Windows 7 USB External Hard Drive Recognized, Not Functioning

[neilparikh]

Hey All,

So I'm running a clean install of 64bit Windows 7 on my laptop but when I plug in my MyBook 500gb ES External HD, it is recognized (meaning I can do safely remove MyBook ES), but when I go into Windows Explorer it does not show up. That said, I've been into Logical Disk Manager and it shows the drive as "Disk 2" but nothing next to it--when I right click that, it shows "Initialize" grayed out--I once had the option to initialize it, but upon trying to do so, it said "Incorrect Function".

I've tried updating drivers (but I don't think USB Mass Storage is the issue). Any ideas?

 

[jimbo45]

Sometimes there isn't enough power in the USB for running external USB drives on a laptop (I'm talking about those that don't need a separate power supply).

A simple get around for this problem is to use a Powered USB Hub. These in general ALWAYS work and are excellent for laptops.

They don't cost much -- around 12 EUR for a 4-port powered USB Hub.

Cheers

jimbo