Help! Can't copy to USB Flash/Mass Storage device

Hi there!

I need some help because it is driving me *nuts* not being able to find out why this is happening.
I can't copy to my USB flash disk (Kingston Data Traveler 8GB) or my external hard drive - Toshiba 2.5'' 160 GB HDD in a USB powered external enclosure.

I can copy very small files to the flash drive - like 500-800 kb. Anything bigger results in a "preparing to copy" window with a scrolling bar. Nothing happens if i wait...
The first time i plugged in the USB hard drive, Windows recognized it and tried installing drivers for it but it just hung on "Windows is installing drivers for this device" and i had to unplug the drive since nothing was happening. Now nothing happens, i don't even get the previously mentioned balloon in the bottom right corner, though the hard drive powers up.

And to make this even crazier, my USB mouse and keyboard work just fine, no matter of what USB i connect them (front panel, back).
I tried uninstalling them from Device Manager, enabling/disabling Legacy USB Support from the BIOS (was set to BIOS Setup Only), plugging them in all the USB port i have, including front panel.

There is nothing wrong with both the USB flash drive and the USB hard drive - they work perfectly on my laptop the second i plug them in.

Please help - i really need the use of these two devices...

MindBlank:

Will any USB storage devices, other than these two, work properly with this PC currently?

Ardneh

I don't have other devices to test with sorry. The Flash drive and recently the USB HDD are all i need.

You might try creating a new Administrator User Account and see if Vista will copy normally to the flash drive in the new account.

Ardneh

I tried it just now and it doesn't work...

MindBlank:

In Computer are both USB drives visible?
If so try right-clicking and sort through the options in Properties for clues.

Only the flash disk is visible. The computer doesn't react now to attaching the USB HDD. Well, i did sort through the options and there's nothing to note sadly...

A virus scan from Safe Mode and an SFC scan might be worth trying.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66978-system-files-sfc-command.html?filter[11]=Performance%20Maintenance

Best of Luck.
Ardneh

I did a virus scan with AVG and had 0 results. It's a fresh system (4 weeks) and it doesn't have crap on it. Just some necessary programs, not many. I'll post a SFC scan log tomorrow morning (it's late here).

I just ran a scan - verifyonly

Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations...

Any more ideas?

See if Vista will recognize the Toshiba HD in Safe Mode.

Ok, this is what i just found out :

- the 2 USB ports on the front of the case are crap. They don't supply the right voltage or can't supply the requested amount of power. I connected the HDD to both of them (it has dual-USB jacks, if one isn't enough) and listened to the HDD - it didn't start. Just some clicking, no spinning, though the LED was lit. The hard drive works just fine with just only one USB connection as this is how i keep it on my laptop. So i plugged it to the USB ports on the back of the computer (only one USB this time) and it spun up, installed driver and could browse the content. I tried copying an 8GB file and no problem - steady 25 MB/s which is what the USB to SATA controller can manage.

I plugged my mouse receiver in the front USB ports and it skips and doesn't register half my clicks. Clearly there's something wrong with them.

However...the USB flash drive STILL doesn't work. Plugged it in the back - could click Properties and browse the drive. Oh, I forgot to mention, the last few tries i couldn't even access the Properties option for the drive and also got 2 BSOD's as i unplugged it while it was trying to copy - BTW the first BSOD gave this error : IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and the other one had no error message, the dump was too fast too see something anyway. Can't copy anything to the drive (haven't tried copying from the drive yet ). I just get the "Copying 1/2/3 etc item/s" and the scrolling bar. Have to point out that on the laptop it runs just GREAT. Can copy a 1.2 GB file in seconds on the drive.

Also tried a CF card to USB adapter and that worked great...copied a 30 MB file just fine to it.

Will try another flash drive tomorrow if i can get my hands on it.

I uninstalled the device and did a search for hardware changes. It sees the device just fine - Kingston Data Traveler 8GB in Device Manager.

Sounds like those front USB drives are worth avoiding.

Congratulations on getting the HD going.

Best Wishes.
Ardneh