I think my problem may be corruption in the registry, where drive letters
may be assigned.
The problem started last month. Prior to that I had no problems attaching
new storage devices. Then I bought a new PNY 8gb thumb drive certified for
Vista ReadyBoost. That memory stick didn't work in Vista so I returned it
and got the SanDisk 8gb thumb drive. That didn't work either. Now new
external hard drives and thumb drives aren't assigned drive letters, and
Vista claims they are an "Unknown Device". Hard drives and thumb drives
that were in use prior to the PNY drive still work in Vista.
- Michael Faklis
"Bob" <nowhere@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:sMadnYiBit2GXSTanZ2dnUVZ_gKdnZ2d@xxxxxx
Quote:
> Same problem here with WD external drive. I have not been able to find a
> solution but I have found a pain in the ass workaround. I plug the drive
> into my XP machine where it is recognized and then connect it back to the
> Vista machine. Vista then recognizes it for a week or two then the cycle
> starts again.
>
> "Michael Faklis" <Michael_Faklis@xxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:%23n2$P7kcIHA.5348@xxxxxx Quote:
>> My Vista Ultimate laptop stopped assigning driver letters to new external
>> drives, whether external hard drives or thumb drives. Old thumb drives I
>> used in the past are still recognized. This problem is happening on my
>> new
>> Western Digital 1 tb external drive, whether using USB 2 or Firewire 400.
>> It is also happening on my new SanDisk 8gb U3 thumb drive and a new PNY
>> 1gb
>> U3 thumb drive.
>> When inserted, Vista starts loading driver drivers for the device, but
>> then
>> claims the drive is an "Unknown Device". For the external hard drive,
>> the
>> driver software installation finds the WD My Book USB Device, USB Human
>> Interface Device, USB Mass Storage Device, USB Composite Device, and then
>> it
>> fails to find "Unidentified Device". Device Manger shows the WD My Book
>> USB
>> Device under disk drives, and also an Unknown device under Other devices.
>> Disk Management shows the drive, but without a drive letter. My computer
>> shows nothing for this drive.
>> All of these drives work fine on my older XP Pro laptop.
>> Please tell me why a drive letter is not being assigned to this "Unknown
>> Device" and how do I correct this problem.
>>
>> - Michael Faklis <Michael_Faklis@xxxxxx>
>>
>>
>>
>