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Hello,
I've been trying to synch a Seagate 250GB external hard-drive to a laptop running on Windows XP. This one is a standard hard-drive fitted into a one button back-up 3.5" case.
The driver fails to install into Windows XP and although I can install the hard-drive software, it's not much use.
Is it possible that the external drive is not laptop friendly?
Suggestions welcome.
Thanks.
"Does your laptop have USB 2.0?"
Thank you. Yes it does.
By the way, I was born yesterday too.
Best wishes.
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I didn't mean you any disrespect by my question.
All my external HDDs were readily recognized by WINXP PRO or HE computers without drivers. My WIN98SE computers did require drivers.
What HDD caddy are you using? Are you sure that your USB 2.0 ports on the laptop are functioning properly?
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Hi Badboy,
No problem - I'm just a bit sensitive because nothing I'm doing with my computer seems to work right lately :)
The USB ports are all fully intact - the modem; keyboard, mouse all run off the 3 USB ports and have no problems. The caddy is a smart drive which was professionally fitted.
I'm amazed you managed without drivers - I can't seem to do anything with Windows XP - even with Drivers...Thanks for the thoughts.
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A mouse or keyboard would work well with USB 1.1 or 2.0. I don't know about a USB modem but it might work well with USB 1.1.
I've got a Maxtor external HDD and I have Seagate HDDs in Nexstar and Tritton caddys and I've been able to run them without drivers on computers with WINXP.
What I'm wondering is whether your USB ports are running at USB 1.1 or whether your caddy's drivers aren't in the WINXP driver data base. If not, the manufacturer should have drivers.
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Hi Badboy,
Definitely not USB 1.1!! I'm running a 1.73GHz laptop with an Intel Pentium Processor 740. It's totally flummoxed me. It's possible that the caddy's drivers are not in the Win Xp driver database but it's clearly marked on the box that it is Windows XP compatible.
It's disheartening to go through this - everything should be so straight forward according to the instructions. It just never is.
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But maybe the USB controller for your laptop's MOBO got screwed up.
In Device Manager, check the USB controllers. Are any of them "enhanced" USB host controllers? If not, that might be driver that you need. It should be available from the laptop manufacturers website.
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That's possible Badboy - I had a look at my Device Manager and there are so many ports and code named things which I don't recognise. I'll have to have a look at them tomorrow when I'm more level headed. I see a lot of USB things in the list.
Asking a laptop manufacturer anything isn't straightforward - I've also disabled my wireless LAN and can't figure out how to sort it out yet either.
Good night!
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Er.....several days later....still trying...
This is so so simple, yet I'm finding it so so hard...
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Maybe you have a friend who could look at USB controllers in Device Manager and see if any are "enhanced".
The drivers for a laptop MOBO should be available at the manufacturer's website and should be an easy download.
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"Maybe you have a friend who could look at USB controllers in Device Manager and see if any are "enhanced".
Lol. I don't have any friends! I spend all my time trying to figure out how to work my computer!
Joking aside (really it was), I've just checked and realised I've been looking in <Control Panel---->Add Hardware>.
I don't seem to have a Device Manager option which is easily located in Windows. It reaffirms my impression that Windows is such a bloated OS that nothing is easy to navigate without someone else's experience ;(
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Start>Settings>Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager
I'm sorry that your experience with WINXP is such an ordeal. It is not a perfect OS but millions of people use it productively every day.
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Hi again,
I see what you mean - I've found about 5 different USB controllers which aren't specified and only one which is enhanced.
All the USB ports say that the devices are working properly. Hmm.
Looks like I have yet to configure these fully. Everything from the mini-disc, the external hard-drive, the wireless router all aren't quite configured yet. The digicam is though. I wonder how I managed to succeed there, and not with the other USBs?
Windows is probably manageable.....with 24 hour technical support ;)
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what service pack are you running, some older service packs of XP will only recognise up to a 127gig HDD, is the HDD new (unformatted) or has it had info on it before
if the former try running diskmgmt.msc and mark the drive as active then partition it, kk, gg
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Solution:
Control Panel>>Administrative tools>> Computer Management>>Storage>>Removable Storage when the HD is plugged in and running.
The format the drive into 2 partitions, and name it G: Drive or something else.
I've got it working at last!! The computer recognises the USB connection although the drive has to be formatted and specified: the Apple system automatically recognises this on USB connection, but Windows doesn't. I'm now running service pack 3 (or at least 2 - updated last week I think).The CD driver which came with the hard disk is redundant - the instructions don't make sense. If I knew that I could use Windows to format the disk and that a driver wasn't required, it wouldn't have been so difficult!
Many thanks to everyone who helped me out - sometimes Windows is like that and blundering on with perseverance gets us there eventually ;)
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