Problem connecting USB disk

I am trying to connect a new USB external hard drive to my Win XP system.
I have installed the driver.
When I plug it in I get "No drives detected"
Any ideas?
Mark

I am not sure if it is like any printer or scanner where you have to installin in a series of steps. If the HD is like this, did you do it properly? Also have you gone to add/remove hardware in the control panel?

I'm pretty sure you don't have to manually install any drivers for USB storage in XP..

You might have to for a USB 2.0/2.1 controller, or USB 2.0/2.1 device, though.

Thanks for the responses so far.
The USB disk came with a CD from which I ran an EXE to install a USB2.0 driver.

If I open up XP Device Manager with the Disk unplugged ih have:
4 x Intel 8280 1EB USB Universal host controllers
1 x Standard enhanced PCI to USB controller
5 x USB root hubs

When I turn on and then connect the USB disk drive then a
USB Mass storeage device is added.

I can't figure out how to get access to it though.

Can you see the device in Disk Manager?
Have you defined any network drives?

The drive probably needs to be partitioned.

In Device manager there IS an entry under Disk Drives (apart from the hard drives) that goes:
IC25N040 ATCS04-0 USB Device.
I'm not sure, but I had assumed that was a Flash disk that I had connecetd a few days ago - no longer connected.

Yes I have mapped some network drives. Sorry, I don't understand the significance of the question.

To Rick
If I need to partition the drive, how do I go about this - it is not explained in the manual.

TIA

But wait!

IC25N040 ATCS04-0 USB Device > Properties > Populate gives
Disk: Disk 1
Type: Unknown
Status: Not initialised {Is THIS the problem??}
Partition Style: Not applicable
Capacity: 38147 MB
Reserved Space: 0 MB
Volumes/Capacity window is empty

The drive still does not show up in My Computer

Thanks everyone: got it going.
This board is brilliant.
Mark

Glad to help you out. My answers are usually more in depth than that, but I've been slacking off lately. My apologies!

This is a VERY common problem with USB disk drives. This is especially bad for Windows 98 and Me users because these operating systems ignore unpartitioned disks and DOS does not support USB drives (at least not practically speaking).

Rick
There were several problems:
1. This is my first week with a new computer
2. This is my first week with XP
3. This is my first week with USB
4. This is my first week with portable hard drive
5. The front panel USB ports turn out to be not working (machine has now been packed up and returned to supplier)
6. Partitioning hard drive in XP is not exactly intuitive (right click on coloured bar beside disk label!)
Appreciate your help so don't aplogise
Mark

I have bumped this thread because the question is almost identical to mine. I have removed a 13 GB hardisk containing all my important files and data from an old notebook and placed it in a USB 2.0 IDE adaptor to transfer the data across to the new notebook. Various problems with the old notebook prevent me from doing it any other way. The new notebook has windows xp and the device manager says the device is okay but there is no icon in My Computer. I followed the links below to Disk Management:

Start>ControlPanel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Disk Management>

It saya the USB external drive is not initialised and has no allocation. Perhaps it needs to be partitioned but how do I do that without erasing the data and files contained on the external hardisk?

The USB adaptor came with drivers for Win 98 only as the installation notes say that software installation is not required for Win ME/2000/XP

I took my Toshiba notebook and USB adaptor to a PC outlet with a service department and they had a look at it. For a time they were puzzled why it didn't work. Then the guy suggested testing it on one of their PCs and it worked! It was discovered that the cable I was using was a split cable with two plugs and I had both plugs inserted into the 2 USB ports on my notebook. When I removed one plug the external hard-drive was recognized and I could see the files and folders.

Why had I put both plugs in the USB ports? The installation notes said, "Some computer's USB ports (like Toshiba and Compaq's notebook) have not enough power to supply the hard disk. In this case you can use the split USB head to get more electronic power from another port."

My mistake was not trying it with one plug first. Sorry for the late reply but all is well now and thankyou for your suggestions. Your suggestion about trying it on another system led to the problem being discovered.

What are the steps for making partition to the USB hard drive?

Excuseme can you help me about how Can I partition the USB hard disk?

KingArthur

hi guyz......I am new here. I also have the same problem. I took a Segate 40Gb 2.5'' Hard Drive and put it in a USB Enclosure. Now, it works on all other systems, except my own. I went to Device manager and found the disk under disk drives and the usb mass storage device under USB controllers. But my device manager is not detecting it at all. There is obviously no icon in My Computer. In device manager, i went into the device properties of the hard drive. There i went to the policies tab and optimised for disk performance (which means that the windows cache will be enabled and that i will have to use the safely remove hardware icon). However, in the Volumes tab i tried to populate the drive (expose the drive partitions) but i get this :-

Volume information for this disk cannot be found. This may happen if the disk is a 1394 or a USB device on a Windows 2000 Machine

I am totally Stumped by that one. I run Windows Xp over here. and it works on everybody else`s system.

Guys Please help!!!!!!

NTFS vs FAT32 - No Problems Right.....

By the way, my usb hard drive has been partitioned to NTFS whereas all my internal drives are FAT32. I dont think that this should be a problem (especialy with xp). But just wasnted u to know that thats all.

still waiting