Western digital usb hard drive doesn't work with windows vista

yes..because its a usb device so do not require any kind of software or drive..its a plug and play device..so you can you this on any of the windows vista,7,xp

Windows 7 damaged the drive. You need data recovery. This guy does it remotely and works for donations. http://FreeDataRecovery.us

Sory to report - from Western Digital support site

Uses SES Drivers
7, Vista, XP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not Supported
Server 2008, Server 2003, 2000 Server, 2000, ME, 98SE, 98, 95
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Win 98 is not a supported OS, for that drive.

Yes it does matter. XP was configured for the old Toshiba and this will only work if both Toshiba laptops are exactly the same model.
To get your new Toshiba operating, put the new hard drive with the Vista operating system back in the Toshiba laptop.
To transfer your data from the old hard drive, purchase a USB adapter hard drive case and place the old hard drive inside this case. This will then be an external USB hard drive.
Plug this USB hard drive into the new Toshiba's USB port and it will detect it as an external storage/hard drive. You can then open the various folders and files and copy the data files to your new Toshiba.
To free up disk space on this USB hard drive, delete the Windows folder, Program Files folder and other folders that are no longer needed.
Use this hard drive as a backup hard drive etc.

i wish i knew the answer, i am having the same problem. i have switched ALL of my toshiba computer power settings to no stand-by, no hibernation, no automatic shut down (as this was suggested) and windows xp still turns into a blank screen just a few seconds after plugging this in. hard drive too strong for my 3.5 year old computer? not sure, but this is beyond ridiculous.

Western Digital 1TB External Hard Drive My Book Essential
you should read their manual

perhaps the new hard drive is bad western digital software is junk take it back and get seagate external w/freeagent on it

the western digital website, under support/downloads is the best place to start. Unplug the device and install the software, reboot and then connect it.

hi ,

looks like u primary hard drive is inside the laptop and so should be displayed as c : drive ,

and the reason , the external hard drive is not displayed seperately is csue ., the external HD  may be added as slave to the internal HD .,

can u tell me ,make a right click on c:/ drive and choose properties : and tell the totalsize dispalyed 

Hello,

Which operating system are you using? Windows XP or Vista?

Here is the website that you can download the driver for your external harddrive.

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?modelno=WD1600JB-00FUA0+WD+&x=1&y=11