Useing external hard drive to record films to play back through tv connect to usb and it showes unsupported devise what is the solution

SOURCE: USB Hard Drive - Won't recognize

this problem depends on your OS, or if that is a really bad pendrive,
if you have windows 9x most of the times you must use that pendrive as a normal hard drive.. with this i mean you have to plug it in, and then start your pc, and to take it out you must turn off the pc..
if its a really bad pendrive, installing the drivers will help, but because those thingies are really lame, they will get busted really fast.
but you can be sure that your USB entrances in your PC are fine because they are recognizing something is in, so the problem is the Operating System, either being too old or lack of drivers.

by the way.. is it a KINGSTON? or a kingbyte?

SOURCE: Fantom Drive TFDU16072A Error

2009 06 30 - I just had a similar problem. The Fantom external drive was working fine, but I had to shut down due to a thunderstorm. When I restarted the PC, the drive was not showing up. WHAT I FOUND: First, I didn't find this solution anywhere - everything seemed to point to a new install (or at least how to reformat and start over.) BUT, I right clicked on Computer, Manage, Disk Management - it still didn't show. On the right, under More Actions, I clicked 'rescan disks'. Now it shows up! And all of my data is right there. Whew!

SOURCE: USB Hard Drive - Won't recognize

I have one of those portable passport WD hard drives, i had the same issue. But when i tryed the pc rear usb ports it worked fine, you can also just look up drivers for your HD and install manually

SOURCE: my external hard drive is not showing up

One or more of the hints below will probably sort out most USB problems with most USB portable / external hard drives and OTHER devices (though not always)

A few things to check but assumes USB and Windows for other interfaces / operating systems (mac/ Linux) similar steps may be adapted to suit.

1. Ensure it is connected directly to the computer to a USB 2.0 port not a USB 1.0 port as this can have effects on performance and reliability

2. Use only the cables that came with it NOT one that fits that may have been lying around or is longer. Not all USB cables are equal even though they should be)

3. Do not connect through an external USB HUB unless that hub is USB 2.0 AND has its own power supply.

4. Use ONLY the power supply that came with it if it has an external power supply Don’t use any other unless you know it has both the same voltage and current rating e.g. 12V 500mA anything rated below that would not work properly.

5. Always use the same port for connecting your devices. Some devices do not like being switched about. If switched they may want to install software / drivers again. This can be especially true if you move a HUB to another port
6. For FLASH DRIVES you should ensure that the device is set for "quick removal" using the drive control panel properties or use the USB "Safely Remove Hardware" option. If you dont do this there is a very strong chance that any files you transfer may not be there when you plug into another computer.

If you checked and fixed anything there and still have issues then check your hardware from CONTROL PANEL / SYSTEM / HARDWARE.
Any exclamation marks by hardware need fixing before you investigate any further

USB flash drives can fail for no apparent reason.
Sandisk Cruzers are especially bad for this.

USB hard drives should be treated with extreme care.
This is a real hard drive ! and knocks and bumps can quite literally kill them.

It is possible to remove drives from the enclosures in most cases and connect directly inside a PC to fully check it.
You should also do this to cheack the drives connections are not bad inside the enclosure

Note that if you hear a drive clicking or pinging this could be the worst thing you would hear.
Known as "The Click Of Death"

If none of the above steps help look at updating the drivers from the manufacturers web site in the support section.

SOURCE: External Hard Drive not showing on My Computer? [URGENT]

Hello there Mansoor.

First, I have to commend you on how clear and extremely well articulated your problem is presented. You give every detail necessary to grasp your current situation. Good job! I can also clearly see you're at least a fairly proficient user. I only wish I'd reviewed your question before now, so I could have replied sooner. That notwithstanding, here's my GEEK-steer ...

Good job testing the drive against other "known good" systems. Because (as you probably already know) based on that, it's a virtual certainty it's the drive itself that's the source of the problem (UNLESS you used the same USB cable in all tests ... rule that out by using a "known good" cable). Its trouble could be caused by any number things [e.g., deleted partition, virus related, "sector" (file/folder structure related) errors, etc.]. At this point you've utilized all the tools that Windows avails you to work this problem (e.g., you obviously can't perform a Windows "chkdsk" on it unless there's an assigned and known driver letter, "Disk Managment" was no help, etc.). We therefore need additional software tools in order to proceed further.

Per the manufacturer's webpage, "Acomdata does not have any Windows XP, Windows Vista or Mac OS drivers because all products use the built-in driver support already supplied by the associated Operating System". Therefore, they design all their devices to be supported by Windows' database of generic drivers. However, here's their offered driver package for "All Platforms". It's a long-shot, but it couldn't hurt to start by giving this driver a try (you can always "Roll back driver" from within "Device Manager" if necessary).

== CAPTURE AN IMAGE BACKUP ==

If, as you state, data recovery is of the utmost importance, then I would strongly advise your very first objective to be (if at all possible) creating an image of the problem drive, then backup that image onto another drive. I would do that FIRST to lock in it's current state as an insurance policy, BEFORE I ran any testing/diagnostics, or attempted any alternate means of data recovery. Keep that image intact throughout this process until resolution. There are several disk image "Backup Tools" (e.g., "DriveImageXML", "Acronis True Image", etc.) in "Hiren's Boot CD" you can use to accomplish this.

== BREAK OUT THE TOOLBOX ==


Refer here for complete list of its available tools. There are far too many to cover in any detail here. Particularly when the nature of your problem is yet known, as each may, or may not be THE one for the job. However, you can simply Google each to obtain background and usage instructions. Also, tools reside in either the DOS or mini-Windows boot portions of the CD, as some are DOS executable and some Windows. You may have to venture into both until you find the tool that works for you. I know there's a lot in that puppy, but that is intentional because it's a good thing ... affords wide range of choices/options.

== HOW-TO CREATE 'HIREN'S BOOT CD' ==

1. Download "Hiren's Boot CD".
2. Extract/unpack/unzip/decompress (<-choose your term, they all mean the same thing) the .ISO disk image file ("Hiren's.BootCD.#.ISO") located within the downloaded "Hirens.BootCD.#.zip" archive file (where # = version of Hiren's).
3. Burn the disk image to a CD using whichever capable disk image burning software (e.g., Nero, Roxio, etc.) you may have. Don't have one? Then download and install the very capable, yet lightweight FREEWARE "imgBurn"

1. Insert a blank disk (R/RW) into your disk burning capable CD/DVD drive.
2. Launch "imgBurn", then select "Write image file to disc".
3. Browse for and select the "Source" .ISO file above.
4. Ensure the applicable disk burner drive is selected as "Destination" (you may have more than one).
5. Click the burn icon.
6. When burning completes, close "imgBurn".

• Be aware that you MAY discover you'll HAVE to perform testing/diagnostics/maintentance related actions on the drive first, just in order to get it into recognizable shape for any of the drive image and/or data recovery related tools to perform. That's OK, 'cause "you gotta do, what you gotta do".
• "Partition Find and Mount" might be particularly helpful in recognizing, then mounting the drive

• to let me (and interested others) know how things worked out,
• to provide clarification or feedback,
• if you have ANY further questions.