Vista issues with external hard drive recognition

This is a bit weird this one.

I have had my external for a few years and worked like a gem with XP. When I got my new laptop with vista it recognised it and installed the drivers. No problem there. The one attempt to connect it showed an error, couldn't connect. Trying later, vista didn't even recognise it (not in the computer section but was under device manager but only stated 'unknown device'). Sometimes if left for a bit Vista will pick it up but only shows the empty folders (as is partitioned). When I check the properties, states both have 0bytes in memory and both full.
I have tried all USB ports to no avail.
I checked the error checking through the computer properties.
I don't know if a manual install is necessary but I'm sure I chucked the cd driver away when I got it so thats not an option.

Any ideas? Anything like this happened before to anyone?

Cheers.

 

Uninstall the USB hub and reinstall them using drivers from the manufacturer's website. (Chipset drivers)

Then try again. Make sure (using Disk Management) that nothing else is using the drive letter that the HD is trying to use. Maybe try manually assigning a drive letter to it.

 

Hello 6CEL911,
My name is Lindsey and I work with the Windows Team at Microsoft. I see your external hard drive is not working properly with your new Vista. I am sorry you are having this problem. Have you checked to see if your device is compatible with Vista? To see if your particular device is, you can go to the Vista Compatibility Center and look up the hardware. There are currently 43 External Hard Drives on the list and the list is updated all the time.
If it is compatible there are a couple things to check on your machine. First have you downloaded the Vista Service Package 1? Depending on when you got your laptop and if you have the service packages automatically updating it may already be on there. So you will want to check and see if you have it. If your PC doesn’t have SP1 you will want to download it. The best way to make sure you have the latest updates is by making the updates automatically download. To turn on the automatic updating feature, follow these steps:
1.Click Start , click All Programs, and then click Windows Update.
2.In the navigation pane, click Change settings.
3.Select the Windows automatic updating setting that you want. If you are not sure which setting to select, follow these guidelines. Otherwise, go to step 4:
•Automatic (recommended) Automatically download recommended updates for my computer and install them: We recommend that you select this option. Simply click to select the day and time for scheduled updates to occur. You can schedule Automatic Updates for any time of day, but your computer must be on at the scheduled time for updates to be installed.
•Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them: With this option selected, Windows recognizes when you are online and uses your Internet connection to automatically download updates from the Windows Update Web site or from the Microsoft Update Web site. An icon appears in the notification area of your taskbar when the updates are being downloaded. When the download is complete, a message appears in the notification area. Click the Automatic Updates icon or message. If you do not want to install a downloaded update, click Details, and then click to clear the check box next to that update to decline it. Click Install to install the selected updates.
•Notify me but don't automatically download or install them: Windows recognizes when you are online and uses your Internet connection to search for downloads from the Windows Update Web site or from the Microsoft Update Web site. An Automatic Updates icon and message appear in the notification area of your taskbar when new updates are available to download or to install. Click the icon or message to view the updates. If you do not want to download a selected update, click to clear the check box next to that update to decline it. Click Start Download to download the selected updates. The Automatic Updates icon remains in the notification area of your taskbar while the updates are being downloaded. You can point to the icon to view the download status. To pause or to resume the download, right-click the icon, and then click Pause or Resume. When the download is complete, another message appears in the notification area to inform you that the updates are ready to install. Click the Automatic Updates icon or the message, and then click Install to install the updates.
•Never check for updates (not recommended): Do not select this option.

4.Click to select the Include recommended updates when downloading, installing, or notifying me about updates check box, and then click OK.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or provide confirmation.
To verify that this method worked and that Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is installed, repeat the steps in "How to determine whether the latest Windows Vista service pack is installed" in the "Before you try to download Windows Vista Service Pack 1" section. If you see a reference to Windows Vista SP1, you have successfully installed the service pack. If Windows Vista Service Pack 1 did not install successfully, try Method 3.
Now to get your External Hard Drive device to work try the following steps:
Method 1: Determine whether the device driver is found in Device Manager
To do this, follow these steps:
1.Click Start , type Device Manager in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
2.If the device driver is not found for a device in Device Manager, an exclamation point appears next to the device. If an exclamation point does not appear, and if the device does not function correctly, go to Method 2.
3.If an exclamation point appears next to the device driver in Device Manager, you can use Windows Update to scan for a device driver. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start , click All Programs, and then click Windows Update.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or provide confirmation.
b. Click Check for updates.
c. To determine whether updated drivers are available, click View available updates.

If updates are available, click the driver that you want to install, and then click Install. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or provide confirmation.

If Windows Update cannot locate the required device driver, contact the device manufacturer to download the latest device driver for Windows Vista. For more information about how to do this, see the "More Information" section.
Back to the top
Method 2: Uninstall and then reinstall the device drivers
If the device driver appears to be installed correctly in Device Manager but the device does not function correctly, manually uninstall and then reinstall the device drivers. To do this, follow these steps:
1.Click Start , type Device Manager in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
2.In the Device Manager dialog box, locate the hardware device that is not functioning.
3.Right-click the device, and then click Properties.
4.Click the Driver tab.
5.Click Uninstall.
6.Make sure that the Delete the Driver Software for this device check box is cleared, and then click OK.
7.In the Device Manager dialog box, click the Action menu, and then click Scan for hardware changes.

You should receive a message that states that a hardware device is being installed and that the uninstalled device is now present in Device Manager.
8.If the hardware device driver is not installed, use Windows Update to scan for an updated device driver. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start , click All Programs, and then click Windows Update.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or provide confirmation.
b. Click Check for updates.
c. To determine whether updated drivers are available, click View available updates.

If updates are available, click the driver that you want to install, and then click Install. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or provide confirmation.

If Windows Update cannot locate the required device driver, contact the device manufacturer to download the latest device driver for Windows Vista. For more information about how to do this, see the "More Information" section.

I hope these help. If not let me know and I will do some more research to see if we can get to the bottom of this.

Thank you
Lindsey