new external HDD not recognised?

longwalks1

just bought a Western Digital 500Gb external HDD plug n play USB 2.0 and its not registering on my laptop (4 years old approx) plug it into usb port, switch on the autoplay icon comes up and stays there, with the mouse as an egg timer. if i open 'my computer' it showsas drive G (have another 320GB plugged in as drive F that works fine),but if you right click new 500Gb to view properties it just seems to freeze, mouse icon as egg timer :mad:

any ideas?

longwalks1

it comes up theres an I/O device error

phildamb

britishboy wrote: »

it comes up theres an I/O device error

Do you have the specific windows error message or error code?

longwalks1

hi phil

sorry no, if i double click on the new drive in 'my computer' the mouse turns eggtimer for about 30 seconds then error says:

G:\ is not accessible.

The request could not be performed because of a I/O device error.

Then an 'OK' button to press.
might my laptop not support USB2.0?

Ximian

As you already mentioned, it could be that USB 2.0 is not supported/enabled on your laptop. Check the following site for more info on USB 2.0: http://www.usbman.com/Guides/checking_for_usb_2.htm

Also, post the details of your laptop model.

longwalks1

Acer Travelmate 240
Celeron 2.40Ghz

Think its about 4 to 4/12 years old, originally had 512kb RAM, upgraded it to 2Gb

Conor_3

Whether or not USB2 is supported is irrelevent. Try it on another computer. If you're getting the same error, its a faulty drive.

Marty999

Just a thought, but is your computer trying to allocate a drive letter that you have already assigned to something else, like a mapped drive perhaps? This happened to me and I had to remove my mapping so my USB flash drive could be assigned as an E:\ drive.

longwalks1

could be, i had to allocate my first externaldrive as F:/ so iTunes woulde find it everytime and also limewire would keep downloading to the same location, isthere anyway round this? i dont want to remove the allocated drive then it fails to find my itunes folder and downloads

espresso

britishboy wrote: »

could be, i had to allocate my first externaldrive as F:/ so iTunes woulde find it everytime and also limewire would keep downloading to the same location, isthere anyway round this? i dont want to remove the allocated drive then it fails to find my itunes folder and downloads

Remove Limewire!

:rolleyes:

longwalks1

espresso you serious? if limewires causing the problem surely the other drive woulsnt work either?