Windows 7 - USB mass storage

Hi,
I have windows 7 enterprise edition. Couple of days back I had plugged in external harddisk and after I am done with that, I did not find "Safely Remove...." icon on the tray. Normally if I can not stop the harddisk, (even if all the apps and windows are closed), I go to sleep mode, remove the harddisk and wake the OS up. But last time I tried something different. I disabled the USB Mass storage (I read this some where on the net and they said to enable it after removing the disk) device under device manager. But I can not see that icon/device back in the list to enable it back.
Now if I plug in my harddisk OS won't do anything. If I plug other devices like USB mode, it works fine. How can I re-enable it back ? I tried to search , but could not find a solution (there was one solution for XP, as it was registry stuff not sure whether the same works for 7). I tried penyuusb, but due to some problem it is not getting activated (free software).

Can someone please help me ?

Thanks
Naveen

Hello naveenpn and welcome to Seven Forums.

See if you can rename the drive.

W7 Tip - Missing external USB drives

Find Your Missing USB Drive in Windows 7 & Vista - How-To Geek

Found a solution on the net

Open Registry Editor.

In Registry Editor, navigate to the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR

Locate the following value (DWORD):

Start

and give it a value of 4.

Close Registry Editor. You do not need to reboot the computer for changes to apply.

To re-enable the setting, go to the Reg Key above and give the Start Dword a value of 3

Yes the value was still 3 when I opened it. I made it 4. Closed it reopned and made it 3. Now when I plugged in my disk. It showed me the icon on device manager in disabled state. Immediately I enabled it and all is well now.

Excellent! Thanks for posting back to let us know the solution.