External USB hard drives

I have an iomega 80 gig and a western digital 250 gig drive. I am running a
Dell xsp pc with Vista Home Preimum. I can connect any of the drives to a pc
with windows xp and they are immediately found. When connecting to the dell
with vista they are not found and when searching both the web and the pc for
the drivers, they are not found. Any suggestions??

 

Mike,

The following is the officially recommended procedure
for connecting external USB drives, quote:

IMPORTANT: Failure to connect the drive using the procedure below may result
in your system not recognizing the drive. Also, not disconnecting the drive
correctly could result in data corruption or data loss.

To connect your external hard drive to your PC computer:

Turn on your computer and allow Windows to load.

Plug in the power to the external hard drive and let it spin up.

Connect the data cable to the drive first and then to the computer.

You should see a new icon appear in the system tray and the drive should
appear in the Device Manager

If you haven't tried doing the connection in the way indicated, try it to
see what happens. Other than that, that's all I have for now.

 

Mike,

I found the following on the Web while searching for something else. Take a
look to see whether any of it is good for you:

Problem: My USB hard drive works in WinXP but not in Vista.

Solution: Access to external USB drives appears to be a hit-or-miss affair
in these early Vista stages, but there are a few tricks that could get your
drive up and running. First, try updating the drivers for your USB host
controllers. Right-click Computer, click Properties, and click Device Manager
in the left panel. Click the plus sign beside Universal Serial Bus
Controllers to expand that section and then search for any host controller
listings (for example, Standard Enhanced PCI To USB Host Controller or
Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller). For each listing, right-click it,
click Update Driver Software, click Search Automatically For Updated Driver
Software, and select an Internet option to instruct the wizard to search
online for drivers. Follow the wizard’s instructions for installing the
driver.

If updating drivers doesn’t enable your drive, check your PC’s BIOS (Basic
Input/Output System) for a USB legacy support option and disable it (if you
find this option and it’s enabled). To enter your PC’s BIOS, you’ll need to
repeatedly press a key as soon as you start your PC, so check your computer
or motherboard manual to find out which key to press. Use the arrow keys to
navigate the menus BIOS but check your motherboard manual if you’re not sure
where to find this setting or how to make changes. Don’t alter any other
settings in the BIOS, because unintended changes can have

 

Mike,

Here is something written for WinXP, but the ideas can apply to Vista, too:

http://www.pchell.com/hardware/usbcode10.shtml

Onward and upward.

 

Mike,

Here is one written by HP for its customers having similar issues:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_UKEN&docname=c00820197

I think this is enough for now. Post back and let everyone know how you
made out.