mass storage devices and XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill Gower
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Bill Gower

I am trying to connect two Maxtor External HD to my computer that is running
XP Pro. The first one works fine. I plug in the second and the first can
no longer display the directory, also I get a write delayed error. I do
notice in Device Manager that they are both trying to take the same Device
ID of 0. Can I have 2 external HDDs plugged in at the same time in XP and
if so, how do I tell them to take different device IDs?

Bill
 
Are these two external USB HDs connected to an external USB hub or to
the USB ports on the computer? If connected to an external USB hub, try
connecting the two external HDs to the USB ports on the computer -- one
at time of course allowing XP to configure to the HD(s).
 
They are plugged in directly to the USB ports on the computer. They are
both being installed on Location 0.

Bill
 
Bill said:
I am trying to connect two Maxtor External HD to my computer that is running
XP Pro. The first one works fine. I plug in the second and the first can
no longer display the directory, also I get a write delayed error. I do
notice in Device Manager that they are both trying to take the same Device
ID of 0. Can I have 2 external HDDs plugged in at the same time in XP and
if so, how do I tell them to take different device IDs?
Click to expand...

Do the drives have a power supply or are they USB powered?
If they are USB powered then the USB ports might fail to
supply enough power for two drives.

Another issue is the USB serial number. If both drive have
identical device IDs and serial number then XP cannot
distinguish between them. I think that the second one should
fail then while the first one should still work but I've never
tried it.
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/usbtrouble_e.html#identical_drives


Uwe
 
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