2.5" Portable won't read

Nick74 · 24th January 2008, 11:23 AM

Hi,
I have just aquired a 2.5"40GB IDE portable HDD that reads fine when connected to the USB ports on the computer. When I connect it to the USB ports on my Dell 24" monitor however, it lights up (powers up) but doesn't register as a drive for me to access it. Any ideas why this is so?
Cheers.

EDIT: To make things weirder, when it's connected to certain USB ports on my computer, my mouse and keyboard freezes. Both are connected via USB to the ports on the monitor. I have to disconnect the portable drive and switch to a USB port that works and mouse and keyboard work again.

RichoB · 24th January 2008, 3:18 PM

your probably not getting enough power to the drive. If the drive has one of those twin plug cables, try plugging both in.

This may be the reason your having mouse/keyboard problems as well.
The USB ports on the front of my case do the same, so i just got another USB cable and have that permanently plugged into the rear of the PC...

Nick74 · 24th January 2008, 3:21 PM

Yeah I've plugged the twin USB plugs with no success.

The monitor IS connected to the USB on the computer, which means its powered right? I have a powered hub at home which i will try.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichoB

your probably not getting enough power to the drive. If the drive has one of those twin plug cables, try plugging both in.

This may be the reason your having mouse/keyboard problems as well.
The USB ports on the front of my case do the same, so i just got another USB cable and have that permanently plugged into the rear of the PC...

RichoB · 24th January 2008, 3:25 PM

By my understanding, the screen doesn't route extra power to the USB ports, so your powered hub is properly a better choice.

Let us know if it works, might look at picking one up myself.

Nick74 · 24th January 2008, 3:31 PM

Just found out my workmate is running his 2.5" HDD off the USB on his screen and works fine...

BUT he doesn't have his mouse and keyboard plugged into his screen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichoB

By my understanding, the screen doesn't route extra power to the USB ports, so your powered hub is properly a better choice.

Let us know if it works, might look at picking one up myself.

mrpats · 24th January 2008, 8:06 PM

USB only provides IIRC something like .5 of an amp.

If your monitor is plugged into your pc only using 1 usb cable then the most it can dish out is that .5 amp.

Now, you have your keyboard and mouse plugged in. probably not drawing all that much current.

Now you add your HDD which needs a full 1 amp (hence the two usb connectors) and your suddenly drawing too much current than what is being supplied.

Either get a powered usb hub, move your keybd and mouse to your PC's USB connectors or the best option is to plug your portable HDD straight into your PC.

Nick74 · 24th January 2008, 8:36 PM

Got the thing home and plugged it into my powered hub. Not working. Light blinks red/green on the HDD. Plugged it straight into a USB port on the PC itself, light stays red. Both don't register as drives in explorer. Any ideas? Surely I don't have to install drivers as i'm on Win XP sp2...

Nick74 · 24th January 2008, 9:50 PM

I've noticed that if it is plugged into the PC, the red (red - read, green - go i think) light lights up, but the drive doesn't spin. What gives...

Do I need to update USB drivers or something?

Nick74 · 25th January 2008, 8:41 AM

Got back to work this morning and the it works fine on the work computer except for the earlier problems (see first post). So it must be some kind of driver or something that is stopping it from working on the home computer?

mrpats · 25th January 2008, 11:01 PM

when the device is plugged into your work machine do this:

right click My Computer -> Manage

Under Storage select Disk Management. Can you see the drive listed there?

Where did you get the hard drive from? I had a similar issue and the problem turned out to be that the previous owner had put a boot up password on it.

Nick74 · 25th January 2008, 11:12 PM

Drive is listed at home PC as healthy.

See http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...d.php?t=647610 for merged topic and further weirdness...

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrpats

when the device is plugged into your work machine do this:

right click My Computer -> Manage

Under Storage select Disk Management. Can you see the drive listed there?

Where did you get the hard drive from? I had a similar issue and the problem turned out to be that the previous owner had put a boot up password on it.

seb · 25th January 2008, 11:41 PM

What brand is it? I had a maxtor mini-3 once which I set up with the built-in manufacturer-supplied security option but then it would only ever work on that PC. Doh! even though other PCs could see it was connected but not read it or assign a drive letter to it.

With the USB ports make sure that when u plug both in that they are to different "hubs" cos there is a per-port power limit and a per-hub power limit too.

Nick74 · 26th January 2008, 7:46 AM

It's a Seagate, not very old too. The hub is powered so 2 ports on the same hub should be alright?

Quote:

Originally Posted by seb

What brand is it? I had a maxtor mini-3 once which I set up with the built-in manufacturer-supplied security option but then it would only ever work on that PC. Doh! even though other PCs could see it was connected but not read it or assign a drive letter to it.

With the USB ports make sure that when u plug both in that they are to different "hubs" cos there is a per-port power limit and a per-hub power limit too.

24th January 2008, 11:23 AM	#1
Nick74 Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Adelaide 5070 Posts: 1,337	2.5" Portable won't read Hi, I have just aquired a 2.5"40GB IDE portable HDD that reads fine when connected to the USB ports on the computer. When I connect it to the USB ports on my Dell 24" monitor however, it lights up (powers up) but doesn't register as a drive for me to access it. Any ideas why this is so? Cheers. EDIT: To make things weirder, when it's connected to certain USB ports on my computer, my mouse and keyboard freezes. Both are connected via USB to the ports on the monitor. I have to disconnect the portable drive and switch to a USB port that works and mouse and keyboard work again. __________________ Opty 144 @ 2.7GHz (CAB2E 0610 GPAW) 1.4v \| ASRock DualSataII (2.2) \| 2x1GB Corsair Value Select 3-3-3-8 @ 2.5v DDR400 \| Asus EN7900GS (590/900) \| CoolerMaster Centurion 5 CAC-T05 w/460W PSU \| ACFreezer64Pro \| Razer Diamondback 3G Last edited by Nick74; 24th January 2008 at 11:27 AM.

24th January 2008, 3:25 PM	#4
RichoB Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Perth Posts: 196	By my understanding, the screen doesn't route extra power to the USB ports, so your powered hub is properly a better choice. Let us know if it works, might look at picking one up myself. __________________ *SONY VGN-FW35G* \|\|\| ASUS EeePc 900 \|\|\| Pentax K20D \|\|\| Samsung 780i My Photos...

24th January 2008, 8:06 PM	#6
mrpats Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 323	USB only provides IIRC something like .5 of an amp. If your monitor is plugged into your pc only using 1 usb cable then the most it can dish out is that .5 amp. Now, you have your keyboard and mouse plugged in. probably not drawing all that much current. Now you add your HDD which needs a full 1 amp (hence the two usb connectors) and your suddenly drawing too much current than what is being supplied. Either get a powered usb hub, move your keybd and mouse to your PC's USB connectors or the best option is to plug your portable HDD straight into your PC. __________________ Successful Trade: Kurwa, need4speed, walgard, Jai, llamaboy,markpunti,KGBSpy,unixyk Folding@Home 110000 Points Milestone

24th January 2008, 8:36 PM	#7
Nick74 Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Adelaide 5070 Posts: 1,337	Got the thing home and plugged it into my powered hub. Not working. Light blinks red/green on the HDD. Plugged it straight into a USB port on the PC itself, light stays red. Both don't register as drives in explorer. Any ideas? Surely I don't have to install drivers as i'm on Win XP sp2... __________________ Opty 144 @ 2.7GHz (CAB2E 0610 GPAW) 1.4v \| ASRock DualSataII (2.2) \| 2x1GB Corsair Value Select 3-3-3-8 @ 2.5v DDR400 \| Asus EN7900GS (590/900) \| CoolerMaster Centurion 5 CAC-T05 w/460W PSU \| ACFreezer64Pro \| Razer Diamondback 3G

24th January 2008, 9:50 PM	#8
Nick74 Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Adelaide 5070 Posts: 1,337	I've noticed that if it is plugged into the PC, the red (red - read, green - go i think) light lights up, but the drive doesn't spin. What gives... Do I need to update USB drivers or something? __________________ Opty 144 @ 2.7GHz (CAB2E 0610 GPAW) 1.4v \| ASRock DualSataII (2.2) \| 2x1GB Corsair Value Select 3-3-3-8 @ 2.5v DDR400 \| Asus EN7900GS (590/900) \| CoolerMaster Centurion 5 CAC-T05 w/460W PSU \| ACFreezer64Pro \| Razer Diamondback 3G Last edited by Nick74; 24th January 2008 at 10:05 PM.

24th January 2008, 3:18 PM	#2
RichoB Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Perth Posts: 196	your probably not getting enough power to the drive. If the drive has one of those twin plug cables, try plugging both in. This may be the reason your having mouse/keyboard problems as well. The USB ports on the front of my case do the same, so i just got another USB cable and have that permanently plugged into the rear of the PC...

25th January 2008, 8:41 AM	#9
Nick74 Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Adelaide 5070 Posts: 1,337	Got back to work this morning and the it works fine on the work computer except for the earlier problems (see first post). So it must be some kind of driver or something that is stopping it from working on the home computer? __________________ Opty 144 @ 2.7GHz (CAB2E 0610 GPAW) 1.4v \| ASRock DualSataII (2.2) \| 2x1GB Corsair Value Select 3-3-3-8 @ 2.5v DDR400 \| Asus EN7900GS (590/900) \| CoolerMaster Centurion 5 CAC-T05 w/460W PSU \| ACFreezer64Pro \| Razer Diamondback 3G

25th January 2008, 11:01 PM	#10
mrpats Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 323	when the device is plugged into your work machine do this: right click My Computer -> Manage Under Storage select Disk Management. Can you see the drive listed there? Where did you get the hard drive from? I had a similar issue and the problem turned out to be that the previous owner had put a boot up password on it. __________________ Successful Trade: Kurwa, need4speed, walgard, Jai, llamaboy,markpunti,KGBSpy,unixyk Folding@Home 110000 Points Milestone

25th January 2008, 11:41 PM	#12
seb Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Posts: 1,128	What brand is it? I had a maxtor mini-3 once which I set up with the built-in manufacturer-supplied security option but then it would only ever work on that PC. Doh! even though other PCs could see it was connected but not read it or assign a drive letter to it. With the USB ports make sure that when u plug both in that they are to different "hubs" cos there is a per-port power limit and a per-hub power limit too.