Why wont my Windows Vista recognize my usb mass storage device?

Question

I have windows vista and i have a hard drive threw usb....when i plug it in, it says that found new hard ware.....but when i go to my computer, it is not showing up.....so i right click my computer and click manage.....then i click disk management....it shows on there......it is an unknown device...183gb(or whatever it is) and says its unalcolated...it also says it is not intialized.........so i right click the box and everything is blocked out except properties and help....so what can i do to have vista recognize it and have it work...
thanks

Answer 1

if you have another folder "mapped" (from a network or something) as the next physical drive, e.g. E:\ it creates a conflict. This is true for XP at least, Vista, I dunno. other than that, I couldn't possibly suggest a valid reason. If that is the case, you can right click the "logical" drive and select disconnect. at which point your flash drive will become the next physical drive.

Answer 2

Did it ever work on the computer with Vista? If not, it may be that you have to download the latest driver.

Did you open My Computer to see if the drive appears there?

Did you check the device manager to see if the port is o.k.?
Start
Settings
Control Panel
System
Device Manager
right-click on the device and select properties
- this will tell you if the port is working and give you an opportunity to update the driver.

Here is some other information I found on USBs which you may find interesting:

Problem With USB Port – Can’t Reinstall USB Device – Plug & Play Problem
- With Windows Plug & Play feature, Windows is supposed to recognize any device plugged into a USB port -- the problem is after it recognizes something once, Plug & Play will never again try to install that device. You need to erase all memory of the device (printer etc) from the computer.
- Right-click on My Computer, cl Properties, click Hardware, click Device Manager.
- Click on the plus sign next to “Universal Serial Bus.” Look for the problem device’s name and right-click. Now Remove. Restart and reinstall.

Source: Article by James Coates, Chicago Tribune.
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Personal Notes:
1. I found that if I did not go through the “safely remove” procedure before unplugging a USB device, the computer did not recognize another item. I had to reinsert the first item, “safely remove,” then plug in another item. This must be like shutting down for USBs.
2. Some flashdrives are to be removed at shutdown, and reinserted after startup. This is stated on the literature that accompanied my SONY 1G flashdrive. I do not recall seeing this instruction for my Cruzer 1G, but I suspect it is the same. I found that if I leave it connected, I cannot access files. After removing it and reinserting, files are there. A couple other smaller, older flashdrives do not seem to have this problem.
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Answer 3

Without any other info I'd say it was trying to use the same drive letter as an existing drive (right click my computer, select manage then disk. Right click anything unassigned and choose change drive letter) or it's a cheap drive with a cheap interface and it isn't Windows fault. I've chucked away an external hard drive usb kit for that reason.