My USB device!!

[Geezer57]

1.) Find a friend or neighbor with a WinXP w/SP2 machine and a spare USB port. Hook up your external HDD there, and see if it works.

2.) If step 1 fails, disassemble your external HDD, remove the drive, and hook it up internally to a spare controller port in your computer. If you don't have a spare port, temporarily disconnect an optical drive and use that one.

If the drive works internally, but not in your enclosure, then the box is probably bad. If the drive doesn't work internally, then it's probably at fault. Contact WDD for their diagnostic software, if it fails their test, ask for an RMA and get a replacement HDD.

If you have a spare drive, and want to test the enclosure, then install the spare and put it to the test.

External enclosures are some of the harshest environments in which a hard drive has to live. I only use ones with built-in fans, heat sinks, and shutoff switches. Even then you need to take extra precautions to insure HDD life. Also remember that most of these enclosures don't allow for drives to hibernate (which extends their life expectancy), so they keep spinning 24-7 unless you intervene manually. I use my external enclosures only for backup - as soon as that's done, they get shut down. So far, so good.

[caravel]

USB is a bit flakey, especially with removable devices. Try the following:

First check that the removable storage service is running. Run -> "services.msc", find the removable storage service, right click and set to automatic, right click again and click start.

1) Ensure you have the drivers for the disk drive at hand.
2) Connect the drive. Go to device manager, find the USB controller and hub corresponding to the device and expand to the disk drive. Right click the drive and click uninstall.
3) Disconnect the drive.
4) Reboot
5) Connect the drive before windows starts
6) When prompted, reinstall the drivers.

If that doesn't work your problem could be with the hardware.