Which external HDD is compatible with Vista x64?

I am trying to find an external hard disk drive that is fully compatible
with Vista x64.

I purchased a Western Digital My Book Premium II drive and it doesn't work
properly even though their web site states that is Vista compatible. I
contacted them and they fairly ridiculed me for assuming that that meant it
would be compatible with 64-bit Vista. I can still use the drive to
actually copy files to but there is no 64-bit driver so the bundled software
doesn't work and Vista keeps telling me that it needs to install a driver
for this device.

I contacted Seagate about their FreeAgent Pro product and they claim it
should work even though there is also no 64-bit driver for it. I don't
trust that statement after my experience with the WD drive.

Does anyone have an external HDD that works fully with Vista x64?

--
And loving it,

-Q
_________________________________________________

(Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me)

Qu0ll wrote:
> I am trying to find an external hard disk drive that is fully compatible
> with Vista x64.
>
> I purchased a Western Digital My Book Premium II drive and it doesn't
> work properly even though their web site states that is Vista
> compatible. I contacted them and they fairly ridiculed me for assuming
> that that meant it would be compatible with 64-bit Vista. I can still
> use the drive to actually copy files to but there is no 64-bit driver so
> the bundled software doesn't work and Vista keeps telling me that it
> needs to install a driver for this device.

Do you really need the bundled software if all you're doing is
copying/storing files?
If not, then you may simply re-format the drive which will delete the
unusable software, giving you use of all of the HDD space and just use
it for storage.
Frank

"Frank" <> wrote in message
news:#...
> Qu0ll wrote:
>> I am trying to find an external hard disk drive that is fully compatible
>> with Vista x64.
>>
>> I purchased a Western Digital My Book Premium II drive and it doesn't
>> work properly even though their web site states that is Vista compatible.
>> I contacted them and they fairly ridiculed me for assuming that that
>> meant it would be compatible with 64-bit Vista. I can still use the
>> drive to actually copy files to but there is no 64-bit driver so the
>> bundled software doesn't work and Vista keeps telling me that it needs to
>> install a driver for this device.
>
> Do you really need the bundled software if all you're doing is
> copying/storing files?
> If not, then you may simply re-format the drive which will delete the
> unusable software, giving you use of all of the HDD space and just use it
> for storage.

You are quite right that I don't actually need the bundled software but the
fact that Vista keeps complaining that there is no driver for this device
and the fact that it gets an "!" next to it in Device Manager bothers me. I
would just like to know if any external HDD actually has a 64-bit driver.

--
And loving it,

-Q
_________________________________________________

(Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me)

Qu0ll wrote:

>
>
> "Frank" <> wrote in message
> news:#...
>
>> Qu0ll wrote:
>>
>>> I am trying to find an external hard disk drive that is fully
>>> compatible with Vista x64.
>>>
>>> I purchased a Western Digital My Book Premium II drive and it doesn't
>>> work properly even though their web site states that is Vista
>>> compatible. I contacted them and they fairly ridiculed me for
>>> assuming that that meant it would be compatible with 64-bit Vista. I
>>> can still use the drive to actually copy files to but there is no
>>> 64-bit driver so the bundled software doesn't work and Vista keeps
>>> telling me that it needs to install a driver for this device.
>>
>>
>> Do you really need the bundled software if all you're doing is
>> copying/storing files?
>> If not, then you may simply re-format the drive which will delete the
>> unusable software, giving you use of all of the HDD space and just use
>> it for storage.
>
>
> You are quite right that I don't actually need the bundled software but
> the fact that Vista keeps complaining that there is no driver for this
> device and the fact that it gets an "!" next to it in Device Manager
> bothers me. I would just like to know if any external HDD actually has
> a 64-bit driver.
>
The driver request is for the bundled software that came pre-installed
on the drive.
Otherwise no drivers are needed.
Frank

I have a WD My Book that I plug into the eSata port of my Vista 64bit and it
works just fine. I don't bother with any of the software that came with it.

"Qu0ll" <> wrote in message
news:59E8C85D-F80B-4AC1-92B4-...
> I am trying to find an external hard disk drive that is fully compatible
> with Vista x64.
>
> I purchased a Western Digital My Book Premium II drive and it doesn't work
> properly even though their web site states that is Vista compatible. I
> contacted them and they fairly ridiculed me for assuming that that meant
> it would be compatible with 64-bit Vista. I can still use the drive to
> actually copy files to but there is no 64-bit driver so the bundled
> software doesn't work and Vista keeps telling me that it needs to install
> a driver for this device.
>
> I contacted Seagate about their FreeAgent Pro product and they claim it
> should work even though there is also no 64-bit driver for it. I don't
> trust that statement after my experience with the WD drive.
>
> Does anyone have an external HDD that works fully with Vista x64?
>
> --
> And loving it,
>
> -Q
> _________________________________________________
>
> (Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me)

"Gary Mount" <> wrote in message
news:...

> I have a WD My Book that I plug into the eSata port of my Vista 64bit and
> it works just fine. I don't bother with any of the software that came with
> it.

Mine is connected via 1394. The Button Manager doesn't work, the RAID
Manager doesn't work and the inner concentric circle on the device itself is
supposed to display the usage of the drive, It doesn't.

Western Digital told me that some of the My Book series ARE compatible with
64-bit but that the Premium II model is not.

--
And loving it,

-Q
_________________________________________________

(Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me)

Connect it via USB and the drivers will install automatically. I
attempted to connect it through firewire at first as well and Windows
wouldn't even recognize it and the disk didn't come with the drivers on
it already. So I plugged it into a USB port and BAM, Vista took care of
it.


--
KingOfChaos

"KingOfChaos" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Connect it via USB and the drivers will install automatically. I
> attempted to connect it through firewire at first as well and Windows
> wouldn't even recognize it and the disk didn't come with the drivers on
> it already. So I plugged it into a USB port and BAM, Vista took care of
> it.

If you are referring to the same device (there are lots of different My Book
models of which some actually are 64-bit compatible) then I originally tried
USB and got the same results. I ended up with 2 devices listed in Device
Manager, one under Disk Drives which is said to be working properly and the
other under Other Devices which has an "!" next to it complaining that it
doesn't have a driver.

Are you using a My Book Premium II 2TB drive and, if so, have you looked in
Device Manager? Do you get prompted to install a driver every time Windows
starts? As I said, it does work in that I can store files on it but these
other problems are the issue here.

--
And loving it,

-Q
_________________________________________________

(Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me)

I am using a My Book Premium I with 1 TB of space and no, I didn't hav
that problem. I did have to reformat the drive myself and even now
cannot have the drive actually on when rebooting my system because i
makes it freeze on the HP Invent boot up screen if I do. However, th
drive works fine if I turn it on after windows starts loading and i
shuts down and turns on fine with the drive active

--
KingOfChaos

FYI,

I had problems with the 1394 (Fire Wire) port on 32Bit Vista. I have to
connect the drive to an USB port to get it working right.

--

Bob Eyster
MS Windows Vista Home Premium



"Qu0ll" <> wrote in message
news:...
> "Gary Mount" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>
>> I have a WD My Book that I plug into the eSata port of my Vista 64bit and
>> it works just fine. I don't bother with any of the software that came
>> with it.
>
> Mine is connected via 1394. The Button Manager doesn't work, the RAID
> Manager doesn't work and the inner concentric circle on the device itself
> is supposed to display the usage of the drive, It doesn't.
>
> Western Digital told me that some of the My Book series ARE compatible
> with 64-bit but that the Premium II model is not.
>
> --
> And loving it,
>
> -Q
> _________________________________________________
>
> (Replace the "SixFour" with numbers to email me)