Windows XP Won't Recognize WD Ext Hard Drive

Hi there
I dont know if this will work for you but looking on the web I came accross someone who had a similar problem they fixed it as follows.
They installed Tweak UI and then

She I was able to get the drive recognized using "Tweak UI", clicking on My Computer, Drives,and check marking Drive F. It did the trick.
Hope this helps
Kindest Regards Tony B.

This was really helpful. I disabled/enabled 1394 connection and it started working!!! :)
Thanks so much.

Thanks for posting. I just did the same thing and disabled and then enable the Firewire and it worked. So far so good, because I think my USB connection is failing. :(

Hey,

I had a similar problem and going into Administrative Tools and Storage within Device Management and allocating a drive letter to them fixed it.

Paul, it worked nice and easy for me. I searched in a lot of forums with no luck, until I found your answer. Thanks a lot man, you rock!!!

I have a similar problem. My external drive was previously used on a MAC and now I am trying to use in in XP. I have been using my external drive on my Mac with no problems. I recently changed to PC (XP) and plugged in the drive. The computer added it and I can see it in the Device Manager, but it doesn't show up as a drive in Explore. What am I doing wrong? I can't see in in Disk Management either. Do I need to reformat it? How? I tried the Firewire suggestion, but couldn't locate anything in Network Connections called Firewire.

Thanks!

hi
I had a similar problem. my external disk didn't work on one of my computers, although it did work on my old one.

I suggest you replace the usb cable, it might be defected. worked for me anyway :)

hope it helps.

Heyup,

Im at work and so there isnt a 1394 connection as far as i could see, But i was having the problem whereby you double click on the drive letter and it goes 'What program do you want to use for this file' which was just silly. I could get to it by right clicking 'explore' but that didnt solve the problem.

In the end i changed the drive letter (was E) to M and its working normally again.

Cheers All,

Richard

I had similar problem and also could not find 1394 anywhere in network connections although providing my hardrive with a drive letter worked perfectly. Thanks to all....Go McCain....

Hi I try in different way,

I even install the "Tweak UI" but it doesn’t work.

But when I remove my Mapped drive from E, then it automatically comes as WD Password (E :).

So it seems, WD hard disk has assign fixed drive E,
So if someone computer has E drive assigned already then it doesn’t work.

So try to remove network folder from E: drive.

Hope it work for you.

Windows FAMOUS Service Packs(3) at it again!

I dont know why disabling that connection in the networks connections would bother with my external drive! BUT! I did it, and it fixed it! Thank you for saving whats left of my night, and whatever nerves I have left! lol

I can't find network connections under my control panel, can anybody help me with that?

I had the same problem but was on a network, I logged on to work station only and the drive was visable so I created a desktop shortcut, when I went back on to the network the drive could be accessed from the shortcut no problem

Hello. I have a problem, i have used the WB External Hard Drive to copy my Macintosh HD using Time Machine. Everything was succesful, it works and Mac OS X recognizes the Hard Drive as Time Machine. The problem is when i plug it to my Mac and im on Windows XP using bootcamp, it doesnt recognize it! Please help! What to do? Im not really that computer savvy so if someone would guide me what to do step by step i would be very grateful! Thanks!

thanks for the tips guys
i found that going into COMPUTER MANAGEMENT in ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS, firstly activating the external HDD then changing the drive letter (to Z:) - as soon as that was done XP detected the HDD and did the autoplay thing.
Good luck

If you have a front panel USB on your case, just try the USB ports from the back of your case.

I have a new wrinkle: SP3 on DellM90 laptop. Reconizes WD 320 fine using USB. I got tired of slow USB2 tranfer rate, so wanted to use firewire. Bought 6pin to 4 pin cable (Dell has 4 pin connector). Restarted with WD plugged in, Windows would hang on 'progress screen', with blue bar moving-so I knew that it was not frozen. Actually went to dinner while it was trying to complete windows load, came home, still not loaded.

Unplugged firewire, forced reboot, and perfect startup. Being leery of hot swap from my old SCSI days, I was reluctant to plug 1394 wihle up, but WD Knoweldge Base answer 127 said to plug after boot, so I did. The world didn't end but all processes were slowed Awaaay down, 'my computer' went into 'not responding' mode, so I unplugged. Could not restart even with Task Manager, so did the old 'hold the button until it dies'.

Reconnected USB, booted up, no problem. Decided that maybe the FAT32 on WD might be the problem (other drives NTSF), so Ghosted the WD, formatted it to NTSF using Windows. Then tried to restore to 'clean' WD and couldn't because the WD software wouldn't 'dismount' the drive.

Oh, and not only that...while I restarted my drive assignment for CD was changed back to 'E' from my rename of 'Z'.

What fun.

So, here's my next try:

Removed WD programs from Startup.
Using USB connection, restore files to WD.
Then, try hotswap to firewire.

I'll let you know what happens.