USB recognition problem

I switched to a Dell Dimension with WinXP Home. SPs up to and including SP2 but not SP3.

I need to use the USB to access my old hard drive which is now sitting around, waiting to help... I use one of those special cables which mates the HD to the USB port, plus an external power supply for the HD.

The USB ports on this computer work properly with my pocket drive. But I can't get the computer to recognize the external HD when it's hooked up. (4 ports on the back, 2 on the front; they respond differently to the recognition, with respect to the icons set in the systray and the manner of Safely Disconnect... the icons displayed vary between the standard disconnect icon, sometimes with an icon showing the trident arrow of the USB device [which I don't understand...] ).

The computer recognizes the USB hookup (using the front ports), putting the USB disconnect icon in the systray. But the drive itself isn't reflected (as F: ) anywhere - not in My Computer, not in Windows Explorer, not with a balloon, not with any sort of installation or "what do you want to do with this?" window...

This HD hooks up USB-properly on another computer using Vista (surprise?!), but it's not my computer so it doesn't do me much good. I want to be able to access this HD to extract some data which otherwise I'll loose, except for having somebody else do it.

Any hints on what to check, what to use, to gain access on my Dell?
And -- What is "firmware"?

Thnx.
:confused

 

whenever you hook up the drive to your computer, try bringing up drive management (right click on my computer, click manage, and then click on the subcategory drive management). See what it says.

 

It's reflected in the subcat, as WDC 64, which is correct, as it's a Western Digital. It says it's working properly. The drivers are from SP2.

So, how do I get an icon for it, to show somewhere?

Thanks.

 

Now that I've found it referenced in Drive Management, I don't know what to do with it! Drive Management doesn't give me any option toward accessing the HD.

Anybody?

 

Hello Whomper I'm trying to catch up, under disk management did it give you a drive letter or just a name for WDC64

And just to be clear why are you asking about firmware, has a message come up asking about it or is it just curiosity.
Firmware in laymans term is basically software for a piece of hardware. It give the hard ware instructions on how to perform.

 

Thanks for responding!

It only showed that the WDC was there and that it was working properly... Nothing else... Nothing else, anywhere!

So, if my system "sees" the drive, why can't I access it in some fashion? I don't want to execute any programs on it, just find some data files.

And before, when my pocket drive would be recognized, I'd get a balloon with the drive letter F in it; and it also would appear in My Computer. But not with this drive. (I think I disabled balloons so that they wouldn't pop up indiscriminately; would that mess things up here?)

And, occasionally, depending on which USB port I'd try, there would be an installation window showing the process; when that installation was complete, there'd still be no drive letter or other way to access the drive.

Just to recap: Whenever it would be recognized and I couldn't access it, I still had the Safely Remove icon to activate -- and it would work properly.

In trying to find the solution anywhere else, I encountered that word as a solution for some reason why flashdrives wouldn't work. I didn't know if it applied here or not...

Thnx.

 

something on your xp computer is not allowing it to work when you hooked up the drive did you change the jumper settings on the drive to make it a slave and not the master. to be honest i'm not sure if it would make any difference but it's worth a shot.

 

are you saying the the hd disconnect in the systray indicates this drive as f but in my computer it's not there?

 

I started with a setting for 'single'. That didn't work. Then tried the setting as it comes from the factory (sorta a null jump), which didn't work either. Then changed to master, then slave - no favorable change with either setting.

Maybe I should go back and change the balloon settings back to default or whatever...!

I'm still open to suggestions!

Thanks.

 

I tried this, but no change!

Still need suggestions or a solution!

 

I would figure that the hard drive has some filesystem damage that is preventing windows from using it. If you can look at My Computer and guess what drive letter it might be (the first letter in the alphabet not used by My Computer other than A an B), then you might be able to use check-disk. Just open a command prompt by clicking start-> run -> type cmd and press enter. When you have the command prompt open, type in "chkdsk c: /r" but without the quotes and replacing c: with the drive you think has been assigned to the drive.

Ok, after typing all of that up, I realized you have access to a Vista computer that does detect it. Take it to that computer and run chkdsk using it. The only difference in the process is you have to open the command prompt with administrative access. Go to your start menu and click all programs. Then click accessories. Then right click on command prompt and click Run as administrator. Then you can run the chkdsk command I detailed earlier, using my computer to find out which letter drive it is.

If the chkdsk does not resolve your problem. Copy all important information over onto the Vista computer and format the drive (using drive management I told you about in a previous post). Copy the data back after formatting and see if it will detect in your XP machine. If it does not, it is a physical problem with the drive or the cables.

 

I'll try the ChkDsk on this computer first... In the Manage/Devices/Disk drives, it reported that the device was working properly. But I tried to find a better driver - XP says there isn't a better driver. I also tried to use Run to open F: but it couldn't find it.

As for the Vista computer -- it wasn't mine! I have that option of returning to that computer (a serious effort in itself, since it's about 35 miles away!) and either extracting what I want or just copying stuff over, and I'll probably end up using that option. When I used that computer to open this drive, it was with the same cables I'm using now; so they're okay.

It's got to be something about (this Dell) or (Win XP Home) that hasn't learned how to do this! My gut (and that's a large resource!) says it's something simple but hidden in Windows... But before I get driven totally insane, I'll end up resorting to the distant Vista solution. I'm not gonna wipe the drive clean, even after copying or extracting whatever... just so's I'll have it to keep trying to solve! If anyone has any more ideas, I'm listening and hoping!

I'll get back with some sort of response to the suggestions about ChkDsk, etc. I'm not closing down this thread just yet!

Thanks!