Just got this I/O Magic drive enclosure at Radio Shack for $20, and I come home, plug it in, and my Vista computer gives no indication that it recognizes the thing. Neither does my friend's Vista laptop.
The drive itself is fine, I tested it before I went to pick up the enclosure.
I'll be calling I/O Magic tomorrow... in the meantime, any help?
IDE. It was the drive from my old computer. Only had the thing for 2 months. The MB exploded. It has WinXP Pro on it and is partitioned into 2 drives. Would that affect it at all?
Assuming the account you're logged in with has administrative privileges:
Go to your control panel, and double-click on Administrative Tools. Double-click on Computer Management. Then select "Disk Management" from the left hand side, and see if the drive shows up. If the drive DOES show up here, then more than likely it doesn't have a drive letter assigned to it. Without that, it won't be listed in Explorer or any other shell. Assigning it a drive letter is dead simple. Just right-click on the partition and select "Change Drive Letter". Select one that is available to you (and won't be used by any USB device you plug in), and thats it.
Check that the IDE cable is plugged into the drive correctly? (colored stripe should be on the side where the drive gets power) Make sure the drive is spinning up? Double-check the power source for the enclosure?
MD-2389 wrote:Check that the IDE cable is plugged into the drive correctly? (colored stripe should be on the side where the drive gets power) Make sure the drive is spinning up? Double-check the power source for the enclosure?
Done, done, and done. Everything is good to go there.
And yes, I've plugged it into multiple ports, even multiple computers.
MD-2389 wrote:Check that the IDE cable is plugged into the drive correctly? (colored stripe should be on the side where the drive gets power) Make sure the drive is spinning up? Double-check the power source for the enclosure?
Done, done, and done. Everything is good to go there.
And yes, I've plugged it into multiple ports, even multiple computers.
Try a different USB cable. If that does not work the enclosure is dead.
Hmm return the sucker and get a Maxtor one touch with a Seagate Drive. Worked in Vista, fast and quiet and has backup software too. They flaked out being cheap by not shipping a physical install CD this Year though. I guess it works out to someone's bonus that year or the CEO needs a new yacht. Going too cheap brings nothing but grief as you can attest to.
250 GB, up to 16mb cache Ram, 5 year warranty, backup software a monkey can use, normal usb 2.0 cable, a case with great shock protection, and Vista aware out of the box is worth $99.99 to me.
If you want to eliminate Vista from the equation, boot your machine from a Knoppix DVD (this is a live Linux DVD; you can download an iso for free and burn it). Then plug in your drive and see if Linux can find it. Note that you may have to do some searching under /dev/sd* if it doesn't automount.
Well if he has tried the drive on more then one machine, and it still doesnt work, other then the cable, its the enclosure. And since you have a very unique cable there, you can call IO magic up and say that its either the case or the cable. Most company's send cables out no problem at all.