USB External HDD

[Guest]

There is a definitive "issue" with Windows XP and USB external HDD. Here are the facts: USB HDD with its OWN external power supply, SP1 installed, USB 2.0 drivers (by the way my new Dell 600m came with USB 2.0 and a Lexmar USB Jumdrive works fine when plugged in to either USB ports on the laptop), the external HDD is recognized in device manager, windows claims device working properly, external HDD does NOT appear under Disk Mangement, even tried connecting the external USB HDD through a PCMCIA USB card - no help, the external HDD works fine on a windows 98 laptop with USB 1.1(it is seen by the windows 98 laptop,it can be written to and read from with no problems), the same problem described above is encountered using another PC with windows XP. All the answers I see here is go to disk management and assign a drive letter and format the drive (by the way, this external HDD with its own power supply is formatted FAT32 and there are NO other USB devices connected to the laptop or the other desktop PC with windows XP). Now that advice is all well and good, but if the external USB drive does NOT appear in disk mangement, this advice is moot. Just reading all these posts with the same problem, which by the way is not only on this site but many other sites, seems to indicate there is a significant "issue" with windows XP and external USB HDD's. Now is there any definitive procedure or "fix" or a truthful discussion about this significant "issue" from microsoft?

 

[Bob Harris]

There may also an issue with your PC, or a class of PCs. I have seen
external, powered USB hard drives work fine on an assortment of Gateways,
Dells, Compaqs, IBMs, and even my home-built PC (ASUS P4S8X motherboard).
Some have XP SP-1, some have XP without SP-1, but the drives work fine on
all. USB drive brands include Maxtor, Buslink, Lacie.

So, this "issue" is not as simple as you might think. It is possible that
some PCs with some USB hardware may not be properly supported by the default
drivers that come with XP. To sort out what is supported and what is not,
and with exactly what BIOS, drivers, etc could be a very large task.

The best I can suggest is that if the USB drive works on other PCs running
XP, then contact the PC maker for the one it fails to work with. If a drive
fails to work on all PCs running XP, but works on PCs running 98, then
contact Microsoft. Of course, contacting te USB drive maker might also be
useful, since they often keep track of what combination of hardware+software
work and don't work, and someimes can provide tweaks to fix things.

There is a definitive "issue" with Windows XP and USB external HDD. Here

are the facts: USB HDD with its OWN external power supply, SP1 installed,
USB 2.0 drivers (by the way my new Dell 600m came with USB 2.0 and a Lexmar
USB Jumdrive works fine when plugged in to either USB ports on the laptop),
the external HDD is recognized in device manager, windows claims device
working properly, external HDD does NOT appear under Disk Mangement, even
tried connecting the external USB HDD through a PCMCIA USB card - no help,
the external HDD works fine on a windows 98 laptop with USB 1.1(it is seen
by the windows 98 laptop,it can be written to and read from with no
problems), the same problem described above is encountered using another PC
with windows XP. All the answers I see here is go to disk management and
assign a drive letter and format the drive (by the way, this external HDD
with its own power supply is formatted FAT32 and there are NO other USB
devices connected to the laptop or the other desktop PC with windows XP).
Now that advice is all well and good, but if the external USB drive does NOT
appear in disk mangement, this advice is moot. Just reading all these posts
with the same problem, which by the way is not only on this site but many
other sites, seems to indicate there is a significant "issue" with windows
XP and external USB HDD's. Now is there any definitive procedure or "fix" or
a truthful discussion about this significant "issue" from microsoft?

 

[Peter]

What Bob sez is probably mostly true, except for the systems without SP1
installed, I question that, since SP1 enables USB2.0 support in XP and
othing else will do it,; not drivers from a third party or anyhting
else).... but, one more thing; have you tried unplugging the HD from the
USB port, rebooting and then plugging it back, allowing XP to 'recognize'
it as NEW hardware?
Alos check to see (you may have already tried this) gone to your System and
look under USB devices in Hardware, to see if there is an enhanced device
listed? (the port, NOT the HD is what we are talking about here) The ONLY
USB2.0 hardware i ever had a problem installing was my new HP 5650 printer,
the system would not load the stuff from the disc and i had to disable USB
printing support (and delete it also) in order to get the disc to load..
What a real pain that was after 5 attempts.....
i have an external HD that works just fine under XP and is recognized in
Disk Management; Good Luck..

There is a definitive "issue" with Windows XP and USB external HDD. Here

are the facts: USB HDD with its OWN external power supply, SP1 installed,
USB 2.0 drivers (by the way my new Dell 600m came with USB 2.0 and a Lexmar
USB Jumdrive works fine when plugged in to either USB ports on the laptop),
the external HDD is recognized in device manager, windows claims device
working properly, external HDD does NOT appear under Disk Mangement, even
tried connecting the external USB HDD through a PCMCIA USB card - no help,
the external HDD works fine on a windows 98 laptop with USB 1.1(it is seen
by the windows 98 laptop,it can be written to and read from with no
problems), the same problem described above is encountered using another PC
with windows XP. All the answers I see here is go to disk management and
assign a drive letter and format the drive (by the way, this external HDD
with its own power supply is formatted FAT32 and there are NO other USB
devices connected to the laptop or the other desktop PC with windows XP).
Now that advice is all well and good, but if the external USB drive does NOT
appear in disk mangement, this advice is moot. Just reading all these posts
with the same problem, which by the way is not only on this site but many
other sites, seems to indicate there is a significant "issue" with windows
XP and external USB HDD's. Now is there any definitive procedure or "fix" or
a truthful discussion about this significant "issue" from microsoft?

 

[bob]

No help here just another datapoint.

I have a USB HDD that I can use with a windows ME, and a
windows 2000 pro machine, but haven't been able to get it
to work on windows XP. If you find a solution to your
problem please let me know and I will do likewise.

-----Original Message-----
There is a definitive "issue" with Windows XP and USB

external HDD. Here are the facts: USB HDD with its OWN
external power supply, SP1 installed, USB 2.0 drivers (by
the way my new Dell 600m came with USB 2.0 and a Lexmar
USB Jumdrive works fine when plugged in to either USB
ports on the laptop), the external HDD is recognized in
device manager, windows claims device working properly,
external HDD does NOT appear under Disk Mangement, even
tried connecting the external USB HDD through a PCMCIA USB
card - no help, the external HDD works fine on a windows
98 laptop with USB 1.1(it is seen by the windows 98
laptop,it can be written to and read from with no
problems), the same problem described above is encountered
using another PC with windows XP. All the answers I see
here is go to disk management and assign a drive letter
and format the drive (by the way, this external HDD with
its own power supply is formatted FAT32 and there are NO
other USB devices connected to the laptop or the other
desktop PC with windows XP). Now that advice is all well
and good, but if the external USB drive does NOT appear in
disk mangement, this advice is moot. Just reading all
these posts with the same problem, which by the way is not
only on this site but many other sites, seems to indicate
there is a significant "issue" with windows XP and
external USB HDD's. Now is there any definitive procedure
or "fix" or a truthful discussion about this
significant "issue" from microsoft?