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External Hard Drive problems

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19 replies

by ptprowan

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I took the hard drive from my old laptop, a HP Pavillion ze4900 and put it in a case, a Inland Products usb 2.0 hdd enclosure that says on the box: connects a 2.5" hard disk drive easily to any usb port. Fully support 2.0 hi-speed USB data transfer. Fully USB 1.1 downwards compatable. Built-in USB 2.0 to IDE Interface. Controller with general IDE interface & bulk-only transfer of USB mass storage class support UP TO UDMA66 for storage device. The cd rom that came with it does not work. When I put the cd rom in, and try to install it, it comes up for windows 98 only.

I checked the website for inland products and didn't find any software downloads. www.inland-products.com

When I plug the hard drive into my USB port, my new laptop, dell inspiron 1525 does not even acknowledge it. How do I make this work??

I want to get to my files that are on my old laptop hard drive, and use them on my new laptop.

Thank you all for your help and suggestions.
Rowan.

19 replies

by older mycroft

Win98 didn't have USB support. That's why there is only driver software for Win98 on the disc.

What operating system does your laptop have?
Have you tried all your USB ports?

Does the USB lead terminate with TWO plugs, if so have you connected both of them? The two plugs are sometimes provided because laptops can't always provide sufficient power to drive an external hard drive.

Have you tried connecting this USB enclosure to a desktop PC? This would tend to prove/disprove the power problem.

by ptprowan

hi, my computer has windows xp. i will try and plug both plugs in and see what happens. thank you for your help.

rowan

by rob miners

problem with the Drive before removing it and putting it in the caddy. Have you installed it into the caddy correctly. Recheck your connections.

by ptprowan

i took the drive out of the old laptop because the old laptop had internal power plug problems and wouldn't keep running, wouldn't charge the battery. i am a long haul truck driver and don't use a desktop, only use a laptop.

i had the drive installed in the caddy at the place i bought the caddy from.

i will check the connections again. when the guy put the drive with the caddy, he matched the green side of the drive with the green side in the caddy.

thank you for your help,
rowan

by older mycroft

I know they'll fit upside-down because I once did it myself.

Needless to say, it wasn't recognised when I plugged it into the USB port. ;)

by ptprowan

i had the place where i bought the caddy put the drive in there for me. he matched the green side of the drive with the green side of the caddy!! lol. I hope that is correct, I will double check it. Oh, and when I plug one plug into the usb, the green light does come on. So i will try plugging both usb plugs in and see what happens if anything!!

thank you for your help,
Rowan

by oh smeg

Turn it over on it's back and remove the Plastic Jumper from the 2 Pins that it is shorting out. Do not refit the Jumper and plug the HDD back into the caddy.

When you go to Plug the HDD into the NB make sure that you use both of the USB Plugs on the Y Cable to ensure that you actually have enough power available from the USB Ports to run the External HDD.

Col

by ptprowan

thank you for your help. i will check this out and plug both usb plugs in. i had only plugged one in the port and noticed the green light came on, to me, that meant it had power, but perhaps not enough power.

thank you for your help
rowan

by rob miners

1. Open Computer Setup by turning on or restarting the
notebook. Press f10 while the F10 = Based Setup message is
displayed in the lower-left corner of the screen.

On the Advanced Menu under Device options

Make sure that this is enabled

■ Enable/Disable USB legacy support for a USB
keyboard, mouse, and hub. When USB legacy
support is enabled

by oh smeg

With a current of 500 Milli Amps but most modern NB's can not continually provide 500 Milli Amps to the USB Sockets hence the need to use both of the Plugs in different USB Sockets.

Also one USB Plug on these Y leads only carries power no Data so it may very well have Power but still not be connected to the NB with the Data Lead. You need to have the USB Plug closest to the External HDD plugged into the NB for any Data to get passed through to the NB.

If that isn't the problem make sure that any jumper on the HDD is removed.

Col

by Former member

And look for the USB section and make sure that "Legacy" in marked "enable", make sure you select "save and exit" before you reboot your computer. Now the external drive in question should show up as "Found new hardware".

Please post back if you have any more problems or questions.

by ptprowan

Hi, thank you for your help. I went to control panel and couldn't find anything that looked like bios, and anything that said usb section. can you help me get to that point? thank you again,
rowan

by oh smeg

It is the very first thing that you seen when you push the On Button. It will either have a Power On Self Test Screen or a NB Makers Logo like Dell HP IBM or so on. On the bottom of the screen it will say something like Push [b]Del[/b] to Enter BIOS or Push [b]F10[/b] to Enter BIOS. This is generally on the Bottom Left of the Screen but depending on who made the NB it may be elsewhere on the bottom of the screen.

Whatever the Designated Key is you need to push than and enable Legacy Support in the BIOS or CMOS whichever you prefer. Just remember to save any changes when you exit or the changes will not take effect.

Col

by ptprowan

Thank you all for your help. I just needed to put both usb plugs in the slots on my new laptop to give it enough power! (duh). I thought that seeing the green light with one plug that, that was enough power!! You helped me see that I was wrong.

I am happily using all my files and programs on the hard disk in my new laptop. I am keeping all but one file and all the programs on the external hard drive. No need to import all that onto my new laptop. that's why using the external works!!

I am a lay person when it comes to computers, so please thank you for your forgiveness to my ignorance. I only imported one much used file from the hard disk, into my new laptop.

Thanks again for all your help.
Rowan

by oh smeg

As you plan on using this External Case constantly you need to know to use the Safely Remove Option in XP to shut down the external HDD. This is on the Task Bar to the Left of the Clock and you should right click on the USB Remove Icon to stop the External HDD before powering it down.

If you do not do this you run the risk of the Partition Information being deleted and loosing all of your Data. Think of it along these lines when you shut down a modern Truck you need to make sure that there is sufficient Air Pressure for the Starter next mourning. The same applies here tot he External Drive you need to shut it down safely to prevent any damage to it.

Best of Luck

Col

by mamies

Check the jumper settings on the drive, I had to change mine to master, i think or cable select or something like that. But it made it work

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