Old external disk - drivers installed again?

[DarkStar GT]

I have been using a USB2 external drive for months now.

Today when I plugged in the cable(into the same port as I always use), Windows 7 popped a "Installing drivers" notification.

Why would this happen? - nothing has changed on the system.

And how can I check that all is OK, with the disk still performing as a USB2 device?

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Ah ha - I've looked in the Event Log - I see a Disk Error 11 there - maybe that triggers the driver install. Windows Online Help does not explain what that error is. But I did find this: "This problem is typically caused by a failing cable that connects the drive to the computer."

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If I replace the cable, do I need to do anything to get the disk working as normal again? For example, tidy up USB drivers and let Windows install them again?

 

[Sub Styler]

Has the drive normally been plugged in prior to boot up? It is normal to see this message when connecting a drive to a live win7 session.

There is no need to tidy up the drivers, it is using the same one it did before, there will not be multiple copies, it's just re-registering it.

 

[DarkStar GT]

Thank you.

Nope, I use it for archives and just plug it in every so often.

Bravely , I looked through the Registry, and there are multiple references to USB devices, so I doubt that I'll be ediiting them. I also saw some entries in the Action Center / Reliability History.