Windows could not load the installer for volume. Contact your hardwarevendor for assistance.

[Brian Griffin]

Windows could not load the installer for volume. Contact your hardware
vendor for assistance.

That's the message I get on my XP system when I hookup my Maxtor USB
external hard drive to my system. The drive works fine on other
people's computers, I was able to format it on someone else's computer,
for example, copy files to it, but when I hook it up to mine I get that
message.

I can see it in Disk Management, where it is healthy, active, lists its
size and the fact that it is NTFS. But the disk is otherwise unusable
and does not show up in Explorer.

Haved talked to a couple of 2nd level tech support people at my hardware
vendor, they've never heard of that error and can't find anything about it.

My system does recognize my iPod in Explorer as a storage device,
although I guess I can't directly copy to it.

 

[David Vair]

Since it is NTFS and has been on someone elses system, there may be an ownership issue with the
volume. Do a Google for taking ownership of files and you will find some links that will walk you
through taking ownership of the drive back.

 

[Paul]

Windows could not load the installer for volume. Contact your hardware
vendor for assistance.

That's the message I get on my XP system when I hookup my Maxtor USB
external hard drive to my system. The drive works fine on other
people's computers, I was able to format it on someone else's computer,
for example, copy files to it, but when I hook it up to mine I get that
message.

I can see it in Disk Management, where it is healthy, active, lists its
size and the fact that it is NTFS. But the disk is otherwise unusable
and does not show up in Explorer.

Haved talked to a couple of 2nd level tech support people at my hardware
vendor, they've never heard of that error and can't find anything about it.

My system does recognize my iPod in Explorer as a storage device,
although I guess I can't directly copy to it.

You've posted a couple of threads now, without details.

What is the model number of the Maxtor product ? Got a URL for the product,
to save us some time ? I've never heard of a single volume 1.5TB disk
drive (biggest single drive currently is 1TB), so this must be some kind
of RAID array or NAS.

What is the make and model of either the computer motherboard or the
computer itself (if it is a Dell or HP) ? Are you running WinXP and
if so, what Service Pack ?

The USB Mass Storage drivers should be involved here, and you can
see people with similar problems here. I also found a thread,
where even a disk connected directly to an IDE ribbon cable port,
was able to generate the same error message.

http://miataru.computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/55182.html

Paul

 

[Brian Griffin]

Since it is NTFS and has been on someone elses system, there may be an ownership issue with the
volume. Do a Google for taking ownership of files and you will find some links that will walk you
through taking ownership of the drive back.

Could be an issue, I suppose. Have to check to see if my friend did
anything weird to her system to create this ownership stuff. On my
system the point is moot because I can't access the drive to do anything
towards getting the ownership.

 

[Brian Griffin]

You've posted a couple of threads now, without details.

What is the model number of the Maxtor product ? Got a URL for the product,
to save us some time ? I've never heard of a single volume 1.5TB disk
drive (biggest single drive currently is 1TB), so this must be some kind
of RAID array or NAS.

Yes, they make it out of 2 drives. It's a OneTouch III Turbo.
http://www.maxtorsolutions.com/en/catalog/OTIII_Turbo/

What is the make and model of either the computer motherboard or the
computer itself (if it is a Dell or HP) ? Are you running WinXP and
if so, what Service Pack ?

Dell Dimension 8200, XP, Service Pack 2.

The USB Mass Storage drivers should be involved here, and you can
see people with similar problems here. I also found a thread,
where even a disk connected directly to an IDE ribbon cable port,
was able to generate the same error message.

http://miataru.computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/55182.html

Paul

The USB Mass Storage Device is listed under Device Manager. Trying to
update the driver (2001) it said this version is okay.

I can see the drive in DOS, and very strangely (to me), there are two
files on it, autorun.inf and mxoicon2.ico. Strange because I formatted
the disk (at a friend's house), and all I did after that was copy one
file to the disk as a test, and then deleted that one file.

And I am able to copy to the drive in DOS as well, just can't access the
drive in Windows because it doesn't show up in Explorer.

 

[David Vair]

You said that it was formatted NTFS on another computer. This would automatically set up the
permissions during the format. If you are running XP Home you need to boot into Safe Mode as an
adminstrator and then take ownership from there.

 

[Brian Griffin]

You said that it was formatted NTFS on another computer. This would automatically set up the
permissions during the format. If you are running XP Home you need to boot into Safe Mode as an
adminstrator and then take ownership from there.

Thanks, David. Unfortunately when I boot into Safe Mode, the drive no
longer appears in Device Manager or under Disk Management. Even when I
boot normally and can see the drive in those places, the Properties tab
does not function, nor can I see the drive in Explorer.

Is there anything I could do using my friend's computer that would be
useful? I'm assuming that if there are in fact permissions getting in
the way, maybe I could remove the permissions and reformat.

 

[David Vair]

Thanks, David. Unfortunately when I boot into Safe Mode, the drive no
longer appears in Device Manager or under Disk Management. Even when I
boot normally and can see the drive in those places, the Properties tab
does not function, nor can I see the drive in Explorer.

Is there anything I could do using my friend's computer that would be
useful? I'm assuming that if there are in fact permissions getting in
the way, maybe I could remove the permissions and reformat.

If you can set it up on your friends system and make sure he can access the drive. You can go into
the security section of the properties. See if you can give the everyone object full rights to the
volume. Or you can just have the friend delete the whole partition and either wait to get to your
system to create it or create a FAT32 partition and then the permissions won't be an issue.

 

[Paul]

Yes, they make it out of 2 drives. It's a OneTouch III Turbo.
http://www.maxtorsolutions.com/en/catalog/OTIII_Turbo/



Dell Dimension 8200, XP, Service Pack 2.



The USB Mass Storage Device is listed under Device Manager. Trying to
update the driver (2001) it said this version is okay.

I can see the drive in DOS, and very strangely (to me), there are two
files on it, autorun.inf and mxoicon2.ico. Strange because I formatted
the disk (at a friend's house), and all I did after that was copy one
file to the disk as a test, and then deleted that one file.

And I am able to copy to the drive in DOS as well, just can't access the
drive in Windows because it doesn't show up in Explorer.

Reading some product reviews for the Maxtor, it comes with storage management
software. The provided utility can format the array, and there are also
security options. Perhaps you could prep it with the storage management
software, and if you don't like that software, uninstall it after you
are finished ?

It appears to be a hardware RAID, meaning it should be internally self
supporting. I thought maybe it was software RAID, and the software was
more important. But as a hardware RAID, you should be able to prep it and
then move it from machine to machine.

The Dimension 8200 appears to have a RDRAM chipset, with perhaps an ICH2
Southbridge. AFAIK that is USB 1.1 speeds, or about 1.5MB/sec max. Adding a
PCI card with a faster interface could help there, if you plan on moving
a lot of files.

Paul

 

[Brian Griffin]

If you can set it up on your friends system and make sure he can access the drive. You can go into
the security section of the properties. See if you can give the everyone object full rights to the
volume. Or you can just have the friend delete the whole partition and either wait to get to your
system to create it or create a FAT32 partition and then the permissions won't be an issue.

Didn't help. The permissions were not an issue. And I believe a FAT32
format would require 44 partitions, if of course I could access the
drive from my system.

 

[Brian Griffin]

Reading some product reviews for the Maxtor, it comes with storage management
software. The provided utility can format the array, and there are also
security options. Perhaps you could prep it with the storage management
software, and if you don't like that software, uninstall it after you
are finished ?

Thanks for your help. None of the software helped.

It appears to be a hardware RAID, meaning it should be internally self
supporting. I thought maybe it was software RAID, and the software was
more important. But as a hardware RAID, you should be able to prep it and
then move it from machine to machine.

That is pretty cool. I assumed it was software based as well. Too bad
I can't use the drive.

The Dimension 8200 appears to have a RDRAM chipset, with perhaps an ICH2
Southbridge. AFAIK that is USB 1.1 speeds, or about 1.5MB/sec max. Adding a
PCI card with a faster interface could help there, if you plan on moving
a lot of files.

I actually got a new USB card for this very reason, but I think I pretty
much have to give up on the idea of using an external drive with this
computer.