Vista - Unable to Access USB Hard Drives

Hi

I have looked for a solution with no luck.

I have 2 External USB Hard Drives which were working FINE in Windows Vista
Ultimate. These are visible in the Computer Management (Storage) part of the
program with proper Drive letters assigned and running. The Device Manager
shows these as well and (Working properly).

However, I am unable to access these 2 hard drives in My Computer. I have
backed up stuff on this which I need.

Anybody in a similar situation or anyone from MS that can help.

Thks
Nitin

I am having the same or similiar problem I have to external USB MyBook hard
drives, were all working fine until a few hours ago. Now one opens in
explorer fine the other one opens then an error message pops up with options
to restart explorer or search web for solution, neither options help.

"Nitin" wrote:

> Hi
>
> I have looked for a solution with no luck.
>
> I have 2 External USB Hard Drives which were working FINE in Windows Vista
> Ultimate. These are visible in the Computer Management (Storage) part of the
> program with proper Drive letters assigned and running. The Device Manager
> shows these as well and (Working properly).
>
> However, I am unable to access these 2 hard drives in My Computer. I have
> backed up stuff on this which I need.
>
> Anybody in a similar situation or anyone from MS that can help.
>
> Thks
> Nitin

I fixed my USB problems by connecting to the USB ports that are part of my
motherboard, not those off PCI cards, or plug-in ports, or off USB hubs.
Try moving your problem USB connectors to other ports.

It may be a timing problem. I know MS has said USBs are on their way out.
So now we know why, don't we. They will favor SATA, which I can plug into
both on the motherboard and externally. You can already buy SATA backup
drives to plug in to your computer, just like you used to with USB drives.
I noticed today that Vista no longer supports Serial ports and that my
motherboard only has one 9-pin connector on it now. Parallel ports, like we
used to have for printers, is history; there isn't one on my new
motherboard.

John


"mike" <mike@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C6F383B9-622A-46D8-AB2F-7818925A793B@microsoft.com...
>I am having the same or similiar problem I have to external USB MyBook hard
> drives, were all working fine until a few hours ago. Now one opens in
> explorer fine the other one opens then an error message pops up with
> options
> to restart explorer or search web for solution, neither options help.
>
> "Nitin" wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> I have looked for a solution with no luck.
>>
>> I have 2 External USB Hard Drives which were working FINE in Windows
>> Vista
>> Ultimate. These are visible in the Computer Management (Storage) part of
>> the
>> program with proper Drive letters assigned and running. The Device
>> Manager
>> shows these as well and (Working properly).
>>
>> However, I am unable to access these 2 hard drives in My Computer. I have
>> backed up stuff on this which I need.
>>
>> Anybody in a similar situation or anyone from MS that can help.
>>
>> Thks
>> Nitin

I found a solution to my problem. Try to see if this works for you. My drives
somehow were missing the Drive Letters, hence were not showing in My
Computer. You can go to Administrative tools in the Control Panel then select
Storage, and see whether the drive has a letter Eg. B, C, . If it does not
have a drive letter, then select the drive - right click and then choose to
assign a letter. You should be up and running.

Rgds
Nitin

"John" wrote:

> I fixed my USB problems by connecting to the USB ports that are part of my
> motherboard, not those off PCI cards, or plug-in ports, or off USB hubs.
> Try moving your problem USB connectors to other ports.
>
> It may be a timing problem. I know MS has said USBs are on their way out.
> So now we know why, don't we. They will favor SATA, which I can plug into
> both on the motherboard and externally. You can already buy SATA backup
> drives to plug in to your computer, just like you used to with USB drives.
> I noticed today that Vista no longer supports Serial ports and that my
> motherboard only has one 9-pin connector on it now. Parallel ports, like we
> used to have for printers, is history; there isn't one on my new
> motherboard.
>
> John
>
>
> "mike" <mike@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:C6F383B9-622A-46D8-AB2F-7818925A793B@microsoft.com...
> >I am having the same or similiar problem I have to external USB MyBook hard
> > drives, were all working fine until a few hours ago. Now one opens in
> > explorer fine the other one opens then an error message pops up with
> > options
> > to restart explorer or search web for solution, neither options help.
> >
> > "Nitin" wrote:
> >
> >> Hi
> >>
> >> I have looked for a solution with no luck.
> >>
> >> I have 2 External USB Hard Drives which were working FINE in Windows
> >> Vista
> >> Ultimate. These are visible in the Computer Management (Storage) part of
> >> the
> >> program with proper Drive letters assigned and running. The Device
> >> Manager
> >> shows these as well and (Working properly).
> >>
> >> However, I am unable to access these 2 hard drives in My Computer. I have
> >> backed up stuff on this which I need.
> >>
> >> Anybody in a similar situation or anyone from MS that can help.
> >>
> >> Thks
> >> Nitin
>
>