DescentBB

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?

Was the drive IDE or SATA?

if its PATA, make sure to set the jumper to master.

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?

Disk Management?

Clarify, please?

Red_5 wrote:Clarify, please?

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.

Oh, that. Already tried it. The drive doesn't show up. I'll try again, here. Should I do something with the jumpers on the drive?

Red_5 wrote:Oh, that. Already tried it. The drive doesn't show up. I'll try again, here. Should I do something with the jumpers on the drive?

fliptw wrote:if its PATA, make sure to set the jumper to master.

It's IDE. Again.

Yes, I know its IDE. However, if you check the last bit of flip's post, he mentions to make sure the jumper is set to master. Otherwise it won't work.

So on my drive, I guess I just pull the jumper out. I'll see if that floats the boat.

No result.

Red_5 wrote:So on my drive, I guess I just pull the jumper out. I'll see if that floats the boat.

o_O

Who made your drive, and what model is it?

Wester Digital, WD800 80gb. I rather like it. It's fast and quiet.

Even though it is a WD drive, try setting it to the master setting (with slave present), and also try cable select if that doesn't work.

Red_5 wrote:Wester Digital, WD800 80gb. I rather like it. It's fast and quiet.

Ok, with those drives you do NOT take out the jumper. IIRC, you set the jumper to the very left position out of the three available.

http://www.wdc.com/en/library/eide/2579-001037.pdf

Scroll down to page 2 for a diagram of the pinouts.

Done and done. I've tried every jumper setting on the drive, and run the disk management on each time.

Gosh dang it, I just want all my crap to WORK!

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?

And just for kicks, plug the drive into a different port on your computer.

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.

Red_5 wrote:

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.

The cable it came with is a strange thing... male USB on both ends. How the heck would I test such a thing?!

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.

http://www.maxstore.com/product.asp?sku=3706860

Only I bought my case with a gift card and don't exactly have $99 to spend. All the reviews I read on the enclosure said the customers loved it.

I have bad karma; I ALWAYS manage to buy the defective product

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.

Blasted crap. It had better be just the cable. I do not want to go all the freakin' way to Provo to exchange the dang thing. I am so lazy.

Red_5 wrote:Blasted crap. It had better be just the cable. I do not want to go all the freakin' way to Provo to exchange the dang thing. I am so lazy.

For your sake I hope so too ... but to be honest, I'm betting it's not the cable. Sorry.