external drive storage

[Guest]

I have acquired a USB external hard drive to store music and pictures. It
works perfectly on my laptop but the desktop will not recognise it. I have
tried uninstalling the cd and dvd drives and although Windows Explorer shows
the presence of the external drive it will not read to contents or save any
files to it. What if anything can I do please?

 

[Elmo]

I have acquired a USB external hard drive to store music and pictures. It
works perfectly on my laptop but the desktop will not recognise it. I have
tried uninstalling the cd and dvd drives and although Windows Explorer shows
the presence of the external drive it will not read to contents or save any
files to it. What if anything can I do please?

USB Help sites:
http://www.usbman.com/WinME USB Guide.htm

General USB troubleshooting in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310575

Troubleshooting for USB drives
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html

 

[dermod]

USB Help sites:http://www.usbman.com/WinME USB Guide.htm

General USB troubleshooting in Windows XPhttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/310575

Troubleshooting for USB driveshttp://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html

A few of questions:
1. Are both computers running the same version of the O/S
2. Has any USB drive ever worked with the desktop
3. Do both systems have the same kind of USB port (USB2?)

 

[Guest]

Thanks Elmo, I've had a look at the links you sent and I think I may have a
conflict of drive letters. The laptop assigns E: to the external, the desktop
assigns F:, could this be why the desktop does not read the files on the
external drive, and why it won't write files to it if the external calls
itself E;?

 

[Elmo]

Thanks Elmo, I've had a look at the links you sent and I think I may have a
conflict of drive letters. The laptop assigns E: to the external, the desktop
assigns F:, could this be why the desktop does not read the files on the
external drive, and why it won't write files to it if the external calls
itself E;?

That could be it. There are other causes mentioned though.

 

[pop]

Thanks Elmo, I've had a look at the links you sent and I think I may have a
conflict of drive letters. The laptop assigns E: to the external, the desktop
assigns F:, could this be why the desktop does not read the files on the
external drive, and why it won't write files to it if the external calls
itself E;?

RMB on "My Computer"

LMB click on "Manage"
LMB select "Disk Management"

I think you will find an answer there.

Pop

 

[Guest]

A few of questions:
1. Are both computers running the same version of the O/S
2. Has any USB drive ever worked with the desktop
3. Do both systems have the same kind of USB port (USB2?)

Both machines run XP Home SP2, this is the first time I've used such an external drive, but I confess I'm not certain whether the desktop connection is USB 1 or 2. Could that be the problem, even when Windows Explorer seems to recognise the drive and assign it a letter but then won't access the files?

 

[Guest]

RMB on "My Computer"

LMB click on "Manage"
LMB select "Disk Management"

I think you will find an answer there.

Pop
Disk Manager does not recognise the drive. I have uninstalled two optical drives so that there are only A: and C: in operation. Windows Explorer then assigns F: to the external but no other program can acccess it. If I try to write files to it, or from it, all I get is a "cannot find path" pop up. Device manager says it is working normally, but won't allow me to do anything with it. Both computers run on XP SP2, both connections are USB2.

 

[Pop]

1) Does Disk Manager on both systems fail to recognize the drive?
2) Explorer can not possible access the drive if Drive Management

USB must get your hard drive hardware information from the HD firmware / controller... information that is normally
obtained from BIOS in the case of an IDE interface.

Can you change the Drive Letter assignment with Drive Management? The reason I ask is from my own experiences. On
occasion the USB assignment of a drive letter is the same letter used by an existing assignment. Of course you can't
see the USB drive because explorer references the first assignment of the same letter.

I have found two ways to create this condition. One is using NET USE * to map a drive, and another is using the MOUNT
command where/when required. That would be a separate discussion.

Pop