multiple external hard disk drives

[esttres]

I have a WD My Book Essential connected via USB to my computer (Dell
4500s running XPHome). When I connect my wife's Ipod to another usb
connection, it takes the My Book off line. I've already given them
different drive letters, Z for My Book, T for Ipod.

What I did discover is that they are both given the disk number of 1,
using the computer management/disk management utility in xp.

How do I get XP to recognize them both at the same time, maybe calling
the Ipod disk 2, so that I can use them at the same time?

 

[RalfG]

Check the USB devices in Device Manager to find which port/hub the drive and
Ipod are connected to.
The harddrive (if it has external power) is a low power high bandwidth
device which wouldn't work well if another device shared the same port. It
may also be configured for quick removal (hot-plugging) rather than
performance. Changing to performance mode (drive properties from Safely
Remove Hardware icon) might affect whether Windows shuts the HD down when
the Ipod is inserted.

Sometimes front USB ports were wired into rear USB ports such that you could
use one or the other but not both at the same time. Although 4 physical
ports were present the USB Hub only supported 2 at a time.