Windows Vista Forums
Vista Forums Home Join Vista Forums Windows 7 Forum Vista Tutorials Tags
Welcome to Windows Vista Forums. Our forum is dedicated to helping you find solutions with any problems, errors or issues you are experiencing with Windows Vista. The Vista forum also covers news and updates and has an extensive Windows Vista tutorial section that covers a wide range of tips and tricks.

Go Back   Vista Forums > Vista Newsgroups > Vista hardware & devices

Vista - USB hard drive enclosure, no Vista drivers

Reply
 
Old 06-03-2007   #1 (permalink)
Sir Benjamin Nunn


 
 

USB hard drive enclosure, no Vista drivers

Hi,

I have a Sumvision USB2-SATA Drive enclosure, fitted with a Western Digital
400 Gb drive.

When I plug it into a laptop running XP, the drivers all install
automatically.

However, on my Vista box, there is a problem in finding a driver - Vista
reports this as the driver for the hard drive itself, not the enclosure.

The device therefore doesn't work at all on Vista, despite being a latest
model enclosure and drive.

I've checked the Sumvision and Western Digital sites for drivers, and also
tried the CD that came with the enclosure, but none of them have the driver
that Vista is apparently looking for.

Any ideas? TIA.

BTN


My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 06-03-2007   #2 (permalink)
freddy


 
 

RE: USB hard drive enclosure, no Vista drivers

Sir Benjamin Nunn,

When Windows detects a device requiring a driver, but for which it has no
driver, Device Manager will indicate this problem by showing a yellow "!", or
some other symbol. Take a look in Device Manager to see whether there is a
problem indicated for the enclosure. If you see a problem indicated, use
Device Manager to check for updated drivers. I don't know whether you need
drivers for the enclosure, but Device Manager will provide the information.

Also, is this a new unpartitioned and unformatted hard drive? If it is, use
Disk Manager to get the drive set up (right click Computer > Manage > Disk
Manager).

Make sure you have enough power available at the USB port to operate the
drive, unless you're using external power. That's all I can think of for
now. Post back and let us know what happens.
--
freddy


"Sir Benjamin Nunn" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I have a Sumvision USB2-SATA Drive enclosure, fitted with a Western Digital
> 400 Gb drive.
>
> When I plug it into a laptop running XP, the drivers all install
> automatically.
>
> However, on my Vista box, there is a problem in finding a driver - Vista
> reports this as the driver for the hard drive itself, not the enclosure.
>
> The device therefore doesn't work at all on Vista, despite being a latest
> model enclosure and drive.
>
> I've checked the Sumvision and Western Digital sites for drivers, and also
> tried the CD that came with the enclosure, but none of them have the driver
> that Vista is apparently looking for.
>
> Any ideas? TIA.
>
> BTN
>
>

My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 06-03-2007   #3 (permalink)
Sir Benjamin Nunn


 
 

Re: USB hard drive enclosure, no Vista drivers


"freddy" <fkirschen@tidalwave.net> wrote in message
news:8A2016DE-99B3-439D-87F7-4274D1673846@microsoft.com...
> Sir Benjamin Nunn,
>
> When Windows detects a device requiring a driver, but for which it has no
> driver, Device Manager will indicate this problem by showing a yellow "!",
> or
> some other symbol. Take a look in Device Manager to see whether there is
> a
> problem indicated for the enclosure. If you see a problem indicated, use
> Device Manager to check for updated drivers. I don't know whether you
> need
> drivers for the enclosure, but Device Manager will provide the
> information.



Done that. It does the same thing as when I first plug in the enclosure -
e.g. launches a lengthy search, and comes up with nothing.

The 'i' icon is against the hard drive device listing, not the enclosure.


> Also, is this a new unpartitioned and unformatted hard drive? If it is,
> use
> Disk Manager to get the drive set up (right click Computer > Manage > Disk
> Manager).



It was new and unpartioned/unformatted.

I then formatted it after it successfully plugged into my XP machine. After
formatting nothing changed on Vista.

It doesn't show up in Disk Management.


> Make sure you have enough power available at the USB port to operate the
> drive, unless you're using external power. That's all I can think of for
> now. Post back and let us know what happens.



It uses external power, so probably not applicable.

BTN

My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 06-03-2007   #4 (permalink)
freddy


 
 

Re: USB hard drive enclosure, no Vista drivers

Sir Benjamin Nunn,

OK, I understand better now. I don't think you need a driver for the
enclosure. Device Manager only sees a problem with the hard drive.

What is the error message for the hard drive in Device Manager? It always
indicates additional information apart from the yellow "!" somewhere there,
perhaps under Properties.

Did you have this problem before you partitioned and formatted it in XP? I
don't think you can use an XP partitioned and formatted hard drive in Vista.
Vista has a different standard, as far as I know. WinXP likely put a Master
Boot Record on the drive, but I don't know how you performed the drive prep.
Anyone have information about this point?

--
freddy


"Sir Benjamin Nunn" wrote:

>
> "freddy" <fkirschen@tidalwave.net> wrote in message
> news:8A2016DE-99B3-439D-87F7-4274D1673846@microsoft.com...
> > Sir Benjamin Nunn,
> >
> > When Windows detects a device requiring a driver, but for which it has no
> > driver, Device Manager will indicate this problem by showing a yellow "!",
> > or
> > some other symbol. Take a look in Device Manager to see whether there is
> > a
> > problem indicated for the enclosure. If you see a problem indicated, use
> > Device Manager to check for updated drivers. I don't know whether you
> > need
> > drivers for the enclosure, but Device Manager will provide the
> > information.

>
>
> Done that. It does the same thing as when I first plug in the enclosure -
> e.g. launches a lengthy search, and comes up with nothing.
>
> The 'i' icon is against the hard drive device listing, not the enclosure.
>
>
> > Also, is this a new unpartitioned and unformatted hard drive? If it is,
> > use
> > Disk Manager to get the drive set up (right click Computer > Manage > Disk
> > Manager).

>
>
> It was new and unpartioned/unformatted.
>
> I then formatted it after it successfully plugged into my XP machine. After
> formatting nothing changed on Vista.
>
> It doesn't show up in Disk Management.
>
>
> > Make sure you have enough power available at the USB port to operate the
> > drive, unless you're using external power. That's all I can think of for
> > now. Post back and let us know what happens.

>
>
> It uses external power, so probably not applicable.
>
> BTN
>
>

My System SpecsSystem Spec
Old 06-03-2007   #5 (permalink)


Windows Vista™ Ultimate
 
 

Vista does include some support for XP drivers under some operation I suggest getting the files out of your setup program and manually installing the driver, It works for some hardware and doesnt work on others.

There are thousands of drivers for vista microsoft has ready to go but are currently not released because the lack of licencing agreements with OEM`s for distribution.
My System SpecsSystem Spec
Reply

Thread Tools


Similar Threads
Thread Forum
Vista does not recognise internal hard drive in external usb enclosure Vista hardware & devices
Can only access one partition of hard drive using enclosure Drivers
Ultra USB Hard Drive Enclosure driver fail Drivers
External USB Hard Drive not working, Vista asking for drivers Vista hardware & devices
2.5 Hard Drive Enclosure Driver CD FOR XP NOT VISTA Vista hardware & devices


Vista Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized,
sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation.
"Windows Vista", the Start Orb, and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.
© Designer Media Ltd

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46