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Vista won't recognize USB external hard drives that work fine in XP

By rgsemail ·
I have 2
Ezquest/Maxtor 500gb usb external drives I was using on my Dell machine running XP.
I got a new Vista (Ultimate) machine and, although it recognizes
the hardware
on both drives (& says they are "working properly" and
enabled), it says the drives are "unreadable"; it does not
recognize them in My Computer.
I tried to partition the drive thru control panel but there is a
red "+" sign
on the drive icon for the Ezquest and nothing happens when I click it.
(jut options for properties and help).
(I did the original NTFS partitioning on the XP computer). I reformatted under XP (where they still work fine and still Vista won't accept them.

Thanks for any help.
rgs92g@gmail.com

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Did you install drivers in XP for these USB Drives?...

by OldER Mycroft In reply to Vista won't recognize USB ...

If so, they won't work under Vista. You'll need to download Vista-specific drivers.

If this is not the case, do your USB ports on Vista work with anything else? Check in Device Manager for errors on the USB ports.

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fix for problem i think. Had same problem with USB drives and VISTA

by satpats In reply to Vista won't recognize USB ...

I had this same problem. After 2 days of searching found info that may help.
info at:
http://tim.mackey.ie/VistaDriverProblemsFormacUSBHardDrive.aspx

Basic points are some bug in Vista. You have to delete some file and presto it should work.

Apparently there is some bug with Vista where you can get a corrupt driver cache file and if you delete it then it will solve all these problems.
The culprit file is called INFCACHE.1 and it's located in c:\windows\inf. I discovered this on a newsgroup post. This is the relevant parts:

"The solution to this annoying problem (I had it on one PC), seems to be to locate and delete the file INFCACHE.1, which may be corrupted and causing the problem. To delete this file, you will first have to modify its permissions so the users group can access it (right-click on the file->Properties->Security). INFCACHE.1 file. It's located at C:\Windows\inf (scroll down to the file). (Note: to see INFCACHE.1, you must set Windows Explorer to display hidden and system files)

When modify these system files, i usually find i have to take ownership first for my own user account, then add myself to the permissions with full control. then you can delete it, or rename it to X_INFCACHE.1, etc."

Hope it works.

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Thanks is all I can say

by jminchey_z In reply to fix for problem i think. ...

I have been searching a way to get my Vista to read my USB flash dirve. Then thoght, duh, why don't I check TechRepublic for possible solutions. Your 2007 response still works today. I tried it, it worked. Thanks

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Reponse To Answer

by Phxgrl In reply to fix for problem i think. ...

Wow! I've been dealing with this problem for months and couldn't find a fix. Thank you SO MUCH for this post! Worked beautifully!!!!

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Don't forget to set your SHARE option!

by hebrewplace In reply to Vista won't recognize USB ...

Hi,
This exact scenario happened to me and I emailed tech support after scouring knowledge base - NO HELP!
Suddenly I wondered if I needed to set the device to share on the XP computer before the Vista computer would see it.
Yep - that was it!
No one knew from the manufacturer or in their FAQ!
Hope this is your solution, too.
Sarah

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Thanks :)

by Jacky Howe In reply to Don't forget to set your ...

for that tip Sarah. If you don't mind we can test it on the next Poster that has that particular problem.

Sharing a Drive has other benefits as well.

Rob

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