Western Digital Externall HDD with S4XP

[seefour05]

Hi, Looking for advice pleeeeease,
I recently bought a WD Passport 2.5" hdd (250GB). Upon plugging it in to the usb socket, Win XP does it's thing and installs the device. I then get the message that it can be used. I went to 'My Computer' but the drive is not shown. Any clues? I've emailed WD and looked on their web pages but there seems to be no apparent solution.

Also on another topic, when booting into XP, if I wnat the battery/mains power icon to show in the systray, I have to log off and log on as me throught the welcome screen. On initial boot up though, it seems to bypass the welcome screen.

I'd be grateful if anyone has a solution to either of my probs.

Thanx

Nick

[kee-lo_]

Hi Nick,

Does the WD have a power supply?
The only reason I ask is because if it's bus powered it might be too powerful for the notebook.

[MattWilson]

Some USB hard drives work better on 10V so you use one of these:



It has 10V input from 2 USB connectors that are attached.

You can get it here.

[seefour05]

Hi, no it doesn't have its own power supply. That was part of the reason I bought it as it seemed more convenient to carry around without another adapter.

[seefour05]

I understand that WD sells those cables too. I would have thought though that as the laptop is under 2 years old, it would have had enough power to allow the HDD to work. The blue power light comes on on the HDD when plugged in. It just isn't shown in 'My Computer'.

[Thalamus.]

Hi Nick,

The western Digital HDD worked ok on a older PCG-K series without any extra leads etc, just simply plug and play, are you able to test on another PC..

There is a KB article on the WD site How do I install a WD Passport external USB hard drive in Windows

[seefour05]

Yeah, I've tried it on my Dell Dimension and exactly the same thing happened. Hope its not the HDD as I bought it in the US. Have read though that WIN XP can't see anything over 137GB. IS this correct and if so how do you overcome it when you can't access the HDD to start with?

[MattWilson]

Well i have a 200GB external drive and XP works fine with it.

Its a myth i think.

I think it could be the hard disc.

Do you have a vista PC or a Linux Live CD to test it with?

[seefour05]

No I don't have a Vista pc that I can test it with.

[seefour05]

Does anyone have ideas about the other part of my initial post.
When booting up into XP, if I want to have the battery/mains indicator on the systray, I have to log off then choose me from the welcome screen. I go straight into XP on the initial boot.

Thanks again for your replies

Nick