Hi,
A month ago i bought a brand new 250 GB 2.0 USB external hard drive (octupus link saphire case) for my Dell 8600 inspiron laptop, I've been using it as a media storage (music) and as a back up. I travel frequently and i don't take the drive with me, consequently i have to unplug it and plug it from the laptop frequently, i hadn't had any trouble...until yesterday when I plug it in...and altought there is that the laptop makes when some hardware is plugged in, and altough it appears on the safely remove hardware icon, I cannot see it in windows explorer, and in device manager it appears under the drives but i cannot manage to open the files. I tried the Filerecovery software but it did not work as it does not read the drive as plugged.

I've read a lot on your threads but, my External drive was already partitioned and working perfectly.

Any help is profoundly appreciated

Many thanks

Pablo

I forgot to mention that the operating system is Win XP, and that I tried to look up for the device under run (diskmgmt.msc) and it didn't show up ( the external hard drive wasn't present)
thanks
Pablo

Look in device manager to see if it indicates any problems.

thanks for the answer
the device manager shows a mass storage usb device, does not recognize it as a drive, and it says that there is no problem with it, that is working correctly
thanks
Pablo

Ther should also be an entry under Disc drives and Storage volumes.

You don't state if you installed drivers if any came with the Drive. If yes, uninstall the device in Device manager leave it plugged in when you reboot.This will force XP to reinstall it .At this time if you have drivers from the manufacturer,force the installer to use them by you chosing them within the hardware wizard.

Hi Pablo,
Did you find a solution to your problem? If yes, please let me know. I have the same problem.

Thanks,
ujjal

Do you use any other external drive such as DVD drive? It might clash the drive letter with the USB HD. Take out all other external drive, and search the USB HD in the disk management, if you can find it, set a drive letter.

Good Luck!

I have a 500gb Lacie drive and I have to plug it in then boot up the system before its recognized. If I plug it in while the system is already up the light indicator flickers but does not boot up and display the contents on the drive.

RETARDED I know!!!

Thanks for replying. The problem resolved by a few restarts, with the USB drives plugged in before start.

Good, but if you have problems again remove all the USB1/2 devices from the device manager and let XP re-install them before you connect the USB2 HDD again.

I have the same problem! My computer does not write the USB flash!!

Is there a solution besides the Disk management!?

you have drive letters clashing. go to control panel, administrative tools, computer management and the click on the disk management icon at the side. your drive should show up as healthy if everything is ok. you can then right click and change drive letter and path to a drive letter of your choice. the pc should also remember the new letter you give it for if you unplug the unit and plug it back in again.