Windows 7: Removable USB Drive Not Recognized

I know that this is a common issue, and that many people out there on Windows 7 are having the same problem, which is this:

1. User has been using an external USB hard drive (Imation Apollo 250GB in my case, but this problem cuts across many external USB drives) for a long time, on many computers and operating systems

2. User buys a new system with Windows 7

3. User no longer able to get Windows 7 to recognize the external USB drive
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I know it is possible to get it to be recognized, as I have, at times, been able to view the drive on my Windows 7 machine, but generally speaking (90% of the time) it simply says

1. "USB device not recognized - click here for more"

{click}

2. Device driver software not recognized

3. Further inspection in device settings reveals this error
"Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)"

Instead of acting like a fool and trying to somehow figure out how to replicate how I was able to get the machine to recognize the drive, I am wondering if anyone has figured this out?

Possible solutions I have read are:

- reinstalling the USB port
- plug the USB drive in when on power (battery removed)
- beg the manufacturer for a Windows 7 driver


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I am on Windows 7 Home Premium
Intel Core i5 M430 @ 2.27Ghz
Hitachi HTS 300GB HD

Make and model of the external USB is?

Does external USB have a separate power supply?

Have you tried--
1. Everything powered off,
2. connect external drive
3. connect power for external drive if it has its own power supply.
4. Turn on your computer.
5. Log on in normal fashion and wait for Win 7 to find your external drive.

As another suggestion--disconnect everything else from USB ports. Let the external drive be the only USB device connected.

Looking forward to hearing your equipment, if the procedure helped.

Thanks KarlSnooks-

I have already tried your suggestion - several times in fact.
The same error pops up when I do this.
The drive is an Imation Apollo 250GB (Toshiba MK2552GSX)

Welcome to the Windows 7 Forums! Ozibot

The first thing done here with any external usb hard drive or flash drive is reformat the factory crud and Fat 32 volume right off of them and change the file system to NTFS. From there a quick trip into the Disk Management in order to assign a drive letter then makes the drive or device usable and seen in Computer or Windows Explorer from there on.

While 7 nows sees support for Fat 32 and exFat volumes the change to the native file system and assigning a drive letter serves to initialize the drive or device. Even when booting without one plugged in the drive is then detected as a new hardware or drive. With one 32gb flash drive being assigned R for the drive letter and unplugged for a few months even now it would be seen as R when plugged back in from using a high letter towards the end of the alphabet rather then the F,G,H,I, etc Windows will assign by default.

Thank you kindly, NightHawk. My only question would be this - by reformatting the FAT32 USB drive you mean {gulp} erasing all of the current files on it, right?

I am not aware of a method of 'reformatting' without essentially deleting all of the previous files...

Thanks again for your post.

I "googled" Toshiba MK2552GSX. Since you said: " The drive is an Imation Apollo 250GB (Toshiba MK2552GSX). "

That is a sata version 2.6 drive. SATA and USB connectors have a completely different connector.

Thanks karlsnooks for your post.

I *think* it is a Toshiba MK2552GSX - these are the screenshots I pulled from when it was plugged into the USB and recognized.....

If I understand your suggestion, you think I should try something other than an USB plug to get the laptop to recognize it??

The link here has a picture of a 2.5" portable drive connecting by usb. Is this the same as yours Imation Apollo 500GB 2.5" Portable Hard Drive as far as looks not size?

Yep, that's it.

I see those in other brands as well. As far as data you would want to backup anything presently on it and then go into the Disk Management tool and right click on the item there to select "format". You will then see the options for Fat 32 or NTFS which you will want.

When first buying any flash drive or external HD before putting any files on I reformat it to the file system it will be used for. For Windows NTFS, for something like writing a bootable iso image for GParted live or ubuntu then I simply let the program write the iso to the Fat volume it comes with.

When reformatting the factory partitions to convert it from Fat to NTFS you can then plug it into an XP machince as well as a Vista or 7 system to still see if readily available for transferring files as well as general acccess by the older versions. NTFS has been the native file system since Windows 2000 making it universal for all Windows machines and portability.