Vista - USB External Drives Cannot be accessed

I have a upgraded XP to Vista Premium computer and none of the external thumb or hard drives can be accessed whereas they work fine on other vista computers in my office. Also, if I right click properties, the SECURITY tab is not there to own the external drive!

What do you recommend?

Randall

Check in Device Manager whether the drivers are OK.

The drivers check out fine. It is giving me a security error and telling me that I don't have permission.

Did you do an XP->Vista "UPGRADE" (using something like Windows Anytime Upgrade) or a "Fresh Installation of Vista"? I've seen one instance of such a case before too where XP->Vista upgrade was done instead of a fresh installation.

The Security tab is not available on file and folder properties in Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Home Basic, and Windows Vista Starter. The Security tab also is not available if you are using the FAT or FAT32 file system.

as per Why is the Security tab missing from my file and folder properties? - Windows Vista Help

also, to restore a security tab, we can follow this

Security Properties Tab - Restore or Remove

My questions are gonna be,
1. Do the external thumb or hard drives icons show up in "Computer" Window?
2. Are they detected as "USB Mass Storage Device" in device manager under USB controllers?