External HDD Not Recognized in WinXP

[Jeff]

Hello all,

I always hate having to post to newsgroups, but I'm running out of
resources and I am really hoping this is the right place for me to go.
I have an external hard drive (Western Digital My Book Essential
Edition 160GB, if that makes any difference) that my computer is not
recognizing. The kicker is that the hard drive had been working for
months without any problem until I disconnected it from my laptop,
moved and then set everything back up again.

I tried hooking the HDD up to a friend's computer without any luck -
still not recognized. Both computers are running WinXp. USB ports are
working fine. The USB cables are working fine. The one thing I am not
positive about is the power cord/adapter for the HDD. I'm not positive
that I am using the same plug/adapter that I was before, but I have a
good idea that I am.

Western Digital's support is not very helpful and I'm not finding
helpful information anywhere else either. Does anyone have any helpful
ideas? Thanks!

Jeff

 

[Rod Speed]

I always hate having to post to newsgroups, but I'm running out of
resources and I am really hoping this is the right place for me to go.
I have an external hard drive (Western Digital My Book Essential
Edition 160GB, if that makes any difference) that my computer is not
recognizing. The kicker is that the hard drive had been working for
months without any problem until I disconnected it from my laptop,
moved and then set everything back up again.

I tried hooking the HDD up to a friend's computer without any luck -
still not recognized. Both computers are running WinXp. USB ports are
working fine. The USB cables are working fine. The one thing I am not
positive about is the power cord/adapter for the HDD. I'm not positive
that I am using the same plug/adapter that I was before, but I have a
good idea that I am.

Thats the obvious thing to check more carefully.

Western Digital's support is not very helpful

They should be able to help you with that last question.

and I'm not finding helpful information anywhere else either.
Does anyone have any helpful ideas? Thanks!

See above.

 

[Jeff]

Thanks. I guess I'll give them another shot then!

 

[Andy]

If the drive is out of warranty, remove the disk drive from the
enclosure and connect it directly to a desktop motherboard.