problems with external hard drive

Let_Robinson_Sing

I have a 400 gb elements hard drive plugged into my USB port of my laptop and on my Microsoft XP windows doesnt recognise it. It worked fine a few days ago but now it doesnt seems to work.

Any ideas of how I can sort this.

Thanks

Red_Rose_Exile

Try this:

Locate the file INFCACHE.1 in C:\Windows\inf

Right click on the INFCACHE.1 file, click Properties | Security | Edit, and give your account full control.

rename it to INFCACHE.1.BAK or temporarily move it to your desktop.

REBOOT

Try plugging in your USB device again

Let_Robinson_Sing

Red_Rose_Exile wrote: »

Try this:

Locate the file INFCACHE.1 in C:\Windows\inf

Right click on the INFCACHE.1 file, click Properties | Security | Edit, and give your account full control.

rename it to INFCACHE.1.BAK or temporarily move it to your desktop.

REBOOT

Try plugging in your USB device again

Thanks for your reply.

I have just done that, plugged the device in, the PC made that noise when you put a USB device in and still not been identified

Chippy_Minton

Try this. Shutdown computer. Connect external drive to USB port on computer and switch on the drive. Switch on computer and see if Windows recognises the drive. If not, try a different USB port.

Does it appear in My Computer, Device Manager or Disk Management?

Does it work okay on another computer?

antilles

Check in Device Manager for the drive.

Driver files may have become corrupt - look for anything with a yellow exclamation mark on. If you spot anything like this, try updating the drivers from Windows Update, or from your driver CD if you have one.

Try reinstalling the drive using any install software on the CD.

I know it sounds daft but try another USB cable as well.

Let_Robinson_Sing

I went into device manager and the drive was indentified and it was showing on 'my computer' but I still couldnt access it. I uninstalled the driver unplugged the drive and then plugged it back in. It came up as indentified new drive and then said it was fully installed and ready to use but now it isnt even showing in my computer

I have tried it on another PC and still get the same problems

shambleton

Hi,
Probably a long shot but go into computer management (right click my computer - Manage) select Disk management and check to see if the drive is listed you may need to assign a different drive letter to the drive.