USB to IDE for external drive trouble

[png1985]

Hey,

I have recently bought a usb to ide adapter, to connect an old hard drive to my cmoputer, for back ups etc. Everywhere i have looked on the internet, it says that there are no drivers need for this piece of kit. Problem is... when i attach the drive to my computer, windows picks it up, and a bubble comes up that says found new hardware, disk drive, etc etc and i get that little sounds that says something has been connected. The drive does not come up in My Computer, but does in Device manager. In device manager, it comes up as a "USB mass storage device". Next problem, after about 15 seconds, i get that little sound, meaning something has been disconnected from the computer, and the drive dissapears from device manager, and does not come back! I have searched the internet and these forums to no avail. The only thing i found was that maybe it was something to do with XP service pack two. I have all the latest updates for windows XP home edition. Any help that you can give me would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers
Rob

 

[fishhookz]

Stay away from no-name cheap ones. Vantec is a good brand, for example.

No, you don't need a driver. XP has it. Just plug it in and XP either auto installs driver or asks you, just leave it as default, press Enter. In order to use the drive, you need to format it. The best way would be format it when connected to IDE in PC BEFORE moving out. My friend does it this way. No prob so far.

 

[png1985]

Cheers Fishkookz, I have just solved the problem this minute! It was not to do with the drive not being formatted or anyhting like that. So, if any one has the same problem, it is to do with the assignment of drive letters by windows explorer. Apparntly, there needs to be free drive letters after the boot drive. I had another piece of kit installed with the drive letter that was immediatly after my boot drive assigned to it. I changed this drive letter, and hey presto, everyhting works fine!

Cheers,
Rob

 

[MARCODOESBRAZIL]

Hi,

I've recently had lots of virus problems and had to recover my hard drive. In doing this all the stuff I had put onto an external Lacie 120gb drive seems lost. I have the same problem that you mentioned which was the windows ping sound, listed in device manager, but unable to access or even view the drive. I have a small EZ drive (128mb) that works so can't understand why this has stopped.

You mentioned that the problem was with explorer and that you managed to change the drive numbers. Would you be able to give me instructions on how to do this. I'm at breaking point trying to recover programs, emails, photos of my kids, my films from film school......

Any help would really be appreciated.

 

[amazon_sephy]

here are some nice simple instructions for changing drive letters-

Right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.

Under Computer Management, click Disk Management. In the right pane, you’ll see your drives listed. CD-ROM drives are listed at the bottom of the pane.

Right-click the drive or device you want to change, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.

Click Change, click Assign the following drive letter, click the drive letter you want to assign, and then click OK.

Hope this helps.

 

[singjai]

When you go into your Device Manager, select the "USB Mass Storage Device" you mentioned and click on it. This will bring up the properties window. You should be in the "General" tab. Look for device usage at the bottom and select "use this device (enable)" and then "apply." Windows should recognize this drive now.

 

[amazon_sephy]

You do realize that this thread is almost a year old, right?

 

[singjai]

1) The question had never really been answered.
2) However old the thread it can still be brought up as a related search.
3) Are you always this "helpful?"