[nfbcs] External drive problem

[Tracy Carcione]

Hi Bryan.
The My Passport drive runs off USB alone; no power cord required.
It's a nice drive, but some of the reviewers on Amazon had a problem with it 
just dying, and I wonder if that's what's happened to me, or if it's 
something I can fix. I'll try Steve's suggestions, and see what happens.
Tracy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bryan Schulz" <b.schulz at sbcglobal.net>
To: "NFB in Computer Science Mailing List" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2013 4:20 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] External drive problem


> hi,
>
> unlike 2.5" laptop/ssd drives, these huge 3.5" drives require the 
> additional power source.
> did you remember to plug in the power cord?
> Bryan Schulz
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
> To: "NFB in Computer Science Mailing List" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2013 1:30 PM
> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] External drive problem
>
>
>> Tracy,
>>
>> Be sure to try your drive on all of the USB ports on your computer.  When 
>> moving it from one port to another, wait
>> until you hear the disconnect series of tones.  Sometimes the port seems 
>> to matter even if a device has worked on
>> a particular port.
>>
>> Second, try it on another computer.  Usually you don't have to install 
>> software to get these devices to work.  If
>> you get the same results on all USB ports and on another computer, I 
>> would be suspicious that the drive may have
>> gone bad.  If you have been carrying it around, be sure to give it plenty 
>> of time to warm up when coming in from
>> winter weather.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Steve Jacobson
>>
>> On Thu, 19 Dec 2013 10:52:22 -0500, Tracy Carcione wrote:
>>
>>>I am having a problem with my external drive, which is a WD My Passport.
>>>When I plug in the USB cable, it makes the USB noise, and I hear the disk
>>>whirring away for a couple minutes, but then nothing happens.  It doesn't
>>>ask me how I want to proceed, and I don't see it on My Computer.
>>>I do see it under Control Panel/System/Hardware/WD drive management 
>>>devices.
>>>When I choose properties there, it doesn't show me anything about how 
>>>much
>>>data is on the drive.  It just has "troubleshoot" and device usage: 
>>>enable
>>>or disable.  When I choose the driver tab, I see a driver, and I'm not
>>>getting an error saying "no driver".
>>>When I plug the drive into another PC, it asks me to install the 
>>>software,
>>>which I've managed to mislay, but I'm not sure I installed it on my PC,
>>>either.
>>
>>>Where do I go from here? How can I tell if the drive has died, or if it's
>>>some other problem?  Is it normal for a drive to whir a bit at the
>>>beginning, or does that indicate it's damaged?
>>>Any advice would be much appreciated.
>>>Tracy
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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