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    Unable to see external hard drive via FireWire

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by sp00n, Jun 20, 2007.

  1. sp00n

    sp00n Notebook Deity

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    I bought an external Western Digital 320GB Hard Drive today. There are 3 connections available, 2 FireWire 400 and 1 USB 2.0. The USB port works fine, however, nothing shows up when I use the FireWire 400 port. I've plugged it in to my Macbook and Vista Desktop, but they both don't show any sign of hard hardware.

    Did I buy a Hard Drive with a defective FireWire port? I'll see if I can find another FireWire cable to see if its just the cable's fault.
     
    sp00n, Jun 20, 2007
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  2. Wingsbr

    Wingsbr NBR Decepticon NBR Reviewer

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    I have one of those and when I plugged it into my Vista machine it recognized it right away. Do you have the 1394 drivers in your device manager? Also I think MS released a Vista update relating to this issue. I did download that as optional before I hooked up my wd 320 so that may help as well. If you can use USB you should see a folder for that says 1394 HID or something like that in the drive itself. Try to install those and then reboot and try the fw. One of these is bound to work.
     
    Wingsbr, Jun 20, 2007
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  3. Wingsbr

    Wingsbr NBR Decepticon NBR Reviewer

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    Sorry I'm not much help with the exact folder name, at work... =(

    Edit. I also think there are drivers specifically for the MAC to work in the folder and I know this is silly but my first mistake with the drive was not pushing the circle with the lights in it in fw connect mode. The drive is designed to be turned on and off when you turn your computer on and off.
     
    Wingsbr, Jun 20, 2007
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  4. sp00n

    sp00n Notebook Deity

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    I thought the FW drivers were automatically installed when you first plug in the USB cable, at least that's what I read in the instructions. I'll give it a try on my desktop. I didn't think the OS X would also require FireWire drivers too.
     
    sp00n, Jun 20, 2007
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  5. Wingsbr

    Wingsbr NBR Decepticon NBR Reviewer

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    I don't think they auto install on Vista. I think Vista tries to use the standard drivers avaiable in the os but it doesn't search for the drivers in the folder on install. I have no idea why. I believe there are updated drivers for both windows and mac from WD's website. After you do the driver install plug in the FW and then restart and see if that works. Headed home now from work, will check back in about an hour.
     
    Wingsbr, Jun 20, 2007
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  6. sp00n

    sp00n Notebook Deity

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    Still unable to see the drive with FireWire on my Macbook. I think i'll just exchange for another one tomorrow.
     
    sp00n, Jun 20, 2007
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  7. Wingsbr

    Wingsbr NBR Decepticon NBR Reviewer

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    Cool deal. Sorry I couldnt be of more help.
     
    Wingsbr, Jun 20, 2007
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