USB drive woes

[MikeR]

I have a laptop that had a 20G HD. I hooked up a USB 60G drive and cloned the 20G to
it. Took the 20G out, put the 60G in. Booted fine, everything looks OK.

Then I wanted to clean off the 20G to use as a backup. The laptop won't recognize it.
In device manager it shows up as an Unknown Device under Universal Serial Bus
controllers. I figured it was not being seen because it had a system on it, so I
plugged it into my desktop, Win recognized it, and I formatted it.

Back to the laptop, still shows as Unknown device. When it's hooked up to the desktop
the driver is listed as USBSTOR.SYS. The laptop won't let me use that as a driver,
nor does it want anything to do with USB.inf or USBSTOR.inf.

Both machines are running XP Pro SP2 with all the automagic updates. I've spent
pretty much all day Googling with no good results.

Any thoughts?
Mike

 

[Dennis McCunney]

I have a laptop that had a 20G HD. I hooked up a USB 60G drive and
cloned the 20G to it. Took the 20G out, put the 60G in. Booted fine,
everything looks OK.

Then I wanted to clean off the 20G to use as a backup. The laptop won't
recognize it. In device manager it shows up as an Unknown Device under
Universal Serial Bus controllers. I figured it was not being seen
because it had a system on it, so I plugged it into my desktop, Win
recognized it, and I formatted it.

Back to the laptop, still shows as Unknown device. When it's hooked up
to the desktop the driver is listed as USBSTOR.SYS. The laptop won't let
me use that as a driver, nor does it want anything to do with USB.inf or
USBSTOR.inf.

Both machines are running XP Pro SP2 with all the automagic updates.
I've spent pretty much all day Googling with no good results.

Any thoughts?

What make/model of drive it it? Are you sure the USBSTOR.SYS driver
refers to the drive? Unless it's a USB drive, that shouldn't be a factor.

When you put it in the desktop, how are you attaching it? Is it the
second drive on an existing IDE connector? Does it show in the BIOS
when you boot?

Offhand, I'd say you have a jumper issue. If two drives are on the same
IDE connector, they must be jumpered as Master and Slave, or both must
be set to Cable Select. If they are jumpered wrong, one simply won't be
seen.

See the manufacturer's documentation for how the jumpering is handled.
Each drive seems to do it differently.

Mike

______
Dennis

 

[MikeR]

Hi Dennis

What make/model of drive it it? Are you sure the USBSTOR.SYS driver
refers to the drive? Unless it's a USB drive, that shouldn't be a factor.

Yep, it's a Toshiba MK2018GAP that I put into a USB case.

When you put it in the desktop, how are you attaching it? Is it the
second drive on an existing IDE connector? Does it show in the BIOS
when you boot?

Via a USB cable. Is shows up in device manager as a USB mass storage device.

Offhand, I'd say you have a jumper issue. If two drives are on the same
IDE connector, they must be jumpered as Master and Slave, or both must
be set to Cable Select. If they are jumpered wrong, one simply won't be
seen.

It's not on an IDE bus. I did however try jumpering it as a slave, which made the LED
on the drive case blink red and green. (Festive but still no joy.)

 

[Dennis McCunney]

Hi Dennis
Yep, it's a Toshiba MK2018GAP that I put into a USB case.

So it *is* a USB drive. Sorry, that wasn't clear.

Via a USB cable. Is shows up in device manager as a USB mass storage
device.

Okay. That's what I would expect.

It's not on an IDE bus. I did however try jumpering it as a slave, which
made the LED on the drive case blink red and green. (Festive but still
no joy.)

If you go to Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, select Computer
Management, and then Disk Management, does it show up in the Logical
Disk Management display?

It sounds like one of two things are occurring:

1) Windows needs a driver for the device. Systems often some with
drivers as part of the OEM installation from the factory that aren't
part of the normal OS distribution. I'd look on the laptop
manufacturer's site (Toshiba?) and see what they might have. I think
lack of a proper driver is most likely.

2) If you *do* see the device in Logical Disk Manager above, but not in
My Computer, it probably means there isn't a partition on the drive
Windows can see. You should be able to create a partition in Disk
Manager, have the drive show in My Computer, and format it there.
______
Dennis

 

[MikeR]

So it *is* a USB drive. Sorry, that wasn't clear.


Okay. That's what I would expect.


If you go to Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, select Computer
Management, and then Disk Management, does it show up in the Logical
Disk Management display?
No
It sounds like one of two things are occurring:

1) Windows needs a driver for the device. Systems often some with
drivers as part of the OEM installation from the factory that aren't
part of the normal OS distribution. I'd look on the laptop
manufacturer's site (Toshiba?) and see what they might have. I think
lack of a proper driver is most likely.

2) If you *do* see the device in Logical Disk Manager above, but not in
My Computer, it probably means there isn't a partition on the drive
Windows can see. You should be able to create a partition in Disk
Manager, have the drive show in My Computer, and format it there.

If I look at the driver when it's attached to the desktop it shows as USBSTOR.sys,
which is a MS supplied file. usbstor.sys (same version) is also on the laptop.
However, the laptop will not let me install that as a driver. The install driver
dialog really wants a .inf file. When I look at the Unknown Device properties, it
tells me no driver is needed, or installed.

 

[Dennis McCunney]

If I look at the driver when it's attached to the desktop it shows as
USBSTOR.sys, which is a MS supplied file. usbstor.sys (same version) is
also on the laptop. However, the laptop will not let me install that as
a driver. The install driver dialog really wants a .inf file. When I
look at the Unknown Device properties, it tells me no driver is needed,
or installed.

I was thinking that it needed a specific driver for that device, and not
the generic USBSTOR.SYS driver. I poked around on Toshiba's site and
haven't seen one thus far.

The desktop sees and can access it, and the laptop sees it but ca't
access it?

What USB port are you plugging it into? Are you trying to use a hub, or
plugging directly into a motherboard port?
______
Dennis

 

[MikeR]

I was thinking that it needed a specific driver for that device, and not
the generic USBSTOR.SYS driver. I poked around on Toshiba's site and
haven't seen one thus far.

The desktop sees and can access it, and the laptop sees it but ca't
access it?

Depends on what you mean by "sees it". The laptop shows it only in device manager,
not in the disk management console or windows exploder.

What USB port are you plugging it into? Are you trying to use a hub, or
plugging directly into a motherboard port?

Straight into the mothership.
Mike