these the right thing? thought the ones from directusbstore sounded quite good...only because i could understand that the power was coming from the mains!

thanks again :D
 
external hdd

ASDA sell USB Hubs made by Trust for £9.99. Ooops didn't read your last post! As Muckshifter said make sure it has the "high speed" logo, you could always go and see if you have a maplin or pcworld near by as well?? Where did you buy the hard drive from? That way we can look at the specs etc
 
Last edited:
rachel53usa said:
again. thank you for your help & getting back to me! found some on the internet (including on maplin - thanks for that) but just wanted to check they were the right thing before i bought them...would you mind just confirming that these are okay to get?

Are these the right thing? thought the ones from directusbstore sounded quite good...only because i could understand that the power was coming from the mains!

thanks again :D
Click to expand...
They are the "right thing" but the two from Maplin are NOT HiSpeed, so don't buy them ...

:thumb:
 
me again! right well i bought the usb hub & its made no difference, the hard drive still only appears under "device manager" & not disk management. i bought it from ebay (i know now i probably shouldnt have done as no after-sales support etc but the drive works...just not on my laptop!)


heres the link to the page:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8778239040&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWN:IT&rd=1

i found a little bit of info on this webpage:

http://www.mobilityguru.com/2004/12/13/nine_notebook_hard_drives_make_their_debuts/page6.html

other info (from hitachi):

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/586F34D68EDF818686256D2D006B3D2C

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/4E951A44FCD9169C86256D2D006B9EE8

http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/si...i_baseMenuID=22f0deefa8f3967dafa0466460e4f0a0

urgh! i was really hoping it was just the lack of power...but its gotta be something else now!

...any ideas?!
 
external hdd

All the info given suggests that your hard drive is a 3.5" some of these require a separate power supply to power them, even though it is said you can power them via the usb port, does the external hard drive work on other pc's?

Oopps did not read your email in full, just checking on the net now at the specs:thumb:
 
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OK, we need to go back a little more to basics here ... you have ruled out it being the external HD as it works with another system, yes? ... so it must be the Laptop at fault somewhere.

Is your XP up-to-date ... in that you have the "newer/latest" drivers for USB 2 ... check with Windows Update Site AND your Laptop site.

Does the USB work on the Laptop with anything, say a mouse or printer?

Does the USB HUB work with any other device?

:thumb:



* I really wish people would "save" money and NOT 'shop' on eBay for computer goods.*
 
Try:

1. Adding new hardware from control panel
2. Re-installing driver from system device manager options
3. Are you sure you don't need external power supply...?
4. Unplug device several times to see if windows find driver

Good luck !.
 
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