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Windows 7 - Notices but does not 'see' external usb hard drive RRS feed

  • Question

  • I upgraded from Vista Home Premium SP2 (32Bit) to Windows 7 Home Premium (32Bit) and after the upgrade my external usb hard drive can not be seen. The system notices it when it is plugged in and/or powered on but does not show it under My Computer or any other drive display option.

    I have seen other posts about this all without a solution- could I have missed the solution - if so please forgive this posting and please point me in the right direction.

    If there hasn't been a solution posted and you know how to solve this issue I am very interested.

    The Windows 7 Hardware Compatibility indicates this drive is supported and the upgrade advisor did not object to it.

    Thanks
    Lionel B. Dyck
    Monday, November 2, 2009 11:48 PM

Answers

  • Resolved :

    The resolution was to:

    1. Plug in and turn on the external USB hard drive
    2. Right mouse click on My Computer
    3. Left click on Manage
    4. Left click on Device Manager
    5. Expand the USB list
    6. Find the USB device for your USB Hard Drive (in my case it was the one that had no description)
    7. Right mouse click - Uninstall
    8. Turn off the external USB hard drive
    9. Turn on the external USB hard drive and let it find and install the driver
    10. It should work

    Lionel B. Dyck
    • Marked as answer by Linda Yan Thursday, November 5, 2009 2:01 AM
    Wednesday, November 4, 2009 6:11 PM

All replies

  • Open 'Administration Tools', select 'Computer Management', click on 'Disk Management' and see if it can be seen here. If it does show here, chances are it doesn't have a drive letter assigned. If this is the case, right click on the drive, select "Change drive Letter...', and assign a drive letter to it.

    If it was not seen there, go to 'Action' on the menu bar, click on 'Rescan Disks' and it should come up. If necessary assign a drive letter to as described above.


    • Proposed as answer by Max128 Monday, August 29, 2011 2:36 PM
    Tuesday, November 3, 2009 1:57 AM
  • The drive does not show up and rescan does not cause it to do so either.

    When I go into Device Manager there is a USB device with no name.  When I click on update I get a message that windows has determined that I have an up to date driver for USB Mass Storage Device.

    ???

    Thanks
    Lionel B. Dyck
    • Proposed as answer by Bill6060 Wednesday, June 4, 2014 2:22 AM
    Tuesday, November 3, 2009 2:59 AM
  • Hi Lionel,

     

    Please unplug unnecessary device, try other USB ports and see if the device can be recognized. If the issue persists, please check if other USB devices can be detected.

     

    Also, go to Start -> Computer -> Organize -> Folder and search options -> click View tab -> uncheck "Hide empty drives in the Computer folder" -> OK.

     

    What is the result? If the issue still exists, please move on:

     

    Delete the Upperfilters and Lowerfilters value for USB device

    =====================================

    1. Click the "Start" button, type "regedit" (without quotation marks) in the “Search" bar and then press “Enter”.

    2. Navigate to the following key:

     

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}

     

    3. Right click the {36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000} entry, choose "Export", select “Desktop” in the “Save in” box and type "backup" (without quotation marks) in “File Name”. Click “Save”.

     

    Please Note: The backup file is on the Desktop and named “backup.reg”. We can simply restore the registry by double-clicking the “backup.reg” file.

     

    4. Highlight this key ({36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000} ), on the right pane, and then check if “Upperfilters” and “Lowerfilters” value are present. If so, please right click on the values and select "Delete" to remove them.

    5. Restart the computer to check the issue.

     

    Hope this helps.

     

    Regards,

    Linda

     

     

    • Proposed as answer by Mobile Target Monday, April 25, 2011 12:41 PM
    Tuesday, November 3, 2009 8:20 AM
  • Having same problem with 16b usb pen drive.  Worked previously on Vista system, still works on other Vista systems, just not being recognized by Windows 7.  I checked the registry key mentioned here.  I don't have either of the upperfilters or lowerfilters value keys....

    Any suggestions?

    • Proposed as answer by Mobile Target Monday, April 25, 2011 12:42 PM
    • Unproposed as answer by Mobile Target Monday, April 25, 2011 12:42 PM
    Tuesday, November 3, 2009 4:42 PM
  • I just upgarded to windows 7 all good no probs till I came to putting in USB memory stick. I have tried to rescan disks option and no go have opened all hiden files and folders also to no avail 

    HELP !!!! I need this stick to work 

    PS i do use all the USB ports on the PC with other devices no probs but the USB stick is recognised but does nothing, doesn't show anywhere doesn't even blink at me  
    Wednesday, November 4, 2009 12:08 AM
  • Resolved :

    The resolution was to:

    1. Plug in and turn on the external USB hard drive
    2. Right mouse click on My Computer
    3. Left click on Manage
    4. Left click on Device Manager
    5. Expand the USB list
    6. Find the USB device for your USB Hard Drive (in my case it was the one that had no description)
    7. Right mouse click - Uninstall
    8. Turn off the external USB hard drive
    9. Turn on the external USB hard drive and let it find and install the driver
    10. It should work

    Lionel B. Dyck
    • Marked as answer by Linda Yan Thursday, November 5, 2009 2:01 AM
    Wednesday, November 4, 2009 6:11 PM
  • I am having a similar problem that is baffling me with Windows 7.  I have an external Maxtor USB drive that Device Manager sees as a USB Drive but I am unable to assign it a drive letter and see it in Windows Explorer.  In the Disk Management Console it doesn't show up.   I've already tried every USB port and cleared the UpperFilter and LowerFilter entries in the registry....still nothing.

    Any NEW ideas?

    Thanks!

    -Stephen
    • Proposed as answer by cwaustintx Tuesday, December 15, 2009 7:33 PM
    Thursday, December 10, 2009 3:14 AM
  • 1.                      Plug in the external USB hard drive

    2.                      Right mouse click on My Computer

    3.                      Left click on Manage

    4.                      Double click on Storage

    5.                      Double click on Dick Management

    6.                      Disk 0 is Hard Drive Partitions

                 Disk 1 will display the SIZE of the external device with no name

    7.                      Right mouse click the BLUE BAR on Disk 1

    8.                      Left click on Mark Partition as Active

    9.                      Left click on Change Drive Letter and Paths

    10.                  Right click the “Add” button  - Right click OK

    11.                  The external USB device should now have a drive letter

    • Proposed as answer by nomdeguer Wednesday, July 25, 2012 1:25 AM
    Tuesday, December 15, 2009 7:34 PM
  • had the same problem with a maxtor one touch drive it would not let me assign a drive letter until I installed the maxtor software which came with the drive, luckily i had kept a copy of the software in a usb stick.

    hope this helps

    Monday, December 21, 2009 2:50 AM
  • you are a Genious!!!! Thanks! I have this seagate external drive that windows would not recognize after I took the  computer off of sleep-- and you fixed it!!! Thanks. i went to almost a hundred sites and got 100 answers, this seemed simple and logical.
    Wednesday, December 23, 2009 3:46 AM
  • Hi - i tried your solution (using Windows7 with an Hitachi external drive) but my problem is - the computer sees the new harddrive device , but will not open the drive for viewing OR   At step 7 - would not uninstall, just keeps running.  This  worked with my Maxtor drive (which had the problem of not ejecting  after i had tried to use the Hitachi).  this Hitachi flaw requires me to force a shut down   "manually" and this is setting off alerts.   Any ideas of what the problem could be?

    thanks!!
    • Proposed as answer by plshelpnow Saturday, April 19, 2014 6:23 PM
    Monday, January 18, 2010 6:50 AM
  • hello

    I still have problems with external drives mounting on Win 7 but with no drive letter attached don't know the reason and the same drives on xp computers are no problem.

    there has to be something about how windows 7 mounts drives and remembers drive letters maybe the first service pack will address this issue.

    anyway if windows sees the drive but cannot open it make sure you have a drive letter assigned to it. Some of these external drives have a proprietary backup software etc which it requires to be run before the drive can be mounted such as my maxtor one touch..



    jhstewart

    Monday, January 18, 2010 10:00 PM
  • Hi, I also have a Hitachi that was not seen (same as most every one here) by windows 7 and had no success with any of the methods described. I did however get it to work by using "delete volume" in the disk manager then reactivating the volume. the only problem with this is it re formats the drive.   
    • Proposed as answer by Zeallot Tuesday, March 16, 2010 5:29 PM
    Thursday, February 4, 2010 1:14 AM
  • While doing step Number 7 I can not open the drive. There is only the option of "help", I tried using the HD on a different system. Which did work, I know it is not a USB problem ( the darn things worked on vista).  I can see the drive in device manager but I can not open any files nor will it give anything but the "safely remove hardware". Is there any way to open the drive or is this becoming a lost cause with another windows product?
    Tuesday, March 16, 2010 5:42 PM
  • I had the same issue and it turns out my windows 7 install somehow didn't include 1 INF file that allows usb mass storage devices to work: usbstor.inf

    once i got a copy of that magically everything works properly. so to help everyone else out do the following:

    copy the text below the **
    open notepad
    paste the text you copied
    save it as usbstor.inf
    copy that to the windows\inf directory
    uninstall any usb mass storage devices that are not recognized
    unplug the usb mass storage devices you just uninstalled
    plug them back in 

    here is the contents of the inf file

    **
    [Version]
    Signature="$CHICAGO$"
    Class=USB
    ClassGUID={36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}
    provider=%MSFT%
    LayoutFile=LAYOUT.INF
    DriverVer=07/01/2001,5.1.2600.0

    [ControlFlags]
    ExcludeFromSelect = *

    [Manufacturer]
    ; sorted by VID
    %Generic.Mfg%=Generic
    %Mitsumi.Mfg%=Mitsumi
    %HP.Mfg%=HP
    %NEC.Mfg%=NEC
    %SMSC.Mfg%=SMSC
    %IBM.Mfg%=IBM
    %IOData.Mfg%=IOData
    %FujiFilm.Mfg%=FujiFilm
    %ScanLogic.Mfg%=ScanLogic
    %Panasonic.Mfg%=Panasonic
    %SCM.Mfg%=SCM
    %Sony.Mfg%=Sony
    %YEData.Mfg%=YEData
    %Iomega.Mfg%=Iomega
    %LaCie.Mfg%=LaCie
    %TEAC.Mfg%=TEAC
    %Hagiwara.Mfg%=Hagiwara
    %Imation.Mfg%=Imation
    %SanDisk.Mfg%=SanDisk
    %Casio.Mfg%=Casio
    %DioGraphy.Mfg%=DioGraphy
    %M-Sys.Mfg%=M-Sys
    %Addonics.Mfg%=Addonics
    %OnSpec.Mfg%=OnSpec


    [Generic]
    %GenericBulkOnly.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\Class_08&SubClass_02&Prot_50
    %GenericBulkOnly.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\Class_08&SubClass_05&Prot_50
    %GenericBulkOnly.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\Class_08&SubClass_06&Prot_50

    [Mitsumi]
    %USB\VID_03EE&PID_0000.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_03EE&PID_0000
    %USB\VID_03EE&PID_6901.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_03EE&PID_6901

    [HP]
    %USB\VID_03F0&PID_0107.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_03F0&PID_0107
    %USB\VID_03F0&PID_2001.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_03F0&PID_2001
    %USB\VID_03F0&PID_4002.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_03F0&PID_4002
    %USB\VID_03F0&PID_6102.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_03F0&PID_6102

    [NEC]
    %USB\VID_0409&PID_002C.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0409&PID_002C
    %USB\VID_0409&PID_0040.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_0409&PID_0040

    [SMSC]
    %USB\VID_0424&PID_0FDC.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_0424&PID_0FDC

    [IBM]
    %USB\VID_04B3&PID_4427.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_04B3&PID_4427

    [IOData]
    %USB\VID_04BB&PID_0301.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_04BB&PID_0301

    [FujiFilm]
    %USB\VID_04CB&PID_0100.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_04CB&PID_0100

    [ScanLogic]
    %USB\VID_04CE&PID_0002.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_04CE&PID_0002

    [Panasonic]
    %USB\VID_04DA&PID_0B01.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_04DA&PID_0B01
    %USB\VID_04DA&PID_1B00.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_04DA&PID_1B00
    %USB\VID_04DA&PID_0B03.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_04DA&PID_0B03

    [SCM]
    %USB\VID_04E6&PID_0001.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_04E6&PID_0001
    %USB\VID_04E6&PID_0002.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_04E6&PID_0002
    %USB\VID_04E6&PID_000A.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_04E6&PID_000A
    %USB\VID_04E6&PID_0101.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_04E6&PID_0101

    [Sony]
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0022.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_054C&PID_0022
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0023.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_054C&PID_0023
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0024.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_054C&PID_0024
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0025.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_054C&PID_0025
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_002C.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_054C&PID_002C
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0032.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI_NR, USB\VID_054C&PID_0032
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0037.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_054C&PID_0037
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0046.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_054C&PID_0046
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_004A.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_054C&PID_004A
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0056.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI_NR, USB\VID_054C&PID_0056
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0058.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_054C&PID_0058
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0069.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI_NR, USB\VID_054C&PID_0069

    [YEData]
    %USB\VID_057B&PID_0000.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_057B&PID_0000
    %USB\VID_057B&PID_0001.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_057B&PID_0001
    %USB\VID_057B&PID_0010.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_057B&PID_0010

    [Iomega]
    %USB\VID_059B&PID_0001.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_059B&PID_0001
    %USB\VID_059B&PID_0030.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_059B&PID_0030
    %USB\VID_059B&PID_0031.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_059B&PID_0031
    %USB\VID_059B&PID_0032.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_059B&PID_0032
    %USB\VID_059B&PID_0060.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_059B&PID_0060

    [LaCie]
    %USB\VID_059F&PID_A601.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_059F&PID_A601
    %USB\VID_059F&PID_A602.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_059F&PID_A602

    [TEAC]
    %USB\VID_0644&PID_0000.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_0644&PID_0000
    %USB\VID_0644&PID_1000.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0644&PID_1000

    [Hagiwara]
    %USB\VID_0693&PID_0002.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0693&PID_0002
    %USB\VID_0693&PID_0003.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0693&PID_0003
    %USB\VID_0693&PID_0005.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0693&PID_0005
    %USB\VID_0693&PID_0006.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0693&PID_0006
    %USB\VID_0693&PID_0007&MI_00.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0693&PID_0007&MI_00
    %USB\VID_0693&PID_000A.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0693&PID_000A

    [Imation]
    %USB\VID_0718&PID_0002.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0718&PID_0002
    %USB\VID_0718&PID_0003&MI_00.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0718&PID_0003&MI_00

    [SanDisk]
    %USB\VID_0781&PID_0001.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_0781&PID_0001
    %USB\VID_0781&PID_0002&MI_00.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0781&PID_0002&MI_00
    %USB\VID_0781&PID_0100.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_0781&PID_0100

    [Casio]
    %USB\VID_07CF&PID_1001.DeviceDesc%=QV2KUX, USB\VID_07CF&PID_1001

    [DioGraphy]
    %USB\VID_0892&PID_0101.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0892&PID_0101

    [M-Sys]
    %USB\VID_08EC&PID_0010.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_08EC&PID_0010

    [Addonics]
    %USB\VID_0BF6&PID_1234.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0BF6&PID_1234
    %USB\VID_0BF6&PID_0103.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0BF6&PID_0103

    [OnSpec]
    %USB\VID_55AA&PID_0102.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_55AA&PID_0102
    %USB\VID_55AA&PID_0103.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_55AA&PID_0103
    %USB\VID_55AA&PID_1234.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_55AA&PID_1234
    %USB\VID_55AA&PID_B004.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_55AA&PID_B004
    %USB\VID_55AA&PID_B200&MI_00.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_55AA&PID_B200&MI_00
    %USB\VID_55AA&PID_B204&MI_00.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_55AA&PID_B204&MI_00
    %USB\VID_55AA&PID_B207&MI_00.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_55AA&PID_B207&MI_00


    [PreCopySection]
    HKR,,NoSetupUI,,1

    [DestinationDirs]
    USBSTOR.CopyList = 10, system32\drivers
    QV2KUX.CopyList = 10, system32\drivers

    ; Bulk-Only Specific Sections
    ;
    [USBSTOR_BULK.NT]
    CopyFiles=USBSTOR.CopyList
    AddReg=USBSTOR_BULK.AddReg

    [USBSTOR_BULK.NT.Services]
    Addservice = USBSTOR, 0x00000002, USBSTOR.AddService


    ; CBI Specific Sections
    ;
    [USBSTOR_CBI.NT]
    CopyFiles=USBSTOR.CopyList
    AddReg=USBSTOR_CBI.AddReg

    [USBSTOR_CBI.NT.Services]
    Addservice = USBSTOR, 0x00000002, USBSTOR.AddService


    ; CB Specific Sections
    ;
    [USBSTOR_CB.NT]
    CopyFiles=USBSTOR.CopyList
    AddReg=USBSTOR_CB.AddReg

    [USBSTOR_CB.NT.Services]
    Addservice = USBSTOR, 0x00000002, USBSTOR.AddService


    ; CBI Non-Removable Specific Sections
    ;
    [USBSTOR_CBI_NR.NT]
    CopyFiles=USBSTOR.CopyList
    AddReg=USBSTOR_CBI.AddReg,USBSTOR_NR.AddReg

    [USBSTOR_CBI_NR.NT.Services]
    Addservice = USBSTOR, 0x00000002, USBSTOR.AddService

    [USBSTOR_CBI_NR.NT.HW]
    DelReg = USBSTOR_CBI_NR.DelReg

    [USBSTOR_CBI_NR.DelReg]
    HKR,,"LowerFilters"

    ; QV2KUX specific sections
    [QV2KUX.NT]
    Needs=USBSTOR_CB.NT
    CopyFiles=QV2KUX.CopyList

    [QV2KUX_Filter_Reg]
    HKR,,"LowerFilters",0x00010000,"QV2KUX"

    [QV2KUX.NT.HW]
    Addreg=QV2KUX_Filter_Reg

    [QV2KUX.NT.Services]
    Needs=USBSTOR_CB.NT.Services
    Addservice = QV2KUX, , QV2KUX.AddService

    [QV2KUX.AddService]
    DisplayName = %QV2KUX.SvcDesc%
    ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
    StartType = 3 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
    ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
    ServiceBinary = %12%\qv2kux.sys
    LoadOrderGroup = PnP Filter

    [QV2KUX.CopyList]
    qv2kux.sys




    ; Registry Sections
    ;
    [USBSTOR_BULK.AddReg]
    HKR,,DriverFlags,0x00010001,0x00000001

    [USBSTOR_CBI.AddReg]
    HKR,,DriverFlags,0x00010001,0x00000002

    [USBSTOR_CB.AddReg]
    HKR,,DriverFlags,0x00010001,0x00000003

    [USBSTOR_NR.AddReg]
    HKR,,NonRemovable,0x00010001,0x00000001


    ; Common Sections
    ;
    [USBSTOR.AddService]
    DisplayName = %USBSTOR.SvcDesc%
    ServiceType = 1
    StartType = 3
    ErrorControl = 1
    ServiceBinary = %12%\USBSTOR.SYS

    ; Windows 2000 Copy List Section
    ;
    [USBSTOR.CopyList]
    USBSTOR.SYS

    [Strings]
    MSFT="Microsoft"
    Generic.Mfg = "Compatible USB storage device"
    GenericBulkOnly.DeviceDesc = "USB Mass Storage Device"

    Mitsumi.Mfg = "Mitsumi Electronics, Corp."
    USB\VID_03EE&PID_0000.DeviceDesc = "Mitsumi USB CD-R/RW Drive"
    USB\VID_03EE&PID_6901.DeviceDesc = "Mitsumi USB Floppy"

    HP.Mfg = "Hewlett-Packard"
    USB\VID_03F0&PID_0107.DeviceDesc = "HP USB CD-Writer Plus"
    USB\VID_03F0&PID_2001.DeviceDesc = "HP USB Floppy"
    USB\VID_03F0&PID_4002.DeviceDesc = "Hewlett-Packard Digital Camera"
    USB\VID_03F0&PID_6102.DeviceDesc = "Hewlett-Packard Digital Camera"

    NEC.Mfg = "NEC Systems"
    USB\VID_0409&PID_002C.DeviceDesc = "NEC Clik!-USB Drive"
    USB\VID_0409&PID_0040.DeviceDesc = "NEC USB Floppy"

    SMSC.Mfg = "Standard Microsystems Corporation"
    USB\VID_0424&PID_0FDC.DeviceDesc = "SMSC USB Floppy"

    IBM.Mfg = "IBM"
    USB\VID_04B3&PID_4427.DeviceDesc = "IBM USB CD-ROM Drive"

    IOData.Mfg = "I-O Data Device, Inc."
    USB\VID_04BB&PID_0301.DeviceDesc = "USB Storage Device"

    FujiFilm.Mfg = "FujiFilm"
    USB\VID_04CB&PID_0100.DeviceDesc = "FujiFilm FinePix Digital Camera"

    ScanLogic.Mfg = "ScanLogic Corporation"
    USB\VID_04CE&PID_0002.DeviceDesc = "ScanLogic USB Storage Device"

    Panasonic.Mfg = "Panasonic"
    USB\VID_04DA&PID_0B01.DeviceDesc = "Panasonic USB CD-R/RW Drive"
    USB\VID_04DA&PID_1B00.DeviceDesc = "USB Reader Writer for SD Memory Card"
    USB\VID_04DA&PID_0B03.DeviceDesc = "Panasonic USB SuperDisk 240MB"

    SCM.Mfg = "SCM Microsystems"
    USB\VID_04E6&PID_0001.DeviceDesc = "USB ATAPI Storage Device"
    USB\VID_04E6&PID_0002.DeviceDesc = "USB SCSI Storage Device"
    USB\VID_04E6&PID_000A.DeviceDesc = "USB CompactFlash Reader"
    USB\VID_04E6&PID_0101.DeviceDesc = "USB ATAPI Storage Device"

    Sony.Mfg = "Sony Corporation"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0010.DeviceDesc = "Sony Digital Camera"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0022.DeviceDesc = "Sony USB HiFD Drive"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0023.DeviceDesc = "Sony USB CD-R/RW Drive"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0024.DeviceDesc = "Sony Mavica Digital Still Camera"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0025.DeviceDesc = "Sony USB Memory Stick Walkman"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_002C.DeviceDesc = "Sony USB Floppy"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0032.DeviceDesc = "Sony Memory Stick Reader/Writer"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0037.DeviceDesc = "Sony MG Memory Stick Reader/Writer"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0046.DeviceDesc = "Sony USB Network Walkman"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_004A.DeviceDesc = "Sony USB Memory Stick Hi-Fi System"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0056.DeviceDesc = "Sony MG Memory Stick Reader/Writer"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0058.DeviceDesc = "Sony MG Memory Stick CLIE"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0069.DeviceDesc = "Sony Memory Stick Reader/Writer"

    YEData.Mfg = "Y-E Data, Inc."
    USB\VID_057B&PID_0000.DeviceDesc = "Y-E Data USB Floppy"
    USB\VID_057B&PID_0001.DeviceDesc = "Y-E Data USB Floppy"
    USB\VID_057B&PID_0010.DeviceDesc = "Y-E Data USB Memory Stick Reader"

    Iomega.Mfg = "Iomega Corporation"
    USB\VID_059B&PID_0001.DeviceDesc = "Iomega USB Zip 100"
    USB\VID_059B&PID_0030.DeviceDesc = "Iomega USB Zip 250"
    USB\VID_059B&PID_0031.DeviceDesc = "Iomega USB Zip 100"
    USB\VID_059B&PID_0032.DeviceDesc = "Iomega USB Bus Powered Zip 250"
    USB\VID_059B&PID_0060.DeviceDesc = "Iomega USB Click!Dock"

    LaCie.Mfg = "LaCie"
    USB\VID_059F&PID_A601.DeviceDesc = "LaCie USB Hard Drive"
    USB\VID_059F&PID_A602.DeviceDesc = "LaCie USB CD-R/RW Drive"

    TEAC.Mfg = "TEAC Corporation"
    USB\VID_0644&PID_0000.DeviceDesc = "TEAC USB Floppy"
    USB\VID_0644&PID_1000.DeviceDesc = "TEAC USB CD-ROM Drive"

    Hagiwara.Mfg = "Hagiwara Sys-Com Co., Ltd."
    USB\VID_0693&PID_0002.DeviceDesc = "USB SmartMedia Reader/Writer"
    USB\VID_0693&PID_0003.DeviceDesc = "USB CompactFlash Reader/Writer"
    USB\VID_0693&PID_0005.DeviceDesc = "USB Dual Slot Reader/Writer"
    USB\VID_0693&PID_0006.DeviceDesc = "USB SM PCCard R/W and SPD"
    USB\VID_0693&PID_0007&MI_00.DeviceDesc = "FlashGate ME (Authenticated)"
    USB\VID_0693&PID_000A.DeviceDesc = "USB SDCard/MMC Reader/Writer" 

    Imation.Mfg = "Imation Corp."
    USB\VID_0718&PID_0002.DeviceDesc = "Imation SuperDisk USB 120MB"
    USB\VID_0718&PID_0003&MI_00.DeviceDesc = "Imation SuperDisk USB 120MB (Authenticated)"

    SanDisk.Mfg = "SanDisk Corporation"
    USB\VID_0781&PID_0001.DeviceDesc = "SanDisk USB ImageMate"
    USB\VID_0781&PID_0002&MI_00.DeviceDesc = "SanDisk USB ImageMate (Authenticated)"
    USB\VID_0781&PID_0100.DeviceDesc = "SanDisk USB ImageMate Multimedia Card Reader"

    Casio.Mfg = "Casio"
    USB\VID_07CF&PID_1001.DeviceDesc = "Casio Digital Camera"
    QV2KUX.SvcDesc="Casio Digital Camera"

    DioGraphy.Mfg = "DioGraphy Inc."
    USB\VID_0892&PID_0101.DeviceDesc = "DioGraphy USB Smartdio Reader/Writer"

    M-Sys.Mfg = "M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd."
    USB\VID_08EC&PID_0010.DeviceDesc = "DiskOnKey USB personal storage device"

    Addonics.Mfg = "Addonics Technologies"
    USB\VID_0BF6&PID_1234.DeviceDesc = "Addonics USB Storage Device"
    USB\VID_0BF6&PID_0103.DeviceDesc = "Addonics USB Storage Device"

    OnSpec.Mfg = "OnSpec Electronic Inc."
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_0015.DeviceDesc = "OnSpec USB Hard Drive"
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_0102.DeviceDesc = "USB SuperDisk"
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_0103.DeviceDesc = "OnSpec USB IDE Hard Drive"
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_1234.DeviceDesc = "OnSpec USB CD-R/RW Drive"
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_B004.DeviceDesc = "OnSpec USB MMC/SD Reader/Writer"
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_B200&MI_00.DeviceDesc = "OnSpec USB Compact Flash Reader (Authenticated)"
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_B204&MI_00.DeviceDesc = "OnSpec USB MMC/ SD Reader (Authenticated)"
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_B207&MI_00.DeviceDesc = "OnSpec USB Memory Stick Reader (Authenticated)"


    USBSTOR.SvcDesc = "USB Mass Storage Driver"

    • Proposed as answer by Ivan Ivkovic Tuesday, November 30, 2010 1:31 PM
    Thursday, June 24, 2010 2:13 AM
  • Make sure the following are on in your blackberry.

    Go to options on your blackberry

    Go to Memory and Make sure the following are on...

    MEDIA CARD SUPPORT

    MEDIA TRANSFER PROTOCOL

    MASS STORAGE MODE.

    "I could not find my blackberry either. It did the ding and all and still i could not find it. Then I found out that I had my MEDIA TRANSFER PROTOCOL off. So I tured it on and BAM it showed up on my computer.

    Sunday, June 27, 2010 6:38 AM
  • Make sure the following are on in your blackberry.

    Go to Options

    Then go to Memory

    All the following need to be on!!!

    MEDIA CARD SUPPORT

    MEDIA TRANSFER PROTOCOL

    MASS STORAGE MODE.

    I searched all day and night to find the solution as to why i could not find my blackberry. I did so many differnt things that these ppl said and then I found a website that said those things needed to be on. So i went into my phone just to check and sure enough I did not have MEDIA TRANSFER PROTOCOL on. When i tured it on my blackberry showed up right away on my computer.

    Sunday, June 27, 2010 6:43 AM
  • your tip is worth its weight in gold. Thanks

     

     

    Pavlovnl

    Wednesday, June 30, 2010 3:45 PM
  • I'm using window 7 ultimate and the drive I was having trouble with was a 1TB Fantom Green drive.

    This suggestion worked for me although initially I didn't think it was. See, when you are viewing Disk Management in the computer management don't only look at the top part of the screen where you see a list of your drives, also look at the list below which lists your disk as disk0, disk1 etc. My drive showed up there not in the top list. When I right clicked it - it showed me an option to set it as 'online'. Once I did that it was all good. Hope this is helpful.

    Update - I had also contacted Fantom support via email and I'm posting their reply.

    ------------ From Fantom Support ---------------------------------------------------

    This is actually a pretty a common issue.  When we format the drive here at the factory it is done with an imaging machine.  As such, each drive has an identical signature.  Windows interprets this as the same drive connected twice.  To product the data is marks one of the apparent drives as "Offline".

    To resolve this issue you can simply reformat your drives.  If that does not work (or you can't do that) you can mark the drive as "Online" through the Disk Management console.

    To access Disk Management open your Start Menu, right-click your My Computer icon (Computer in Windows Vista and newer) and select "Manage."  Disk Management appears here under the Storage menu.

    Disk Management is divided into two sections.  The top section lists logical disks (i.e., C:, D:, etc.) and the bottom section lists physical disks (i.e., Disk0, Disk1, etc.).  Your second Fantom drive may not be showing in the top area, but still show in the bottom area as an "Offline" volume.  Simply right-click the drive and select the "Online" option.




    MicroNet / Fantom Drives
    (310) 320-0772

    ------------ (End) From Fantom Support ---------------------------------------------------

    Monday, July 5, 2010 11:08 PM
  • Hey, I tried that but when I assigned a drive letter. I pressed ok and its like it wasnt really assigned anything... It made no difference basically. What do I do?

    Wednesday, July 21, 2010 2:51 PM
  • Did not work for me, it slike i have an HDD HXD5 320gb, it works on others windows 7 but does not work in my Windows 7 :(

    In mines it detects, searches for software and then says it did not find any driver for my HD. please can anyone help with this? & yea, it shows me on Device Manager :S with a yellow caution kinda symbol...

     

    & yea.. i tried updating the driver software using the device manager it tells me there is none available :(
    Sunday, August 1, 2010 10:05 AM
  • This worked for me on a new Dell Desktop in Windows 7 Professional for a Lacie 1TB External Hard Drive.

    1. Right mouse click on My Computer
    2. Left click on Manage
    3. Left click on Device Manager
    4. Expand the USB list
    5. Find the USB device for your USB Hard Drive (in my case it was the one that had no description)
    6. Right mouse click - Uninstall
    7. Turn off the external USB hard drive
    8. Turn on the external USB hard drive and let it find and install the driver
    9. It should work

      Uninstalling the USB Root Hub's and other USB hubs did not resolve the issue.

    Tuesday, August 3, 2010 8:35 PM
  • USB NOT RECOGNIZED-INSIGNIA PICTURE FRAME 9 IN


    I have an ASUS with Win 7. The manual that come with the picture frame states that this is supposed to be recognized as a USB DISK.

    The USB is not recognized at all. I tried the method for the RIGHT-CLICK on MY COMPUTER/MANAGE...etc-It is not shown as a disk; therefore, I can't rename it, etc. Then I tried the copying tect for the 'missing' usbstor.inf but it is NOT missing on my Windows... I read all the other posts.

    Pls. advise. THx!

    Tuesday, August 10, 2010 12:38 AM
  • I have tried all the solutions on this page and no luck.  Incidentally, the drive does not show up in disk management to assign a drive letter too, but windows does recognize it.  Windows 7 pro fresh install.
    Tuesday, August 10, 2010 11:00 PM
  • DAMN!!! I WAS TRIPPING BC I HAD ALL MY FLASH PROJECTS AND OTHER HOMEWORK ON THAT DRIVE N WINDOWS WOULDNT RECOGNIZE IT!! U WERE ON THE MONEY FOR SOME REASON WINDOWS7 DIDNT ASSIGN A DRIVE LETTER TO IT THANKS A MILLION!!
    Friday, August 13, 2010 2:28 PM
  • I was having the same problems with my acomdata PureDrive. I tried a couple different things. First I followed the procedure above that Lionel provided, but that didn't work for me. Next I went to Disk Management. I couldn't see the drive in the top window pane, but in the bottom pane I could see a drive that was blank (it appeared as a Dynamic Drive). After moving all the files from the external drive to my desktop I right-clicked on the blank drive in the lower pane and chose "Make basic drive", then I right-clicked on it again and chose "Format" and it finally appeared. I am assuming it should be a NTFS drive.

    Now it appears in My Computer and Disk Management, as well as Device Manager.
    Monday, August 16, 2010 4:12 PM
  • I'm having the same problem, too.  Looking for the solution but haven't found one yet.  Does anyone know how to fix this?
    Wednesday, August 18, 2010 12:14 AM
  • Had the same problem as the first post - "The system notices it when it is plugged in and/or powered on but does not show it under My Computer or any other drive display option" - when I bought a new computer with Win 7 as the OS. I wanted to copy stuff from the old 'puter hard dive so I used an external drive patch cord. Nothing worked. Then I remembered  having the same sort of problem on a Red Hat system with a flashdrive. I used a shorter USB cable and there was the drive! Everything worked OK and I was able to copy over my old files. Don't know why I had the problem inasmuch as I have used that cord & adapter many times before but that was the problem. Sounds simplistic but you might give it a try.
    Sunday, August 29, 2010 8:07 PM
  • This helped me so much thank you this got my device working that lets me connect IDE or SATA internal hard drives as an external one and it got my raid working which i was wondering why it was not visible to windows.
    Wednesday, October 27, 2010 12:54 AM
  • I had a similar issue, you might want to try this out.  head over to:

    http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7hardware/thread/630f7c23-3dff-4df3-8557-d7897e42549d

    they have a quite long list of things to try to resolve the issue.  the resolution to my issue as here:

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976972

    good luck!

    Wednesday, October 27, 2010 3:31 PM
  • I have the same problem and none of the above solutions work. I have a Toshiba ALU 3.5" 1TB that works fine on my old mac and another macbook but not on my Toshiba Satellite L670-117 that I purchased yesterday. It sees it as a device but it isn't listed as a drive in My Computer so I can't access any of the files on it.

    I've uninstalled it from device manager and turned it back on and nothing changes.  In Disc Management "Mark Partition as Active" and "Change Drive Letter and Paths" are greyed out so I can't click them.

    The hard drive is a couple of years old and according to the box is only compatible with OS up to Vista. Could this be the issue? I've installed the most up to date driver available for it.

     

    Please help!!!

    Thanks

    Steve

     

     

    • Proposed as answer by zJoriz Thursday, July 18, 2013 8:15 PM
    • Unproposed as answer by zJoriz Thursday, July 18, 2013 8:15 PM
    Saturday, November 6, 2010 7:35 PM
  • This is what worked for me after trying many of the solutions offered above. I wish I could claim the credit but this was originally posted by GANKS on one of the MS websites mentioned above. Hope it works for you. If it does and you have asked the question on other forums then please post the solution on those forums too and help to spread the knowledge.

    Cheers

    **************************

    Symptoms:

    USB shows in the device manager (right click on my computer and click manage, devices) either "Unknown USB device" or "name of USB hard drive manufacturer"  both of which have the yellow ! next to them saying they aren't installed correctly.

    Resolution :

    Right click on the device in the device manager that shows it isn't installed, click update driver software, enter this location assuming your C drive is your main drive

    "C:\Windows\winsxs" and ensure the box is checked to include subfolders and hit ok.  It should reinstall immediately and show up as a new drive in "My Computer"

    You may have to uninstall the device first, replug it back in and then run through the above steps.

    • Proposed as answer by SAZMND Wednesday, July 13, 2011 12:45 PM
    Tuesday, November 16, 2010 10:14 PM
  • I have tried all the solutions on this page and no luck. My external hard drive Transcend 320GB isn't being recognized by my PC.  When i go to device manager I get the error: Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43),
    My system is Windows 7 pro - fresh install. Do you have any idea?
    Friday, November 19, 2010 9:51 AM
  • Thank you so much!

    This did the trick. Drive is now working in Windows too. Perfect.

    I really do appreciate the work you are doing

    G

    Friday, November 19, 2010 7:00 PM
  • This is what worked for me.

     

    After clicking "Manage discs" I had blue bars for old discs and black bar for new unseen disc. I right clicked, did not get the menu described above but had the option to make a simple partition (or less simple but in different words). Windows then suggested size, format and drive letter. I accepted defaults, the bar turned blue and explorer recognised the disc.

     

    I hope that helps the rest of you!

    Thursday, December 2, 2010 4:05 PM
  • I was driving myself crazy trying to access my external drive. Your advice really worked. Thanks.

    Saturday, December 4, 2010 8:19 PM
  • Thank you so much,  This worked like a dream and made sooo much sense.....
    Sunday, January 2, 2011 9:39 PM
  • i have the same problem

    but i found out the solution

    just right click on my computer and select manage

    then got to disk management

    u can see u hard drive there showing the capacity only but doesnt show anything options when u right click it

    all u have to do is right click on the left side of the sample and turn it online

     

     

    Sunday, January 23, 2011 4:57 AM
  • Wow! I had been struggling with all sorts of USB Mass Storage issues and was even considering re-installing my computer, but Rob's solution of restoring usbstor.inf completely fixed it.

    BTW: I checked my backups and that INF file was deleted by an installer that came with a mobile phone.

    Yay!

    Thursday, January 27, 2011 12:25 AM
  • THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! hchari  !!! you got it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


    Friday, February 4, 2011 11:36 PM
  • I tried this but it did not help.  My usb drive is listed under devices and printers but I can not access it.

     

    Thanks

    Friday, February 18, 2011 1:16 PM
  • Tried this but it did not help.  "Upperfilters" and "Lowerfilters" are not listed in my registry.  My new usb drive is listed under devices and printers but I can not access it.

    Windows 7 Home Premium x32

    HP a6350z

    AMD 64 x2 2.20 GHz

    4.0 GB

     

    Thanks,

     

    Friday, February 18, 2011 1:23 PM
  • @Lionel B. Dyck: YOUR ABOVE STEPS REALLY WORKED, thanks for the help :)

     

    Saturday, March 19, 2011 3:39 PM
  • Same problem with my brand new Toshiba Satellite notebook PC with Windows 7 installed. External drive is Hitachi, which worked fine for years on my old Lenovo laptop / Windows XP.

    Yes, the new PC 'notices' the drive but does not recognise it or assign it a letter, nor can I open it. Driver update didn't work. Also, there was an uncomfortable clicking sound coming from the external drive when plugged in, as if the PC was trying to access it but unsuccessfully.

    The solution was supremely simple and it worked for me on my systems. It may not work for everyone though.

    My new PC has 2 USB 2.0 ports and 1 USB 3.0 port. I have no idea what the difference is between the two.

    Since I need to plug in lots of gadgets, I got a 4-port USB hub. My mobile broadband modem uses one of the PC's USB 2.0 ports. The USB hub goes into the other USB 2.0 port, and my mouse goes into one of the hub ports. And I had plugged my external drive into the USB hub. Then I got the problem. Nothing! Couldn't access or open the external drive.

    Updated the driver for the external drive, did that from the old PC. Back to the new PC, still nothing, same situation.

    So I took out the 4-port USB hub from the new PC, and plugged the external drive directly into the PC's USB port. And, lo and behold, I was in business again!! Everything worked beautifully, the way they should. Without having to do any kind of reconfiguration, workarounds or system tweakings.

    Even tried plugging the external drive directly into the PC's USB 3.0 port. Worked fine too!

    Maybe Windows 7 doesn't recognise devices which are connected to the PC's USB ports with more than one connection.

    Haven't tried it yet but it may also be possible to include the external drive as a device added to a network or homegroup. I can see and access the external drive from my new PC, if it is plugged into my old PC. The old PC is part of my network (through LAN cable) which was created on the new PC with Windows 7.

    Monday, March 28, 2011 1:49 PM
  • Thank you! You saved my day.
    Saturday, April 2, 2011 12:59 AM
  • I uninstalled as you sugested but when it reinstalled one message came up such as

     

    MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ880AS USB DEVICE  failed << did not insstall

     

    CODE - 8024402F << sometimes my update does not want to update (WINDOWS UPDATE) and i get this code as well

     

    Everything worked fine on my HOME EDITION of VISTA but my WIndows 7 does not wish to read the files although i do see them and I am 100% able to burn disk but i have to use my internal DVD drive to read them or watch the movies

    Friday, April 15, 2011 9:47 AM
  • Hi Shooter

    I had a similar problem with a new Kingston 16gig USB pen, it showed up in "Disk Management", "Devices and Printers", and the USB icon came up in the "System Tray" (although it didn't display the device just 3 dots),  but not in the "Computer" console.

    I tried every thing here but nothing worked.

    here is an easy work around i figured out to the problem.

     

    FIRST!  insert it into a USB port and make sure it shows up in "Disk Management", "Devices and Printers"

    and the USB icon shows up in the system tray (even if it wont display the device name when you click the USB icon, it may show 3 dots),

    if it is showing up in all 3, click on it in "Disk Management" and see if it has a drive letter,

    if it hasn't got a drive letter set it to "Z:\".

    then right click it in "Disk Management" and select either "Open" or "Explore"

    if it will open and you can see the files on it, then this may help as a quick fix for the time being.

     

    1) with the USB pen in a USB port, open the "Devices and Printers" control panel, double left click its icon to open it's properties,

    click on "Hardware" tab, highlight it and open its "Properties", set its "Policies" to "Quick Removal",

    this way you can insert and remove it with out causing any problems to it, close its properties.

     

    2) open "Computer Management" console, click on "Disk Management" right click its entry, and change its drive letter to "Z",

    if you haven't done so already.

     

    3) right it click again and select either "Open" or "explore"

     

    4) if there are no files on it create a folder and call it "Files", right click and hold the folder then drag and drop it onto the desktop, and select create shortcut, rename the shortcut to "USB PEN".

     

    5) right click the shortcut and select "Properties" in the "Shortcut" tab, change both the "Target" and "Start in" paths to "Z:\".

    (changing the "Target" and "Start in" paths to "Z:\" will prevent windows asking if you want to delete the short cut, if you click on it when the USB pen is not in the machine, instead nothing will happen.)

     

    6) open "Computer" now either copy and paste or move the shortcut to the "Favorites" folder in the left pan of the "Computer" console panel.

     

    7) with the USB pen in a USB port click the shortcut and see if it opens the USB pen.

    if it opens the pen you can now delete the folder we created on it to make the shortcut.

     

    hope this helps.

    "Just when you think your winning the rat race, along come faster rats"

     




    • Edited by Mobile Target Monday, April 25, 2011 1:55 PM fixing typo's
    Monday, April 25, 2011 1:46 PM
  • Worked like a champ, thanx Lionel
    Saturday, May 7, 2011 5:48 PM

  • Had the same problem as the first post - "The system notices it when it is plugged in and/or powered on but does not show it under My Computer or any other drive display option" - when I bought a new computer with Win 7 as the OS. I wanted to copy stuff from the old 'puter hard dive so I used an external drive patch cord. Nothing worked. Then I remembered  having the same sort of problem on a Red Hat system with a flashdrive. I used a shorter USB cable and there was the drive! Everything worked OK and I was able to copy over my old files. Don't know why I had the problem inasmuch as I have used that cord & adapter many times before but that was the problem. Sounds simplistic but you might give it a try.

    I'm actually using ole Windows XP and am having a similar problem.  I popped out a circa 1995 laptop hard drive (yes, there were laptops then) and put it into one of those external enclosures that provide a USB connection.  (I'd used it before with other laptop hard drives with no problems.)

    After providing power to the hard drive enclosure (5V) I plugged the USB into my current laptop USB.  The laptop (Windows XP) detects the hard drive and it even shows up in the Device Driver under Disk drives as "ST9190AG USB Device".  If I right click and select Properties the Device Status is "This device is working properly."  However, I cannot access the hard drive, because it does not appear in "My Computer" or "File Explorer".  Usually when a device is detected it appears there along with the C drive, etc.  I have tried refreshing.  It is a Seagate ST9190AG.  I have the manual but I can't figure this problem out.

    Any thoughts?

    Tuesday, May 10, 2011 2:11 AM
  • In my case the solution was: 1.Plug in and turn on the external USB hard drive 2.Right mouse click on My Computer 3.Left click on Manage 4.Left click on disk management 5.Right click on the square area that contains (Disk#) on the lower left portion of device manager(you will notice in it a small disk icon with red arrow pointing downwards and an "Offline" description beside it. 6.Choose (Online) Thats it. I hope this was helpfull
    Saturday, May 21, 2011 3:03 PM
  • It worked for me too :). Must be a bad installation of the driver. So don't be afraid to uninstall it, it will just reinstall automaticaly because it's an USB device.

    Sunday, May 29, 2011 3:05 PM
  • it still does not work for me. drive is still not accessible. :(
    Wednesday, June 8, 2011 9:25 AM
  • did not work for me either...

    i have DELL STUDIO XPS 1340 with WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM 64-BIT & my new hd is SEAGATE FREEAGENT GOFLEX.

    please help... thanks!

    Wednesday, June 8, 2011 9:27 AM
  • This procedure solved the issue I was having with Windows 7 not displaying the files on my Seagate FreeAgent USB Hard Drive -thanks!!!

    Thursday, June 9, 2011 11:35 PM
  • This is what fixed mine.  Thanks so much!
    Wednesday, June 15, 2011 2:15 AM
  •  

    All,

     

    I just want to share with the community how I solved the problem. I did read all the entries and posts here, and from some other sites. I tried with many of them and nothing solved the original problem: my Iomega USB 2.0 external drive was recognized but not really detected by Windows 7 64-bit.  The way I solved it was: REFORMATTING THE EXTERNAL DRIVE with NTFS. I previously backed up all the information on a XP computer, then reformatted the drive. After that, I could work with the drive.

    I know it's hard to spend hours and hours trying different options. That was my experience.

     

    • Proposed as answer by Sid67 Friday, June 24, 2011 12:56 PM
    Wednesday, June 22, 2011 6:51 PM
  • Another solution (it worked for me)

    Open Windows Explorer and right click on the LaCie drive (which is my external drive) and go into Properties. Go into Advanced Sharing on the Sharing tab and tick the Share this Folder box. Ok out.

    Friday, June 24, 2011 12:59 PM
  • You're a legend! This fixed my problem. Thank you very much mate!!
    Sunday, July 3, 2011 4:03 AM
  • Thanks, your the Man
    Sunday, July 3, 2011 6:19 PM
  • Thanks Man 
    Sunday, July 3, 2011 6:20 PM
  • Thank you thank you thank you ....................I've been battling with 3 external HDD and changing drive letters, thanks to you, has sorted my problem out

     

    ......and one more time THANK YOU

    Thursday, July 7, 2011 9:31 AM
  •  

    Resolution :

    Right click on the device in the device manager that shows it isn't installed, click update driver software, enter this location assuming your C drive is your main drive

    "C:\Windows\winsxs" and ensure the box is checked to include subfolders and hit ok.  It should reinstall immediately and show up as a new drive in "My Computer"

    You may have to uninstall the device first, replug it back in and then run through the above steps.


    This is the best answer and solved my problem :D :D :D Many Thanks Bluephil
    Wednesday, July 13, 2011 12:46 PM
  • I had the same problem!!! 

    I fought with Windows7 when I plugged in an external hard disk that I made up recycling an old laptop hard disk. 

    Ubuntu recognised it immediately. Windows did not let me use the drive. 

    In Disk management I can see the drive, but it was not shown in "My computer". I could not rename it immediately (grey option). 

    So.. what I did.. (MY SOLUTION): 

    Disk management -> right click on hard drive partition that I wanted to use -> delete (Be careful, do a back up first, using another computer). 

    After delete.. format -> so you can assign a letter to the hard disk, and a name ecc.. -> IT'S OK (I have then unplugged and plugged again ecc..) -> it works!! 

    I Hope this comes in help 

    ___________

    now I've read another post up here with basically the same solution proposed.. so.. format to ntfs :)

     


    Saturday, July 30, 2011 3:32 PM
  • I don't know if my issue is similar to someone, here.

    Some time, my pendrive or external HD is disconnected, when reconnect it, not show it under "my computer". Not assign letter. Any partition software can see it, but cannot assign a letter. Device manager show it, but cannot populate a volume. This issue persist until reboot the system. No driver problem, is only a disk manager problem. Under Manage -----> Storage ---> Disk Management not show the disk. I have a lot of diks (5 HDD) and 3 external drives.

    I have Windows Vista x64 Ultimate.

    Tuesday, August 2, 2011 2:21 AM
  • Thank you very much. You are the best. Was trying to fix it for a while now till i came up to your post. God bless you :)
    Tuesday, August 2, 2011 9:13 PM
  • Worked a treat, old post still helping! Cheers.
    Monday, August 8, 2011 11:14 AM
  • Thank you Lionel Dick

     

    But once u go into Device manager, u need to click on Disk Drives (in case of a External hard drive)

    Wednesday, August 10, 2011 10:25 AM
  • Resolved :

    The resolution was to:

    1. Plug in and turn on the external USB hard drive
    2. Right mouse click on My Computer
    3. Left click on Manage
    4. Left click on Device Manager
    5. Expand the USB list
    6. Find the USB device for your USB Hard Drive (in my case it was the one that had no description)
    7. Right mouse click - Uninstall
    8. Turn off the external USB hard drive
    9. Turn on the external USB hard drive and let it find and install the driver
    10. It should work

    Lionel B. Dyck
    I have currently come across the issue that was resolved with this method. I have a Manhattan 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure for a hard drive that was taken out of my old laptop. A friend has a device that can check the health of hard drives, and we were able to determine that the actual drive is still good. When I upgraded to Windows 7, though, my hard drive is no longer recognized by windows. It makes the sound showing that it notices when the enclosure is plugged in, but it does not show the drive in computer or any other listing. I've tried this method in an attempt to fix this issue, but was unsuccessful. Any idea how to fix this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
    Wednesday, August 10, 2011 8:57 PM
  • I used Linda Yan's solution and it fixed my problem. My question now is, should I backup the registry to restore that key modifier or just leave it out? The system seems to be running fine without it and nothing is complaining. I only had the lowerlifters value, but I'm wondering why it was there if it isn't needed and what if any, exposure I have without it.

     

    thanks for the great tip!!

     

    Leo

    Monday, August 15, 2011 4:50 PM
  • This worked, thanks a million!
    Wednesday, August 24, 2011 7:48 PM
  • That worked!! thanks a lot

     

    Vote As Helpful

    This is what worked for me after trying many of the solutions offered above. I wish I could claim the credit but this was originally posted by GANKS on one of the MS websites mentioned above. Hope it works for you. If it does and you have asked the question on other forums then please post the solution on those forums too and help to spread the knowledge.

    Cheers

    **************************

    Symptoms:

    USB shows in the device manager (right click on my computer and click manage, devices) either "Unknown USB device" or "name of USB hard drive manufacturer"  both of which have the yellow ! next to them saying they aren't installed correctly.

    Resolution :

    Right click on the device in the device manager that shows it isn't installed, click update driver software, enter this location assuming your C drive is your main drive

    "C:\Windows\winsxs" and ensure the box is checked to include subfolders and hit ok.  It should reinstall immediately and show up as a new drive in "My Computer"

    You may have to uninstall the device first, replug it back in and then run through the above steps.

    • Proposed As Answer bySAZMND Wednesday, July 13, 2011 12:45 PM

    Friday, August 26, 2011 6:41 PM
  • Hi all,

    I got weird problems with the same symptom. Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit recognize USB Hard Disk but can't see the filesystem (NTFS) on it. Disk Manager connecting to Virtual Device... forever and Explorer assign the Driver Letter but show up "WAIT" icon... forever until you kill it or reboot.

    My HDD is Western Digital Green Caviar 2TB, partitioned with classic mode with 1 Primary Volume formatted NTFS in Windows 7. Then I attached it to a Linux NAS via USB port to copy files from NAS, using ntfs-3g drivers that allows read/write to NTFS partition. Everything runs perfectly until I attached it back to my Windows 7 as above said.

    This problems happens to me couples of time with some HDD of other sizes. The only solution is to unload those files to NAS, reformatted and recopy, which takes 1 day.

    My HD Player also can see the files on the disk, my Linux NAS can see and read/write as normal, my Ubuntu Laptop can see and read/writes. Only Microsoft Windows 7 can't see it own child.

    I am about to convert all my Extermal HDD to Linux Filesystems, but then I have to use VMWare on Windows to read/write external hard disks.

    I tried several HDD recovery software but all they are helpless since Windows can't connect to Virtual Device Drivers that talk to NTFS partition.

    Appreciate your advises

    Monday, August 29, 2011 6:45 AM
  • Thanks very much this fixed my problem -  Thank you Stan
    Tuesday, September 6, 2011 1:37 PM
  • I had same problem fixed real easy could have kicked myself when i found solution

    -in device manager -disk drives- policies- change usbs from quick remove to use the safe hardware remover and then do the same for specific usb- strangly for me it was only my self powered usb ext/int that gave any trouble.-- which should live on your taskbar in what I think is called the quick launch down right anyway.

    Monday, September 12, 2011 5:00 AM
  • I had same problem fixed real easy could have kicked myself when i found solution

    -in device manager -disk drives- policies- change usbs from quick remove to use the safe hardware remover and then do the same for specific usb- strangly for me it was only my self powered usb ext/int that gave any trouble.-- which should live on your taskbar in what I think is called the quick launch down right anyway.

    • Proposed as answer by colhaze Monday, September 12, 2011 5:00 AM
    Monday, September 12, 2011 5:00 AM
  • You are awsome man ... you save me .... thanks for your help

     

    Monday, September 12, 2011 9:50 AM
  • Yes,  this worked.  But I had to go into safe mode first.  Thanks for the answer.
    Friday, September 16, 2011 11:22 PM
  • Thank you SO much! awesome fix worked straight away! :D
    Tuesday, September 20, 2011 9:50 PM
  • Thanks a lot. It did work perfectly for me. I was very reluctant to upgrade to win 7, but when i did, i didn`t regret it at all. Then came this USB issue and said, oh my gosh...self fulfilling prophecy...funnily enough,my laptop (win7 OS) recognizes all  my USB drives, but my desk doesn`t. Now problem solved.
    Sunday, October 2, 2011 2:32 AM
  • This is it! I finally solved the problem. Thanks for making my day.
    Monday, October 3, 2011 11:14 AM
  • "windows 7 not detecting usb device"

    "usb device not recognized windows 7"

    "usb device not recognized by windows 7"

     

    Step 1:

    C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\usbstor.inf_x86_neutral_83027f5d5b2468d3

    Copy the below files:

    USBSTORE.INF

    USTSTORE.PNF

    USBSTORE.SYS

    Paste the files in

    C:/Windows/inf/

    Step 2:
     
    Then go to device manageer (START, serach program and files for Device Manager, then click it). It will show a list

    of devices, and half way down is an 'UNKNOWN DEVICE' with the yellow icon next to it. Right click that and

    'reinstall driver' or 'update driver software' - > Browse my computer for driver software -> Put the path 'C:

    \Windows\inf'..

    This should install the USB devise

    Step 3:

    If you get an error while installing that, the next step is to go to C:/Windows/System32/drivers/USBSTOR.SYS

    and paste the file USBSTOR.SYS file only mentioned in Step 1 (if prompted to replace, pls allow)

    • Proposed as answer by Arnab_India Sunday, October 16, 2011 1:44 AM
    Sunday, October 16, 2011 1:44 AM
  • Worked for me! Windows7 2TB drive.   Thanks!
    Wednesday, October 26, 2011 11:20 PM
  • oh my god thanks so much !! after trying all the solutions in this page yours finaly work! so simple i didnt even think about it .

    thanks again!

    Thursday, November 3, 2011 5:32 AM
  • Hi all,

    Hope everyone had a wonderful Turkey Day and that y'all aren't all wiped out from standing in line at your retailer of choice all night!

    I have a similar but slightly different issue with W7. I'm using a Bytecc USB Adapter (See here if, perchance, you're not familiar with this doo-dad)  to see what is on a couple of old IDE hard drives and to determine whether to use them in another project. 

    I'm roughly 99% sure what the answer will be since these are circa 1995 HDDs but I'll ask anyway.... :-P

    I tried the solutions in this thread with no positive results. Rather, what I'm facing is in Disk Management, where my only option is to initialize the disk which, of course, defeats the purpose of my "experiment."  My only options are "Initialize," "Offline," "Properties" & "Help." My desktop has only one IDE port which is connected to one of my DVD R/W drives but that's where I'm thinking of going next. But I am a little worried that it'll just be "same problem, different cable" and that I spent the afternoon rearranging my desk to crack open my case.....

    Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

    Jack

     


    I'm out of my mind, please leave a message
    Friday, November 25, 2011 5:39 PM
  • Lionel, Many thanks. I followed your ticklist and I can now see my drive. All the best. Ian
    Thursday, December 1, 2011 11:43 AM
  • thank you ive been searching for 3 days to get my external hard drive to work
    Sunday, December 11, 2011 7:25 PM
  • Hey Lionel,

     

    I have a IOMEGA external drive and all the sudden it stop being recognized on my Win7 32Bit.

    It doesn't show on Disk Management nor Device Manager when I go to Star>Computer>Manage>Disk Management/Device Manager

     

    I read what you wrote above but couldn't understand what you meant by Start>Computer>"Organize"?>"Folder"?

    Could you clear that up please?

    Also when I go to Disk Management the only drives that show or that are even assigned to a drive letter are my internal PC hard drive C and my CD/DVD Rom drive.

     

    So how could I even change or assign a letter to a drive that doesn't even show..

     

    My IOMEGA external hard drive does swith the light on and is working because I can feel it vibrating a little and heats the normal way as if it were working like it used to.

     

    Thanks:)

     

     

    Monday, December 12, 2011 2:34 AM
  • SMFRAZZA mentions it DOES NOT show up.. it is difefrent from shoiwing up with no name.. what he described is what happens with me..except I couldn't find anywhere th Explorer file where I can delete the upperfilter and lowerfilter..so what now?The only drives taht show up are my Hard Drive and my CD/DVDRom drives.. it just stopped being ecgnized from one minute to another. I jut swithed it of to 0 and then back to 1 because I was safely removing a pen drive and didn't want to remove the wrong one so I did that and when I turned it on to 1 again nothing happened. The light switched on and you can feel it working and launching xcept not on the PC..tried every other USB port as well as my uncle's pc.. nothing..

    I'm using Windows 7... always did and no problem, but about a month ago..this happened..I have all my pictures and all my important documents on it!

    Please help!

    Monday, December 12, 2011 2:41 AM
  • What if I have no clue where I have that CD that came with the drive.. what can I do..mine is a Seagate Iomega Prestige 500GB external drive..

    Cannot just assign a dif. letter to a drive that doesn' teven show up on Disk Management or  Device Manager..I can see the light on and feel it vibrating like it's working and like it's launching but nothing happens not even as an unknown device..

     

    Thanks

    Monday, December 12, 2011 2:55 AM
  • You are great; worked all right! Thanks thanks thanks!

    :)

    Wednesday, December 14, 2011 2:10 PM
  • hi,

    i have an idea.go to computer management window.check for the USB devices.open it.then search for your USB hard drive.right click on it and uninstall it.then plug out your device and once again plug in. then let it be search.might be it could resolve the problem.

    thanks.

    Friday, December 16, 2011 7:57 PM
  • I realise you left this reply in 09, but you have just saved my hard drive!

     

    Many thanks

    Monday, January 2, 2012 6:34 PM
  • My Toshiba 320GB portable hard drive is not showing up.  Have tried different option mentioned in this forum.

    So far, this is the current status:

    • It is being recognized just with sounds by the computer after plug it in, and the unit is powered up
    • It is not showing under My Computer.
    • In Device Manager, under Disk Drives it is shown as "Generic Multi-Card USB Drive"
    • In Disk Management is not showing up at all

    The data that is there is very important, and I will like to save it. Can you tell with the above information if the data is there and is not lost. And also I havent tried the uninstall option of the drive, because I am not sure if doing this I will definitely loose the data.

    Any help will be deeply appreciated!!

     

    Thursday, January 12, 2012 1:03 AM
  • Try to unplugg the disk, restart the computer and plug in again. U can uninstall the driver, this no affect the data. After restart, and plug in, driver reinstalled it self.

    Or try to use any disk partition software to see if data still there, or plug in another computer, or download a linux boot cd and restart with them to see the data.

    Thursday, January 12, 2012 3:31 AM
  • You are a star this is the only place I managed to find a resolution.

     

    Thanks, Allan

    Thursday, January 12, 2012 8:35 AM
  • This worked for me. Thanks!
    Monday, January 16, 2012 2:53 PM
  • Ok if you are not bothered about whats on the external harddrive/usb stick here is what you do. Note your hard drive will get formatted

     

    Right click "computer"

    1. Click manage
    2. Click click management on the left
    3. In the list you will see your disc drive, "disk 1" probaby
    4. Right click in the right hand cell of the "disk 1" table. You should get a creat volume option
    5. Select this create volume option and follow all the steps
    6. You will now find the hard drive has been formatted
    7. Now do the below, this time it will work

     

    The resolution was to:

    1. Plug in and turn on the external USB hard drive
    2. Right mouse click on My Computer
    3. Left click on Manage
    4. Left click on Device Manager
    5. Expand the USB list
    6. Find the USB device for your USB Hard Drive (in my case it was the one that had no description)
    7. Right mouse click - Uninstall
    8. Turn off the external USB hard drive
    9. Turn on the external USB hard drive and let it find and install the driver
    10. It should work

    Lionel B. Dyck

     

     

    Sunday, January 22, 2012 8:32 AM
  • thx dude, i removed the drive - no help- removing the usb device in the usb section did it.  REALLY appreciate you man.  bill@affordableit.biz

     

    Tuesday, January 24, 2012 3:33 PM
  • how do i copy the file name into the windows/inf Directory
    Friday, January 27, 2012 4:58 AM
  • when i Right click on the blue bar on disk 1 no options are available
    Friday, January 27, 2012 5:16 AM
  • This is what worked for me after trying many of the solutions offered above. I wish I could claim the credit but this was originally posted by GANKS on one of the MS websites mentioned above. Hope it works for you. If it does and you have asked the question on other forums then please post the solution on those forums too and help to spread the knowledge.

    Cheers

    **************************

    Symptoms:

    USB shows in the device manager (right click on my computer and click manage, devices) either "Unknown USB device" or "name of USB hard drive manufacturer"  both of which have the yellow ! next to them saying they aren't installed correctly.

    Resolution :

    Right click on the device in the device manager that shows it isn't installed, click update driver software, enter this location assuming your C drive is your main drive

    "C:\Windows\winsxs" and ensure the box is checked to include subfolders and hit ok.  It should reinstall immediately and show up as a new drive in "My Computer"

    You may have to uninstall the device first, replug it back in and then run through the above steps.

    Thank you very much for this one. Works perfectly for my Lacie 500gb. I was have a problem when i was try to connect it on device manager shows like little disk and doesnt works, i was try a lot of times to install and uninstall and i had the same result.
    Monday, January 30, 2012 6:51 PM
  • This worked for me! Thanks!
    Thursday, February 2, 2012 5:32 PM
  • Thanks been playing around with this for a while
    Friday, February 3, 2012 12:57 AM
  • I recently had a similar problem with Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit. I had a Seagate 60GB drive that I had removed from my Gen1 PS3.  I installed the drive into a nexStar 3 external 2.5" hard drive enclosure utilizing the USB 2.0 interface.

    First, it took forever to get the enclosure to be recognized, at all.  I had to take the USB 2.0 cable from my 250GB from my 250GB Seagate FreeAgent Go drive and put  the "power only" connector into my rocketfish USB hub and the data/power connector into a front USB port.  At this point, Device Manager FINALLY found a "USB Storage USB Device" disk drive.  Yet, there was no disk drive identified in Computer.

    I followed the advice given by Lionel B. Dyck above and only succeeded in un- and re-installing the "USB Storage USB Device" driver.

    The happy ending is I followed your advice and, after a few trials and errors, I was able to create a dynamic(?) drive that was reformatted into NTFS and mounted as drive L: (vice the enigmatic Disk 7).

    Many thanks!!!

    Monday, February 27, 2012 10:36 PM
  • it still isn't working
    Tuesday, February 28, 2012 8:50 PM
  • where do I find adminstration tools

    Tuesday, February 28, 2012 8:50 PM
  • I have a Kingston G3 USB Device, however this issue happens with 99% of memory devices I plug into my desktop, running Win 7. Other USB devices works fine, joysticks, printers etc. However the external memories, flash drives all have the same problem in 99% of the times. When plugged in, they do not show in My Computer, checking Device manager, they do show up, however with a yellow triangle. I try updating drivers and troubleshoot, but nothing changes. I check in Control Panel - Device and Printers, and it is showing there under Devices, and status it is working properly. But as mentioned before I can not access the device. I than checked in Disk management, and I can find the Device in Disk 6, does not have any driver letter attached to it. If I Right Click, and choose the option to change Drive Letter and Path, I get an error message, which reads: The operation failed to complete because the Disk Management console view is not up-to-date. Refresh the view by using the refresh task. If the problem persists close the Disk Management console, then restart Disk Management or restart the computer. (I have done that but it doesn't help) If I try to Format the disk/flash drive, I get the following message: An unexpected error has occurred. Check the System Event Log for more information on the error. No options in the Blue Box area is working, if I click in the Disk 6 Box, it allows me to see the properties, and confirms all is working fine. But will not allow me to make any changes to the drives letters. Now this happens on my factory Win 7 desktop, if I plug the same device in to my laptop it works fine, no issues at all. In the Disk Management section it says: Disk 6- Removable, Online - and size of the disk. The issue is that this is a problem with any external hard drive I connect to my desktop, with very few exceptions. Please anybody any advice to resolve this problem? (My laptop uses XP op system) I just tried opening XP - mode in my Win 7, virtual computer, and the USB stick is detected there, in XP, but not in Win7.
    Friday, March 9, 2012 1:42 PM
  • I had the same issue, where Windows 7 64bit was recognizing the USB device when it was plugged in, and the drive was shown under Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management, but no drive letter was being assigned.  Manually right-clicking on the drive here, and selecting Change Drive Letters and Paths... would allow me to manually assign a drive letter, but that would not solve it for any new USB devices.

    The solution in my case was very simple: open up a command prompt, and type the following:
    diskpart <enter>
    automount enable <enter>
    exit <enter>   (to quit diskpart)
    exit <enter>   (to quit the command prompt)

    Now insert any USB hard drive and a drive letter will be assigned automatically.

    What I'm not sure about is why this stopped working in the first place...

    Wednesday, March 14, 2012 1:54 PM
  • I got this reply from another forum, and it worked for me. I don't know why, or what this really does. Would be great if somebody could tell me how to solve this problem permanently, as every new device I put in I have to do this procedure. "Can you right click on the device in the device manager that shows it isn't installed, click update driver software, enter this location assuming your C drive is your main drive "C:\Windows\winsxs" and ensure the box is checked to include subfolders and hit ok. It should reinstall immediately and show up as a new drive in "My Computer" " However it did work for me!
    Friday, March 16, 2012 12:40 PM
  • guys i have one funny problem and i dont know how to solve it.i have freecom mobile usb drive 160gb the thing is that when i put it on my tv i can see all of my files but with pc the divice status is (Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source. (Code 52))))i cant see my usb drive to perform format can anyone help me...

    Thursday, March 22, 2012 1:20 PM
  • This is the answer that fixed my problem!!!
    Sunday, April 1, 2012 11:41 PM
  • Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou

    Nothing else would work and I really needed access to this so thanks :)

    Thursday, April 12, 2012 10:02 AM
  • how do you reactivate the volume?
    Tuesday, April 24, 2012 11:58 PM
  • I had the same issue and it turns out my windows 7 install somehow didn't include 1 INF file that allows usb mass storage devices to work: usbstor.inf

    once i got a copy of that magically everything works properly. so to help everyone else out do the following:

    copy the text below the **
    open notepad
    paste the text you copied
    save it as usbstor.inf
    copy that to the windows\inf directory
    uninstall any usb mass storage devices that are not recognized
    unplug the usb mass storage devices you just uninstalled
    plug them back in 

    here is the contents of the inf file

    **
    [Version]
    Signature="$CHICAGO$"
    Class=USB
    ClassGUID={36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}
    provider=%MSFT%
    LayoutFile=LAYOUT.INF
    DriverVer=07/01/2001,5.1.2600.0

    [ControlFlags]
    ExcludeFromSelect = *

    [Manufacturer]
    ; sorted by VID
    %Generic.Mfg%=Generic
    %Mitsumi.Mfg%=Mitsumi
    %HP.Mfg%=HP
    %NEC.Mfg%=NEC
    %SMSC.Mfg%=SMSC
    %IBM.Mfg%=IBM
    %IOData.Mfg%=IOData
    %FujiFilm.Mfg%=FujiFilm
    %ScanLogic.Mfg%=ScanLogic
    %Panasonic.Mfg%=Panasonic
    %SCM.Mfg%=SCM
    %Sony.Mfg%=Sony
    %YEData.Mfg%=YEData
    %Iomega.Mfg%=Iomega
    %LaCie.Mfg%=LaCie
    %TEAC.Mfg%=TEAC
    %Hagiwara.Mfg%=Hagiwara
    %Imation.Mfg%=Imation
    %SanDisk.Mfg%=SanDisk
    %Casio.Mfg%=Casio
    %DioGraphy.Mfg%=DioGraphy
    %M-Sys.Mfg%=M-Sys
    %Addonics.Mfg%=Addonics
    %OnSpec.Mfg%=OnSpec


    [Generic]
    %GenericBulkOnly.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\Class_08&SubClass_02&Prot_50
    %GenericBulkOnly.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\Class_08&SubClass_05&Prot_50
    %GenericBulkOnly.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\Class_08&SubClass_06&Prot_50

    [Mitsumi]
    %USB\VID_03EE&PID_0000.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_03EE&PID_0000
    %USB\VID_03EE&PID_6901.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_03EE&PID_6901

    [HP]
    %USB\VID_03F0&PID_0107.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_03F0&PID_0107
    %USB\VID_03F0&PID_2001.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_03F0&PID_2001
    %USB\VID_03F0&PID_4002.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_03F0&PID_4002
    %USB\VID_03F0&PID_6102.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_03F0&PID_6102

    [NEC]
    %USB\VID_0409&PID_002C.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0409&PID_002C
    %USB\VID_0409&PID_0040.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_0409&PID_0040

    [SMSC]
    %USB\VID_0424&PID_0FDC.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_0424&PID_0FDC

    [IBM]
    %USB\VID_04B3&PID_4427.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_04B3&PID_4427

    [IOData]
    %USB\VID_04BB&PID_0301.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_04BB&PID_0301

    [FujiFilm]
    %USB\VID_04CB&PID_0100.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_04CB&PID_0100

    [ScanLogic]
    %USB\VID_04CE&PID_0002.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_04CE&PID_0002

    [Panasonic]
    %USB\VID_04DA&PID_0B01.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_04DA&PID_0B01
    %USB\VID_04DA&PID_1B00.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_04DA&PID_1B00
    %USB\VID_04DA&PID_0B03.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_04DA&PID_0B03

    [SCM]
    %USB\VID_04E6&PID_0001.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_04E6&PID_0001
    %USB\VID_04E6&PID_0002.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_04E6&PID_0002
    %USB\VID_04E6&PID_000A.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_04E6&PID_000A
    %USB\VID_04E6&PID_0101.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_04E6&PID_0101

    [Sony]
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0022.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_054C&PID_0022
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0023.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_054C&PID_0023
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0024.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_054C&PID_0024
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0025.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_054C&PID_0025
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_002C.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_054C&PID_002C
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0032.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI_NR, USB\VID_054C&PID_0032
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0037.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_054C&PID_0037
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0046.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_054C&PID_0046
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_004A.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_054C&PID_004A
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0056.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI_NR, USB\VID_054C&PID_0056
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0058.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_054C&PID_0058
    %USB\VID_054C&PID_0069.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI_NR, USB\VID_054C&PID_0069

    [YEData]
    %USB\VID_057B&PID_0000.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_057B&PID_0000
    %USB\VID_057B&PID_0001.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_057B&PID_0001
    %USB\VID_057B&PID_0010.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_057B&PID_0010

    [Iomega]
    %USB\VID_059B&PID_0001.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_059B&PID_0001
    %USB\VID_059B&PID_0030.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_059B&PID_0030
    %USB\VID_059B&PID_0031.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_059B&PID_0031
    %USB\VID_059B&PID_0032.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_059B&PID_0032
    %USB\VID_059B&PID_0060.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_059B&PID_0060

    [LaCie]
    %USB\VID_059F&PID_A601.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_059F&PID_A601
    %USB\VID_059F&PID_A602.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_059F&PID_A602

    [TEAC]
    %USB\VID_0644&PID_0000.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CBI, USB\VID_0644&PID_0000
    %USB\VID_0644&PID_1000.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0644&PID_1000

    [Hagiwara]
    %USB\VID_0693&PID_0002.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0693&PID_0002
    %USB\VID_0693&PID_0003.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0693&PID_0003
    %USB\VID_0693&PID_0005.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0693&PID_0005
    %USB\VID_0693&PID_0006.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0693&PID_0006
    %USB\VID_0693&PID_0007&MI_00.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0693&PID_0007&MI_00
    %USB\VID_0693&PID_000A.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0693&PID_000A

    [Imation]
    %USB\VID_0718&PID_0002.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0718&PID_0002
    %USB\VID_0718&PID_0003&MI_00.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0718&PID_0003&MI_00

    [SanDisk]
    %USB\VID_0781&PID_0001.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_0781&PID_0001
    %USB\VID_0781&PID_0002&MI_00.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0781&PID_0002&MI_00
    %USB\VID_0781&PID_0100.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_CB, USB\VID_0781&PID_0100

    [Casio]
    %USB\VID_07CF&PID_1001.DeviceDesc%=QV2KUX, USB\VID_07CF&PID_1001

    [DioGraphy]
    %USB\VID_0892&PID_0101.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0892&PID_0101

    [M-Sys]
    %USB\VID_08EC&PID_0010.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_08EC&PID_0010

    [Addonics]
    %USB\VID_0BF6&PID_1234.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0BF6&PID_1234
    %USB\VID_0BF6&PID_0103.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_0BF6&PID_0103

    [OnSpec]
    %USB\VID_55AA&PID_0102.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_55AA&PID_0102
    %USB\VID_55AA&PID_0103.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_55AA&PID_0103
    %USB\VID_55AA&PID_1234.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_55AA&PID_1234
    %USB\VID_55AA&PID_B004.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_55AA&PID_B004
    %USB\VID_55AA&PID_B200&MI_00.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_55AA&PID_B200&MI_00
    %USB\VID_55AA&PID_B204&MI_00.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_55AA&PID_B204&MI_00
    %USB\VID_55AA&PID_B207&MI_00.DeviceDesc%=USBSTOR_BULK, USB\VID_55AA&PID_B207&MI_00


    [PreCopySection]
    HKR,,NoSetupUI,,1

    [DestinationDirs]
    USBSTOR.CopyList = 10, system32\drivers
    QV2KUX.CopyList = 10, system32\drivers

    ; Bulk-Only Specific Sections
    ;
    [USBSTOR_BULK.NT]
    CopyFiles=USBSTOR.CopyList
    AddReg=USBSTOR_BULK.AddReg

    [USBSTOR_BULK.NT.Services]
    Addservice = USBSTOR, 0x00000002, USBSTOR.AddService


    ; CBI Specific Sections
    ;
    [USBSTOR_CBI.NT]
    CopyFiles=USBSTOR.CopyList
    AddReg=USBSTOR_CBI.AddReg

    [USBSTOR_CBI.NT.Services]
    Addservice = USBSTOR, 0x00000002, USBSTOR.AddService


    ; CB Specific Sections
    ;
    [USBSTOR_CB.NT]
    CopyFiles=USBSTOR.CopyList
    AddReg=USBSTOR_CB.AddReg

    [USBSTOR_CB.NT.Services]
    Addservice = USBSTOR, 0x00000002, USBSTOR.AddService


    ; CBI Non-Removable Specific Sections
    ;
    [USBSTOR_CBI_NR.NT]
    CopyFiles=USBSTOR.CopyList
    AddReg=USBSTOR_CBI.AddReg,USBSTOR_NR.AddReg

    [USBSTOR_CBI_NR.NT.Services]
    Addservice = USBSTOR, 0x00000002, USBSTOR.AddService

    [USBSTOR_CBI_NR.NT.HW]
    DelReg = USBSTOR_CBI_NR.DelReg

    [USBSTOR_CBI_NR.DelReg]
    HKR,,"LowerFilters"

    ; QV2KUX specific sections
    [QV2KUX.NT]
    Needs=USBSTOR_CB.NT
    CopyFiles=QV2KUX.CopyList

    [QV2KUX_Filter_Reg]
    HKR,,"LowerFilters",0x00010000,"QV2KUX"

    [QV2KUX.NT.HW]
    Addreg=QV2KUX_Filter_Reg

    [QV2KUX.NT.Services]
    Needs=USBSTOR_CB.NT.Services
    Addservice = QV2KUX, , QV2KUX.AddService

    [QV2KUX.AddService]
    DisplayName = %QV2KUX.SvcDesc%
    ServiceType = 1 ; SERVICE_KERNEL_DRIVER
    StartType = 3 ; SERVICE_DEMAND_START
    ErrorControl = 1 ; SERVICE_ERROR_NORMAL
    ServiceBinary = %12%\qv2kux.sys
    LoadOrderGroup = PnP Filter

    [QV2KUX.CopyList]
    qv2kux.sys




    ; Registry Sections
    ;
    [USBSTOR_BULK.AddReg]
    HKR,,DriverFlags,0x00010001,0x00000001

    [USBSTOR_CBI.AddReg]
    HKR,,DriverFlags,0x00010001,0x00000002

    [USBSTOR_CB.AddReg]
    HKR,,DriverFlags,0x00010001,0x00000003

    [USBSTOR_NR.AddReg]
    HKR,,NonRemovable,0x00010001,0x00000001


    ; Common Sections
    ;
    [USBSTOR.AddService]
    DisplayName = %USBSTOR.SvcDesc%
    ServiceType = 1
    StartType = 3
    ErrorControl = 1
    ServiceBinary = %12%\USBSTOR.SYS

    ; Windows 2000 Copy List Section
    ;
    [USBSTOR.CopyList]
    USBSTOR.SYS

    [Strings]
    MSFT="Microsoft"
    Generic.Mfg = "Compatible USB storage device"
    GenericBulkOnly.DeviceDesc = "USB Mass Storage Device"

    Mitsumi.Mfg = "Mitsumi Electronics, Corp."
    USB\VID_03EE&PID_0000.DeviceDesc = "Mitsumi USB CD-R/RW Drive"
    USB\VID_03EE&PID_6901.DeviceDesc = "Mitsumi USB Floppy"

    HP.Mfg = "Hewlett-Packard"
    USB\VID_03F0&PID_0107.DeviceDesc = "HP USB CD-Writer Plus"
    USB\VID_03F0&PID_2001.DeviceDesc = "HP USB Floppy"
    USB\VID_03F0&PID_4002.DeviceDesc = "Hewlett-Packard Digital Camera"
    USB\VID_03F0&PID_6102.DeviceDesc = "Hewlett-Packard Digital Camera"

    NEC.Mfg = "NEC Systems"
    USB\VID_0409&PID_002C.DeviceDesc = "NEC Clik!-USB Drive"
    USB\VID_0409&PID_0040.DeviceDesc = "NEC USB Floppy"

    SMSC.Mfg = "Standard Microsystems Corporation"
    USB\VID_0424&PID_0FDC.DeviceDesc = "SMSC USB Floppy"

    IBM.Mfg = "IBM"
    USB\VID_04B3&PID_4427.DeviceDesc = "IBM USB CD-ROM Drive"

    IOData.Mfg = "I-O Data Device, Inc."
    USB\VID_04BB&PID_0301.DeviceDesc = "USB Storage Device"

    FujiFilm.Mfg = "FujiFilm"
    USB\VID_04CB&PID_0100.DeviceDesc = "FujiFilm FinePix Digital Camera"

    ScanLogic.Mfg = "ScanLogic Corporation"
    USB\VID_04CE&PID_0002.DeviceDesc = "ScanLogic USB Storage Device"

    Panasonic.Mfg = "Panasonic"
    USB\VID_04DA&PID_0B01.DeviceDesc = "Panasonic USB CD-R/RW Drive"
    USB\VID_04DA&PID_1B00.DeviceDesc = "USB Reader Writer for SD Memory Card"
    USB\VID_04DA&PID_0B03.DeviceDesc = "Panasonic USB SuperDisk 240MB"

    SCM.Mfg = "SCM Microsystems"
    USB\VID_04E6&PID_0001.DeviceDesc = "USB ATAPI Storage Device"
    USB\VID_04E6&PID_0002.DeviceDesc = "USB SCSI Storage Device"
    USB\VID_04E6&PID_000A.DeviceDesc = "USB CompactFlash Reader"
    USB\VID_04E6&PID_0101.DeviceDesc = "USB ATAPI Storage Device"

    Sony.Mfg = "Sony Corporation"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0010.DeviceDesc = "Sony Digital Camera"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0022.DeviceDesc = "Sony USB HiFD Drive"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0023.DeviceDesc = "Sony USB CD-R/RW Drive"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0024.DeviceDesc = "Sony Mavica Digital Still Camera"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0025.DeviceDesc = "Sony USB Memory Stick Walkman"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_002C.DeviceDesc = "Sony USB Floppy"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0032.DeviceDesc = "Sony Memory Stick Reader/Writer"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0037.DeviceDesc = "Sony MG Memory Stick Reader/Writer"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0046.DeviceDesc = "Sony USB Network Walkman"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_004A.DeviceDesc = "Sony USB Memory Stick Hi-Fi System"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0056.DeviceDesc = "Sony MG Memory Stick Reader/Writer"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0058.DeviceDesc = "Sony MG Memory Stick CLIE"
    USB\VID_054C&PID_0069.DeviceDesc = "Sony Memory Stick Reader/Writer"

    YEData.Mfg = "Y-E Data, Inc."
    USB\VID_057B&PID_0000.DeviceDesc = "Y-E Data USB Floppy"
    USB\VID_057B&PID_0001.DeviceDesc = "Y-E Data USB Floppy"
    USB\VID_057B&PID_0010.DeviceDesc = "Y-E Data USB Memory Stick Reader"

    Iomega.Mfg = "Iomega Corporation"
    USB\VID_059B&PID_0001.DeviceDesc = "Iomega USB Zip 100"
    USB\VID_059B&PID_0030.DeviceDesc = "Iomega USB Zip 250"
    USB\VID_059B&PID_0031.DeviceDesc = "Iomega USB Zip 100"
    USB\VID_059B&PID_0032.DeviceDesc = "Iomega USB Bus Powered Zip 250"
    USB\VID_059B&PID_0060.DeviceDesc = "Iomega USB Click!Dock"

    LaCie.Mfg = "LaCie"
    USB\VID_059F&PID_A601.DeviceDesc = "LaCie USB Hard Drive"
    USB\VID_059F&PID_A602.DeviceDesc = "LaCie USB CD-R/RW Drive"

    TEAC.Mfg = "TEAC Corporation"
    USB\VID_0644&PID_0000.DeviceDesc = "TEAC USB Floppy"
    USB\VID_0644&PID_1000.DeviceDesc = "TEAC USB CD-ROM Drive"

    Hagiwara.Mfg = "Hagiwara Sys-Com Co., Ltd."
    USB\VID_0693&PID_0002.DeviceDesc = "USB SmartMedia Reader/Writer"
    USB\VID_0693&PID_0003.DeviceDesc = "USB CompactFlash Reader/Writer"
    USB\VID_0693&PID_0005.DeviceDesc = "USB Dual Slot Reader/Writer"
    USB\VID_0693&PID_0006.DeviceDesc = "USB SM PCCard R/W and SPD"
    USB\VID_0693&PID_0007&MI_00.DeviceDesc = "FlashGate ME (Authenticated)"
    USB\VID_0693&PID_000A.DeviceDesc = "USB SDCard/MMC Reader/Writer" 

    Imation.Mfg = "Imation Corp."
    USB\VID_0718&PID_0002.DeviceDesc = "Imation SuperDisk USB 120MB"
    USB\VID_0718&PID_0003&MI_00.DeviceDesc = "Imation SuperDisk USB 120MB (Authenticated)"

    SanDisk.Mfg = "SanDisk Corporation"
    USB\VID_0781&PID_0001.DeviceDesc = "SanDisk USB ImageMate"
    USB\VID_0781&PID_0002&MI_00.DeviceDesc = "SanDisk USB ImageMate (Authenticated)"
    USB\VID_0781&PID_0100.DeviceDesc = "SanDisk USB ImageMate Multimedia Card Reader"

    Casio.Mfg = "Casio"
    USB\VID_07CF&PID_1001.DeviceDesc = "Casio Digital Camera"
    QV2KUX.SvcDesc="Casio Digital Camera"

    DioGraphy.Mfg = "DioGraphy Inc."
    USB\VID_0892&PID_0101.DeviceDesc = "DioGraphy USB Smartdio Reader/Writer"

    M-Sys.Mfg = "M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd."
    USB\VID_08EC&PID_0010.DeviceDesc = "DiskOnKey USB personal storage device"

    Addonics.Mfg = "Addonics Technologies"
    USB\VID_0BF6&PID_1234.DeviceDesc = "Addonics USB Storage Device"
    USB\VID_0BF6&PID_0103.DeviceDesc = "Addonics USB Storage Device"

    OnSpec.Mfg = "OnSpec Electronic Inc."
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_0015.DeviceDesc = "OnSpec USB Hard Drive"
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_0102.DeviceDesc = "USB SuperDisk"
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_0103.DeviceDesc = "OnSpec USB IDE Hard Drive"
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_1234.DeviceDesc = "OnSpec USB CD-R/RW Drive"
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_B004.DeviceDesc = "OnSpec USB MMC/SD Reader/Writer"
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_B200&MI_00.DeviceDesc = "OnSpec USB Compact Flash Reader (Authenticated)"
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_B204&MI_00.DeviceDesc = "OnSpec USB MMC/ SD Reader (Authenticated)"
    USB\VID_55AA&PID_B207&MI_00.DeviceDesc = "OnSpec USB Memory Stick Reader (Authenticated)"


    USBSTOR.SvcDesc = "USB Mass Storage Driver"

    Where's windows\inf directory?
    Wednesday, April 25, 2012 12:21 AM
  • Hi

    I have a similar problem with my WD1.5TB USB portable HDD. It was working great on Win7 64bit pro for 12 months. Then it just stopped working. There has been a power outage during a thunder storm, not sure if this is when it stopped working. Can see it in device manager, but not in windows explorer or in powerdesk.

    When I open Computer Management and go to disk management, it comes up with a message to initialize the disk. Choosing either MBR or GPT has the same result - The media is write protected. It is not listed in the top section of disk management, but is in the lower section. It is described as unknown, not initialized and as 2048GB under Disk 2. Where it should have a drive letter, it just gives 2048.00GB and Unallocated. Right clicking on it only gives properties or help. In properties, under Volume it lists:

    Disk:                      Disk 2

    Type:                     Unknown

    Status:                   Not Initialized

    Partition Style:        Not Applicable

    Capacity:                2097150 MB

    Unallocated Space:  2097150 MB

    Reserved Space:      0MB

    I have also tried it with my Asus laptop running Win7 64bit home with the same result.

    How can I initialize it, or do I have to use partition software? I really want to recover the data on it and would prefer not to reformat it until then.

    Friday, April 27, 2012 7:11 AM
  • THANKS FOR POSTING THIS !!! Upon looking at the Windows\Inf folder I found that I had lost all permission to the folder and it had been locked. I took ownership of the folder, assigned myself full access then pasted your suggested usbstor.inf into the directory.

    To those who use this suggestion - you may find that the USB device still does not show in "My Computer". Go to you "Device Manager" > find the USB drive that shows up as a problem - right click and select "update driver". Windows will then scan through the windows\inf directory for the update.

    This suggestion worked on all USB drives that I subsequently used...

    Thanks again - I was about to reload my pc after trying "sfc \scannow" showed no files were corrupted.

    • Proposed as answer by starkes78 Thursday, May 10, 2012 9:31 AM
    • Unproposed as answer by starkes78 Thursday, May 10, 2012 9:31 AM
    • Proposed as answer by starkes78 Thursday, May 10, 2012 9:31 AM
    Thursday, May 10, 2012 9:30 AM
  • I know this post is old but I have to say I could kiss you. Been looking for an answer to this for what seems forever (longer than you'd think I should have been). Did your solution and it worked perfectly!
    Monday, May 14, 2012 3:46 AM
  • In my case, the issue was my PC.  The PC uses a USB hub for the front USB ports.  This didn't provide enough power to my WD Passport HD.  I moved the HD to a rear USB port (not on the hub) and it worked immediately!

    http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/197/p/228,195,255/c/130/session/L3RpbWUvMTMzODMxOTk4MC9zaWQvaVgzc0JsWms%3D

    Tuesday, May 29, 2012 7:37 PM
  • FYI-Here is "a" solution IF it sees the drive but access is denied.

    Many folks are having this problem with external hard drives.

    go to start.

    type in "user access control"

    (select this as the option if  you get more than one choice),

    there is a bar asking for you to be notified for system changes.

    MOVE the BAR for user access control to ZERO...or whatever you are comfortable with.

    AT zero,,,I was able to see my external drive. YES!!!!

    Set the bar where you wish.

    At medium I could not access anything..

    I recommend you only keep the access control bar low, when needed.

    Like when you want to access a special  drive, or make system changes.

    I am not an expert...

    so I can tell you the above worked for me...

    so create a file to tell you how to change...keep UAC high except when you want to make changes..

    Microsoft is a big draw for hackers...so keep your guard up.

    Good luck.

    Linda


    • Edited by Woosil Friday, June 1, 2012 11:29 PM
    Friday, June 1, 2012 11:26 PM
  • I right mouse clicked on computer, go to manage, disk management, go to the list below that shows the drives, right click on the new usb drive, from there I could assign a drive letter and format the drive, now it works.
    Tuesday, June 12, 2012 4:48 AM
  • Hi Linda,

    Good Day!

    Thank You for your help. It really helps me a lot. My problem is solve.

    God Bless.

    Regards,

    Khaii


    Friday, June 15, 2012 10:56 AM
  • I'm having the same problem on my work computers. Frustrating to no end with something as simple as plugging in a USB. I see all of the answers people offer (just follow steps 1 - 8 and if that doesn't work try steps 1a-6b and if that doesn't work...) This is ridiculous.

    Best solution: get a Mac.

    Alas, I'm bound in the hell of the computer systems at work.

    Friday, June 22, 2012 6:41 PM
  • @OldHobo

    It worked for me.  Thanks !

    • Edited by lsholguin Wednesday, June 27, 2012 4:23 PM
    Wednesday, June 27, 2012 4:22 PM
  • None of the solutions in this post work for me. In the end I got it working by taking the files in c:\windows\inf from a working windows 7 machine and copied them to  c:/windows/inf  (after I backed it up) on the non working machine. I was able to get the memory stick to work from updating the the driver from c:/windows/inf. Next I tried a another memory still and it showed up as unknown device. The problem was that my registry DevicePath was not set to"%SystemRoot%\inf" , from regedit goto:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> Software-> Microsoft -> Windows -> CurrentVersion

    . Once DevicePath was set correctly all memory sticks automatically installed themselves.

    Tuesday, July 3, 2012 2:18 PM
  • SOLVED:

    1. Go to computer managemen

    2. select Disk managemen

    3. select the disk (hiden disk), right click on it and click change drive latter and path...

    4. finish

    Tuesday, July 3, 2012 3:30 PM
  • thnx thnx thnx trillions of thnx to you....i tried everything to solve my hard disk problem but not wrking any ..u did fabilous work..again heartiest thnx to you....this is the best way to get ur hard disk back ....
    Saturday, July 21, 2012 8:18 PM
  • 1.                      Plug in the external USB hard drive

    2.                      Right mouse click on My Computer

    3.                      Left click on Manage

    4.                      Double click on Storage

    5.                      Double click on Dick Management

    6.                      Disk 0 is Hard Drive Partitions

                 Disk 1 will display the SIZE of the external device with no name

    7.                      Right mouse click the BLUE BAR on Disk 1

    8.                      Left click on Mark Partition as Active

    9.                      Left click on Change Drive Letter and Paths

    10.                  Right click the “Add” button  - Right click OK

    11.                  The external USB device should now have a drive letter


    You're a genius! Thank you very much!!!
    Wednesday, July 25, 2012 1:25 AM
  • since the installation of window 7 my external HDD HXD5 500GB is only seen by the usb and the devices and printers but not in the computer. i have tried all i know and found out that the disk management display disc1 as unknown and not Initialized. Kindly advise on what to do
    Thursday, July 26, 2012 9:23 AM
  • This doesn't work for me
    Friday, July 27, 2012 3:43 AM
  • Mine shows up as "Disk 1" and says it needs to be initialized. Not sure if it's safe to let Windows do what it wants with that?
    Friday, July 27, 2012 3:48 AM
  • cwaustintx,  this worked for my purposes.  Thank you!
    Monday, August 6, 2012 12:57 PM
  • This worked for me. I changed out the USB cable to a high speed and connected it to my high speed hub (self powered). No dice at first, but when I copied and pasted the .inf file to windows\inf directory I heard the windows ta-dah on the speakers. Went to disk management, low and behold there was the drive, "N" that I have been working on seeing for hours. I tried hooking up my long distance USB cable to my remote external hard drive, no dice. I reconnected the cable to the hub with USB 2.0 hi-speed and the ta-dah sounded. It was two things for me and I did try many of the things on the message board. My advice, don't give up, take a break, smoke em if you got em and try again. Never, ever, give up! Thanks to all!!
    Monday, August 13, 2012 10:12 PM
  • I have had that problem (USB back-up drives not being recognised/recognized) around 300 times since buying this piece of trash a 3D i7 Win 7 x64 Ultimate laptop.

    I have bought a USB 3 device first then, 3 alternative hard drives, then a USB 2 device; after reading a thousand paragraphs on various sites over the year/s.

    AT LAST FOUND THE ANSWER IN THIS THREAD. It was a MIX of solutions.

    1. Got to Computer management.

    2. Click the Disc 1 (which the Win 7 cannot find but knows is there).

    Note; one person says this should have a header bar in blue BUT that is not true if the Drive is not yet FORMATTED.

    3. Click "ACTION"

    4. Click "Format"

    5. Now it appears in the VOLUME set of drives in the "Computer Management" as a Healthy Primary Partition.

    NOW AT LAST I CAN BACK UP MY LAPTOP WHICH HAS HAD 3 HARD DRIVE FAILURES IN 18 MONTHS.

    At least I only lost 900 Gigabytes of work, files, family video and photos over the past 18 months.

    Thanks Tosh and MicroShi$

    .

    Tuesday, September 4, 2012 2:26 AM
  • P.S.

    The "BLUE BAR" is Black for some of us. 

    The Drive needs to be formatted first.

    Now fixed after 18 months of Searching for a solution to this problem and buying numerous USB hard drive cases (USB 2 & USB 3) and numerous `Back-Up` hard drives form 60Gb to 640Gb.

    Tuesday, September 4, 2012 2:28 AM
  • Hi there! I'm having the same problems as the first guy here, but the solution you offered isn't doing the trick for me. I've been coping for a while (sending all my files up to internet storage), but my biggest concern is that other devices (especially wireless keyboards and mouses) won't function either. They work fine on my other computers, but it's a real disappointment to not be able to rely on my main rig. Do you have any other ideas?
    Monday, September 24, 2012 11:21 PM
  • This worked for me, much appreciated
    • Proposed as answer by Gazza Gazza Saturday, September 29, 2012 1:48 PM
    • Unproposed as answer by Gazza Gazza Saturday, September 29, 2012 1:49 PM
    Saturday, September 29, 2012 1:48 PM
  • Much respect!  I thank you a million times for this post.  I had just posted a question on the problems I was having with my Western Digital usb drive.  This solution was straight to the point.  For the first time, I could see the external drive in My Computer, I could open it to view the files saved in it without having to use a Virtual machine. Yes, thank you and thanks to the originator of the solution - GANKS.
    Tuesday, November 6, 2012 8:31 PM
  • Thank you, this solved my external cd/dvd drive problems.
    Monday, December 10, 2012 9:41 PM
  • Thanks, your fix also worked for my Flip Cam in windows 7.

    cheers
    David

    Sunday, December 30, 2012 3:43 PM
  • I did almost everything what was suggested in this thread and nothing worked. Until I run Fix It and it told me that there was a problem with one of the drives. I disconnected this drive in the Windows Explorer and since then Windows assigns this drive's letter to the flash drive. Works like charm.  

    aeonium

    Friday, January 4, 2013 6:36 PM
  • This is the solution you are all looking for...

    http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/22251/find-your-missing-usb-drive-in-windows-7-vista/

    1. To fix the problem right-click on Computer from the Start Menu or Desktop Icon, and select Manage.

    2. In the Computer Management window, under Storage, click on Disk Management to see a list of drives connected to your machine.

    3. You should be able to determine which one is the drive you’re trying to access by its size and format type. .... Right-click on the drive and select Change Drive Letter and Paths.

    4. Now click on the Change button…

    5. You can select from a list of drive letters to rename it. Make sure it’s not one already in use or could be in use at some point. Pick a letter toward the end of the alphabet for best results.

    6. You will be prompted with a warning dialog making sure you want to change the drive letter…click Yes.

    You will also see the drive in Computer now and be able to access the files and programs from it.

    Tuesday, January 15, 2013 7:11 AM
  • Are you using a drive that was previously formatted as an HFS+ MAC based drive?

    If none of the other fixes here work, you should consider buying MACDRIVE 9 Standard.

    Once you install it and activate it, your drive will show up right away.

    Wednesday, February 6, 2013 5:37 AM
  • yusss!! thank you! it worked straight away!
    Sunday, February 10, 2013 12:31 AM
  • sad ... 
    My seagate hard disk/drive 500 gb (FreeAgent Goflex) got problem

    P/N:9ZF2A7-500

    S/N:NAOFL4QY

    When plugged in , it detect as local disk in my computer but it didnt display how many gb used and the blue bar at all . when i double click on it , it wont completely load finish

    I tried to chkdsk on command prompt(with adminstrator ) and it is stuck at The type of file system is NTFS

    When i go to disk management  under computer management  it is stuck at Connecting to Virtual Disk Service 

    When i unplugged , chkdsk and disk management works ...
    Can someone solve this problem please? 

    Thursday, June 27, 2013 7:02 AM
  • Worked for me. Thanks a thousand. UB hard drive was working for months. Suddenly disappeared. Procedure above worked!
    Thursday, June 27, 2013 6:49 PM
  • I have tried this. I got to the directed path, but when I right click on the "Blue bar" the option for "Mark Partition as Active" Is there, but it is non-clickable. What would I do then?
    Tuesday, July 9, 2013 1:24 AM
  • Excellent troubleshooting! The hard drive was brand new and with this It could be read by Windows. Thank you!
    Tuesday, July 9, 2013 4:14 AM
  • For those of you shipping files between Mac and Windows machines: Mac formatted drives should work fine in Win7, but hey, if they don't...

    In my case, I was moving projects from a Mac to a PC on a rather anonymous Samsung drive. Tried the usbstor.inf trick, uninstalling drivers, assigning drive letter (wasn't possible, even though the disk was visible there), and the regedit/remove filters routine.
    Somewhere along the way I spotted the option to reformat the disk, which led me to believe that perhaps, contrary to common sense, my Win7x64 install was unable to read this disc because it was Mac formatted.

    So I read up on HFS+ (the format Mac OS X uses) and downloaded HSF Explorer. It's free but only lets you read files. That said, I'm very happy since it works like a charm, even offering to rename filenames containing characters Windows doesn't support.

    Like Phaze_Shift said, buying MacDrive (or reformatting your disk to NTFS format and 'persuading' your Mac to accept it) may be more useful for the long term.

    Hope this helps some poor souls like me.

    Thursday, July 18, 2013 8:37 PM
  • You, Sir, Are a King Amongst Kings!!

    THANK YOU

    Thursday, July 18, 2013 10:28 PM
  • Hi,

    After reading many forums and experiences, I have come to what I think is the best option available. By now I have no doubts that the defects concern a failure of the hard drive material (poor quality) and is a common theme among, as far as I know, all LaCie drives (I am owner of various products of this brand - and on my way out of this firm).

    So, for you souls to happen to be stuck with it and the only thing you want for now is to recover your valuable data, let's focus on that and once achieved, please get yourself another drive for pretty much any other brand available except this LaCie B-S!

    1. Control Panel
    2. Administrative Tools
    3. Computer Management
    4. Storage - Disk Management
    5. Select your LaCie hard drive from the bottom half of the pane (probably Disk 1)
    6. Right click, Properties 'Change drive letters and paths', and add a letter, e.g. K
    7. Download HandyRecovery tool: www.handyrecovery.com
    8. Let the program scan for the LaCie hard drive and once finalised, select your data to be recovered from the left pane.

    The main point here is that once a letter is added, you will be able to see LaCie drive K for instance, in Windows Explorer, but you will notice it is empty, no contents.

    The trick is that at least it shows as a drive in Windows, which is exactly what HandyRecovery needs to initiate the scanning of the drive's surface.

    On my experience, I was able to recover 100% of the data, since I took immediate action (avoiding sectors been overwritten).

    Worst case scenario, you will not be able to recover any file but at least you will see a full directory tree view of the drive, full list of files, directories and its contents, i.e. a visual snapshot of the drive.

    That's it. Hope you will find this useful.


    Sergio (London, UK)

    Sunday, August 4, 2013 8:25 PM
  • Thanks! I had the same problem with my Windows phone.  Everything turned out fine after a few restarts and these steps.
    Sunday, August 11, 2013 9:56 PM
  • That worked great! My usbstor.inf was also missing.

    Only difference was that after I plugged in the USB storage I had to go to device manager and update the driver.

    Thanks

    Thursday, August 29, 2013 8:36 AM
  • Brilliant! This solution worked like a charm!
    Wednesday, September 11, 2013 10:21 PM
  • thanks
    Monday, September 16, 2013 2:45 PM
  • This instruction TOTALLY worked for me, thanks. 
    Saturday, September 28, 2013 4:56 PM
  • Thank you very much Ivan.  After scouring the web for days searching and trying everything, this finally resolved my USB driver install problems.  I did not have any issues for USB drivers for OLD external hard drives or OLD USB flash drives that I plugged in a long time ago.  Any relatively new USB device would not install the driver properly and would fail.  The new device (new to this machine anyway) would ALWAYS end up in the Device Manager under "Other Devices" and would be accompanied by the yellow error flag.

    After reading your instructions, I noticed that my USBStore.inf file was located in the following file path:  C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\en-US.  I also noticed the file was inappropriately named, usbstor.inf_loc.  Not sure why or how that happened.

    I copied and pasted your text above, created my new usbstor.inf file, and placed it in the correct file path, i.e. C:\Windows\inf. Viola . . . Worked like a charm.

    Thanks a ton!

    Thursday, October 10, 2013 3:25 PM
  • Lionel,

    I've done every step up to 6, I'm not sure which which USB device it was

    Any suggestions?

    Thursday, October 10, 2013 6:16 PM
  • One day my HP OFFICEJET PRO K5400 Printer would not work with my
          WINDOWS 7 laptop.

    I tried a lot of the normal things like SYSTEM RESTORE and
          REMOVING PRINTER DRIVER AND REINSTALLING IT.  Nothing worked.  I
          even LOST my PRINTER PORT called "USB001 (Virtual printer port for
          USB)"

     

    WHAT WORKED FOR ME?

    1.  Removed printer drivers. (Devices and Printers).

    2.  UNINSTALLED all USB Controllers in DEVICE MANAGER .

    3.  Shut  down laptop computer.

    4.  Unplugged USB devices from Laptop.

    5.  Unplugged power cord.

    6.  Removed battery from laptop.

    7.  Let the computer sit for a few minutes.

    ( I let my computer sit around 30 minutes to more, this was so I
          did not have to do this again because I did not wait long enough)

    8.  Install battery, plug power cord back in and START COMPUTER.

    9.  Let computer finish reinstalling USB DRIVERS.

    10.  Install USB DEVICES one at a time, making sure they all
          work.

    11.  I installed my USB PRINTER last and then printed a email to
          test it.

    Monday, October 14, 2013 2:00 PM

  • The resolution was to:(Specially for windows 7)

    1. Plug in and turn on the external USB hard drive
    2. Right mouse click on My Computer
    3. Left click on Manage
    4. Left click on Device Manager
    5. Find for the “Storage Device“, Left Click on it,it shows unknown device“,Left click on it and uninstall the driver. 
    6. Restart the Laptop or computer.
    7. Insert the external USB hard drive
    8. It will definitely work..

    -----Thanks

    Jaid


    • Edited by IndianZaid Friday, October 25, 2013 3:23 PM
    Friday, October 25, 2013 3:18 PM
  • I had the problem in Win 7 Pro where I could see the USB drive in Device Manager, but not in Windows Explorer.  Turned out there was a conflict with shared drive on a Vista machine.  Removed the share on the Vista machine and the USB drive appeared in Explorer.
    Tuesday, October 29, 2013 10:00 PM
  • Thanq Sir...!! It worked!  `
    Saturday, November 23, 2013 10:10 AM
  • thank you so much!

    Wednesday, November 27, 2013 10:21 AM
  • I tried the above and still did not work for me however I copied usbstor.inf and usbstor.pnf from a working machine and that did the trick. Thanks for putting me on the right path.

    Regards,

    GP
    Tuesday, December 10, 2013 4:55 PM
  • Under disk drives I have several listed. The hard drive, I suppose is HP USB Device; however, I am hesitant to uninstall that because I find now that nothing happens when I click on documents, pictures, music, as well as computer.  Should I try this solution?  I do not know much about computers.
    Saturday, December 14, 2013 8:54 PM
  • Thankyou you solved my problem, it had no letter assigned to it! 
    Monday, December 23, 2013 7:30 PM
  • Thank you very much! This was plainly worded and very easy to understand. It worked the first time.
    Monday, December 30, 2013 7:46 PM
  • This is the correct solution! Thank you very much this resolved the issue!

    http ://hidden-features-of-software. blogspot. com/

    Tuesday, January 21, 2014 1:05 AM
  • this really helps, thank you, appreciate your help in diagnosis. however its a strange behaviour of the computer to not recognize, why does this happen, any explorations it will help.

    thanks,

    Sreekanth

    Thursday, January 23, 2014 2:37 AM
  • This option worked for me 1st try, the recommended option did not as there were about 8options all with generic names.

    Thanks man!!!! :)
    Saturday, January 25, 2014 7:01 AM
  • no joy.
    Friday, January 31, 2014 4:58 PM
  • Already have usbstor.inf.  doesn't help.  I hate windows and microsoft for this crap.  Notice that Microsoft has NOTHING to say here.
    Friday, January 31, 2014 5:04 PM
  • Had this issue and was cracking my head finding the solution. I previously used Diskpart to make a bootable USB drive. After reformat the drive in Diskpart, it went unrecognized in Windows (not showing up in My Computer). But it shows in Computer Management and Device Manager. The solution is simple. I just right click and assign a letter to the drive and voila! It not appears as normal in Computer window.
    Monday, February 10, 2014 8:33 AM
  • Did you read what you wrote?

    If you don't know what you're doing, why muddy the waters with a bunch of nonsense?

    Right click the "Add" button??


    Sunday, March 16, 2014 5:04 AM
  • So how much of it do we copy?  Don't waste people's time if you don't know what you're doing.
    Sunday, March 16, 2014 5:09 AM
  • Thank Dyck for asking question.
    Thursday, March 27, 2014 2:51 AM
  • Thank you Max. Exactly the same problem I found in my computer and fixed it :)
    Thursday, March 27, 2014 2:53 AM
  • Resolved

    This advice worked !

    Now I have my HD back again !

    Thanks

    Tuesday, April 1, 2014 12:02 PM
  • cmd
    diskpart
    list disk
    select disk 1or any u have
    select partition 1
    assign


    100% solved
    Tuesday, April 15, 2014 12:10 PM
  • I also have the issue of the invisible disk, in Win 7 Pro-32. I have spent a good deal of today on the manufacturer's site which proved to be no help. The drive is less than two years old but isn't even mentioned.

    It is a "Silicon-Power" 1TB USB-2 drive. 

    I have also followed and applied a great deal of the advice given above. A big thanks to all of you. However I am still stuck. 

    I have tested and proven my USB-2 cables. The disk itself works fine on four other PCs. I have checked out my on-board USB-2 ports with other devices. They all work fine. The PC has two other USB hard drives (2TB)  already on it, they work fine off the same ports.

    When I attach the device, the Windows message plays as the pop-up installation message displays. The installation completes successfully - or so it says.

    My drive appears in "Devices and Printers". I learn there that it is attached via an "Initio Default controller" - whatever that is.

    However it does not appear in Device Manager when I look there. Until, that is I turn on "Show Hidden Devices".  Then I can see it as a drive. I attempt to update divers, including with the tricks described earlier. When I switch off "Show Hidden Devices" it still appears in the list 'i.e. remains visible;

    What I also see in Device Manager is a new tree branch for "Initio Combo Device Class" which has a branch for "Initio Default Controller". As mentioned above. So I check out the drivers. All are supposedly up to date.

    But ..... What I do not have in Disk Management (in this sea of perfection :-)  ) is any entry for my drive either in the top physical disk list or in the detailed boxes blow. with or without a drive letter. A disk Rescan has no effect either.

    Clearly I have repeated all of this with many variants over the course of the day. All to no avail.

    Logically I should go to the manufacturer, but they are simply no help. 

    So I am more than ready for any help anybody can give me.  Please.

    Friday, April 18, 2014 2:02 PM
  • thank u

    it worked for me

    Thursday, May 1, 2014 10:53 AM
  • Hi Lionel,

     

    Please unplug unnecessary device, try other USB ports and see if the device can be recognized. If the issue persists, please check if other USB devices can be detected.

     

    Also, go to Start -> Computer -> Organize -> Folder and search options -> click View tab -> uncheck "Hide empty drives in the Computer folder" -> OK.

     

    What is the result? If the issue still exists, please move on:

     

    Delete the Upperfilters and Lowerfilters value for USB device

    =====================================

    1. Click the "Start" button, type "regedit" (without quotation marks) in the “Search" bar and then press “Enter”.

    2. Navigate to the following key:

     

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}

     

    3. Right click the {36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000} entry, choose "Export", select “Desktop” in the “Save in” box and type "backup" (without quotation marks) in “File Name”. Click “Save”.

     

    Please Note: The backup file is on the Desktop and named “backup.reg”. We can simply restore the registry by double-clicking the “backup.reg” file.

     

    4. Highlight this key ({36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000} ), on the right pane, and then check if “Upperfilters” and “Lowerfilters” value are present. If so, please right click on the values and select "Delete" to remove them.

    5. Restart the computer to check the issue.

     

    Hope this helps.

     

    Regards,

    Linda

     

     

    This solution really works. Thanks Linda the person like me will only go to the forums after trying out all the basic stuffs. This sort of comprehensive and detailed advice always work.  
    Friday, May 2, 2014 5:29 AM
  • Thanks Bluephil, your resolution fixed it for me!

    The only difference is that I didn't see it in Device Manager but I could see it in Devices and Printers.  I went in there, selected Properties, Hardware tab, Properties, Change Settings (on the General tab), Driver, Update Driver.... then pointed it at C:\Windows\winsxs

    It searched for a while and then came up saying the driver wasn't digitally signed (or something similar to that) and was I sure I wanted to proceed.  I said Yes and whammo... there was my drive!

    Wednesday, May 14, 2014 1:03 PM
  • Oh my god. Thank you very very VERY much. So great!!!!
    IT WORKS GUYS !!! YEAH !!
    Thursday, May 15, 2014 11:21 AM
  • I'm still on Windows 7, this worked for me!  Needed to reformat my old HDD, once that was done, I was able to assign a drive letter and set it up as my backup repository.  Thanks!
    Saturday, May 17, 2014 9:47 PM
  • Awesome work.Great solution.It helped my customer....
    Sunday, May 25, 2014 7:56 AM
  • it worked:)thank you
    Thursday, May 29, 2014 4:09 PM
  • It worked and I don't know how much to thank you. I have been toiling with this issue for quite some time. I was about to take it to a technician. You saved me....Thank you so so much.

    Sunil

    Saturday, May 31, 2014 11:59 AM
  • OldHobo,   After reading your post, I could see that I needed to partition and format the drive. I used EaseUS Partion Master Free Edition  to do that, and the Drive works perfect now. Thank You very much for your post. You pushed me in the right direction.

    • Edited by Bill6060 Wednesday, June 4, 2014 2:26 AM
    Wednesday, June 4, 2014 2:21 AM
  • tanx it works to me

    Thursday, June 12, 2014 2:27 PM
  • there is a simple solution to this problem. it is so simple that promise me that you will not try to hit the wall by your head.(this method will work on every desktop computer)

    step 1. unplug your external hard drive

    step 2. turn around you computer's cpu

    step 3. find the usb ports on back of it

    step 4. plug your hard drive in any of the ports

    step 5. say thank you 

    Tuesday, June 17, 2014 8:47 AM
  • must have done everything before was ready to ut it in the bin .tryed wha you wrote and it  worked first time .

         many thanks

                 johna68

    Thursday, July 3, 2014 5:13 PM
  • thanks. the first suggestion worked.
    Saturday, July 12, 2014 7:31 PM
  • This worked perfectly.  Thanks!!!
    Monday, July 14, 2014 6:47 PM
  • So when I tried right-clicking the drive everything is unclickable (in the device manager) :/ help pls.. 

    Thursday, July 31, 2014 1:23 PM
  • hi same here used windows 8.1 and hey presto drive was shown, scan and fix in 1minuite, lol
    Sunday, August 3, 2014 3:04 AM
  • see above win will do it
    Sunday, August 3, 2014 3:05 AM
  • Thanks
    Friday, August 22, 2014 10:41 PM
  • Thganks, this solved my problems with an external usb disc drive
    Monday, September 15, 2014 2:41 PM
  • The post by Lionel Dyck worked.  On Windows 7 (64-bit) When I went to device manager, then "Universal Serial Bus Controllers", I found a "USB Mass Storage Device" that was only there when I had my USB blu-ray drive plugged in.  I uninstalled the driver and then reinstalled and it now shows up.
    Saturday, October 18, 2014 6:34 AM
  • I had a similar problem. I did about the same as Lionel with only some  differences: 

    1. Plug in and turn on the external USB hard drive

    • 2. Left mouse click on Control panel
    • 3. Left click on System
    • 4. Left click on Device Manager
    • 5. Expand the drive list
    • 6. Find the ...USB Device 
    • 7. Right mouse click - Uninstall
    • 8. Turn off the external USB hard drive
    • 9. Turn on the external USB hard drive and let it find and install the driver
    • 10. It also worked!!!!!

     
    Wednesday, January 14, 2015 8:14 PM
  • For all those PEEPS wondering how to find your files on a external USB hard disk that can't be located anymore by windows 7/8 or any other computer you have tried;

     a) After trying all the listed solutions here and elsewhere and your disk is still not found....try removing the actual HDD from the external casing and plugging it directly into your Mother board. start up your computer and you may be surprised to find it listed now as a local hard drive with all your files in tact.

    I Have had a few external hard drives and this seems a common problem once in a while - I'm no expert but logical thinking can get you places. Luckily I never tossed those hard drives in the trash - that I thought were cooked or corrupted beyond repair. I have retrieved all my data from 5 so called corrupted USB hard disks this way. I was even quoted $800 to retrieve data on one of them all it cost me my way was the price of one extra SATA cable.

    So it seems the interface circuit between the actual hard drive and the USB is the weak link. Not sure if the reason"s" are Microsoft (Driver) related or 3rd party related but good luck anyway.

    Tuesday, January 20, 2015 8:16 AM
  • For all those PEEPS wondering how to find your files on a external USB hard disk that can't be located anymore by windows 7/8 or any other computer you have tried;

     a) After trying all the listed solutions here and elsewhere and your disk is still not found....try removing the actual HDD from the external casing and plugging it directly into your Mother board. start up your computer and you may be surprised to find it listed now as a local hard drive with all your files in tact.

    I Have had a few external hard drives and this seems a common problem once in a while - I'm no expert but logical thinking can get you places. Luckily I never tossed those hard drives in the trash - that I thought were cooked or corrupted beyond repair. I have retrieved all my data from 5 so called corrupted USB hard disks this way. I was even quoted $800 to retrieve data on one of them all it cost me my way was the price of one extra SATA cable.

    So it seems the interface circuit between the actual hard drive and the USB is the weak link. Not sure if the reason"s" are Microsoft (Driver) related or 3rd party related but good luck anyway.

    Tuesday, January 20, 2015 8:22 AM
  •     Thank You       Thank You      Thank You       Thank You

    It was that easy (if you know how) .

    Well done I owe you a drink.

    Sunday, January 25, 2015 11:47 PM
  • this worked so well thank you very much

    Thursday, February 5, 2015 12:55 AM
  • you are a life saver...!!! Cheers mate..! Worked just fine..!! thanx again..
    Wednesday, April 22, 2015 7:10 AM
  • Dick Management. LOL
    Wednesday, May 20, 2015 11:44 AM
  • Hi, After trying most of the above suggestions, I finally got to yours, which was exactly what I was seeing. I applied your solution and Thank You, it worked. Excellent work. I cannot thank you enough.
    Thursday, August 20, 2015 4:22 PM
  • Thanks a lot ! this resolved my issue.
    Saturday, September 19, 2015 6:02 AM
  • Thank You.I followed your steps and it worked.
    Thursday, October 8, 2015 8:47 PM
  • Thanks, just bought a new/used so the reformat was a non issue fiddled with all the other fixes this did the trick.
    Wednesday, November 18, 2015 6:42 PM
  • setting the Bluetooth support service to auto did work for me. Don't ask why...
    Monday, November 23, 2015 10:17 AM
  • Have tried everything on here but still having a problem.  I have a laptop and a desktop, both Win7/Pro.  I have a Fantom-2TB Green Drive.  The hard drive on the 2TB desktop crashed but I had just made a full-image backup three days before using Norton Ghost 15.0.  The desktop and the laptop both recognized the Fantom using either USB -or- eSATA cables.  Since the crash, I've replaced the hard drive, reinstalled the Win7/Pro from the manufacturer's recovery disk, reinstalled Ghost 15.0, etc.  So, I figure I'm home-free. 

    The laptop still recognizes the Fantom just fine; the desktop "sees" the drive (in either USB or eSATA mode), and the Computer Management app sees the drive, has assigned it a drive-letter, and if you click on "Properties" it shows the amount of disk space available, and other details. I tried making it an "Active Partition", and it said it was active, but still unable to open it.

    When I plug it in and the dialogue says "Open Drive" all I get is a message that "It's inaccessible".  I tried going into the Security Tab, taking "Ownership", setting the permissions to "Full Control", as well as checking all the other permissions.  I can swap the Fantom back and forth between the desktop and the laptop; Laptop is A-OK; Desktop (on USB or eSATA) gives the same results.  Since the Ghost backup file on it is too huge to copy to the hardrive through the network-link to my laptop, and still have room to restore it, I'm up a creek.   Any ideas on why the laptop recognizes it fine (USB or eSATA), and the Desktop doesn't?

    Friday, December 4, 2015 9:37 PM
  • it is working thank you
    Friday, January 15, 2016 11:25 PM
  • I was having problems using my Seagate backup-Plus drive. Thank you this simple solution worked for me.
    Tuesday, January 19, 2016 3:05 PM
  • This worked for me on a 16Gb Lexar flash drive that didn't show up under "computer", but would show up in "devices and printers", and say it was working properly and needed no updated drivers, etc., but still wouldn't show contents or allow access.  Now, when plugged in, it operates as intended and immediately offers the normal "Autoplay" window with it's various options, and shows as a drive (F) under "computer", as it should.   Thanks!!

    One thing:  on mine the "uninstall" screen never finished, and wouldn't allow cancel , but did disappear when I removed the drive.  Drive then reinstalled properly when reinserted.


    • Edited by CatHammer Sunday, March 27, 2016 9:51 PM
    Sunday, March 27, 2016 9:49 PM
  • This work for me. Thanks
    Friday, July 22, 2016 3:49 AM
  • Thanks a thousand. I tried so many other instructions and guides to resolve my problem (USB hard disk drive not mounting but USB sticks present no issues on Windows 7 OS) but only YOURS HAS WORKED. Been trying to resolve this issue for about a week now. But I wonder why I have to manually ADD a drive letter as described to mount the volumes on my USB hard disk drives when normally, it is mounted automatically. The problem only surfaced after I had to recover my PC from System image ..before this, all was fine.
    Saturday, March 18, 2017 11:48 AM
  • thank u so much it was very helpfull , i see my exrnl  hard disk in pc   ..   thanks

    Wednesday, April 12, 2017 6:56 AM
  • thank u so much it was very helpfull , i see my exrnl  hard disk in pc   ..   thanks
    Wednesday, April 12, 2017 6:57 AM
  • Lionel. Very good job! I did this and the problem is gone.

    Thanks

    Sunday, May 21, 2017 3:43 PM
  • Thanks a lot

    You saved my hard drive and all my data

    This is the first solution to try before anything else

    Monday, July 17, 2017 3:32 PM
  • Resolved :

    The resolution was to:

    1. Plug in and turn on the external USB hard drive
    2. Right mouse click on My Computer
    3. Left click on Manage
    4. Left click on Device Manager
    5. Expand the USB list
    6. Find the USB device for your USB Hard Drive (in my case it was the one that had no description)
    7. Right mouse click - Uninstall
    8. Turn off the external USB hard drive
    9. Turn on the external USB hard drive and let it find and install the driver
    10. It should work

    Lionel B. Dyck
    End of 2017 and this still works! Tested this on a Windows 10 with a very old Sabrent USB2.0 to IDE & SATA Cable and a SATA HDD. The HDD and all of its partitions will only be recognized (and usable) after executing the steps above. Lionel B. Dyck is saving a lot of lifes for almost a decade.
    Wednesday, October 4, 2017 4:07 PM
  • thanks you for your advice. tried once but failed. please kindly answer the following, thanks a lot.

    1. Left click on Device Manager
    2. Expand the USB list (does this mean click the disk drive button or the universal serial bus controllers button. under the controller, there are 2 generic usb hub, 2 usb root hub and one usb mass storage device. my drive can be seen under disk drive but could not be seen under the controllers..
    3. Find the USB device for your USB Hard Drive (in my case it was the one that had no description. how to find which usb device is being used.)
    4. Right mouse click - Uninstall
    5. Turn off the external USB hard drive (turn off during the uninstall process or wait for the uninstall to finish? i waited for a long long time. this is very important!!!)
    6. Turn on the external USB hard drive and let it find and install the driver (when to turn on? )
    7. It should work
    best regards
    Friday, December 8, 2017 10:04 PM
  • thank you so much man you solved my problem.

    Saturday, December 9, 2017 9:30 PM
  • I had a drive that was fine on other computers, but not one one of them, so I knew the drive was fine.  I could see it in 'Devices and Printers', but could not access it.

    Instead of just removing the filters, I deleted all but the first several numbered sub-directories under that key (there were 80, I left the first 20, also don't touch the 'properties' subfolder).  Then uninstalled the device in device manager, rebooted and let the machine re-install the device software.

    Seems to have fixed the issue. 

    I had tried just about everything else, so for those who can't find a resolution, you should try Linda's suggestion, or if you don't see the 'filters' remove the key subfolders.

    Tuesday, April 24, 2018 4:32 PM
  • thanks, that worked
    Saturday, July 14, 2018 1:16 PM