 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Windows Forum / Windows Me / Hardware / February 2004Connecting external Western Digital Hard Drive
I am running Windows ME. When I try to connect the external hard drive it is detected properly by ME. However as it goes through the install it cannot find USBSTOR.SYS or USBNT*.SYS. Western Digital says it is a ME problem. The device installs properly to a XP laptop. Any idea how to find the missing files? usbntmap.sys & usbstor.sys are, with most other usb related files, in the "cab" files in the Win9x folder on the Win Me CD and/or in a sub-folder of Windows\Options and not directly visible in Explorer. Look for the folder containing the file BASE2.CAB. When the installer asks for files point it towards the folder containing the file BASE2.CAB. See MS KB 265371 - "How to Extract and Replace a Protected File in Windows Me" (http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=265371) for details of how to manually extract files from the cab set. Alternatively use MSConfig | General | Extract File... and follow the prompts to extract a new copy of the required files to your windows\system32\drivers folder . Most USB related files can be found in BASE2.CAB although some are located in other cabs. Alternatively you could visit http://www.usb-drivers.com/drivers/63/63237.htm and download usb-WinMe.exe which contains WinMe's usb related files. Extract the files you want and put them in windows\system32\drivers. -- Mike Maltby MS-MVP mcmaltby@hotmail.com > I am running Windows ME. When I try to connect the > external hard drive it is detected properly by ME. However > as it goes through the install it cannot find USBSTOR.SYS > or USBNT*.SYS. Western Digital says it is a ME problem. > The device installs properly to a XP laptop. Any idea how > to find the missing files? I am having the same problem. I downloaded the original drivers and the USB drive shows up on my systems list and I can eject it, however, my 120gb western digital drive does not show up in explorer or my computer. I contacted WD and was told to update my WINME. I checked for updates and there are no more updates for WINME. any ideas >-----Original Message----- >usbntmap.sys & usbstor.sys are, with most other usb related files, in the [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > >. Troy, Your drive won't show up in Explorer until it has been partitioned (fdisk) and can't be accessed until formatted.  SignatureMike Maltby MS-MVP mcmaltby@hotmail.com > I am having the same problem. I downloaded the original > drivers and the USB drive shows up on my systems list and > I can eject it, however, my 120gb western digital drive > does not show up in explorer or my computer. I contacted > WD and was told to update my WINME. I checked for updates > and there are no more updates for WINME. any ideas Thanks Mike, But how do I format and partition a drive I cannot see? >-----Original Message----- >Troy, [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >. From DOS. You've said that you can see it in the systems list. Windows can't "see" a drive until it's been partitioned. SignatureMike Maltby MS-MVP mcmaltby@hotmail.com > But how do I format and partition a drive I cannot see? Actually, I can't see the drive in DOS. I see it in the Device Manager (right click on My Computer and select Properties--then select tab marked device manager) I only see the drive here and in the eject function for USB drives. >-----Original Message----- >From DOS. You've said that you can see it in the systems list. Windows can't [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >. I know I'm repeating myself here but you won't see the drive until you FDISK it. Then you will be able to see it in DOS and even Explorer and then you will need to FORMAT it. SignatureMike Maltby MS-MVP mcmaltby@hotmail.com > Actually, I can't see the drive in DOS. I see it in the > Device Manager (right click on My Computer and select > Properties--then select tab marked device manager) I only > see the drive here and in the eject function for USB > drives. I read the microsoft help you provided, but I'm an amateur so please bear with me, how do I fdisk a disk I cannot access. I can't switch to the disk using fdisk option 5 to format the drive. Option 5 sees my slave fixed hard drive but not my usb external drive. >-----Original Message----- >I know I'm repeating myself here but you won't see the drive until you FDISK [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > >. How are you going to DOS? As the drive is USB I think you will have to run FDISK from the DOS prompt in a DOS window called from Win Me (Start | Programs | Accessories ). You probably can't access a usb drive if you boot to DOS using a floppy. Not having a usb drive myself I can't check this for you. How did the documentation that came with the drive tell you to do it? SignatureMike Maltby MS-MVP mcmaltby@hotmail.com > I read the microsoft help you provided, but I'm an amateur > so please bear with me, how do I fdisk a disk I cannot > access. I can't switch to the disk using fdisk option 5 > to format the drive. Option 5 sees my slave fixed hard > drive but not my usb external drive. Thanks mike Tried again and worked like a champ >-----Original Message----- >How are you going to DOS? As the drive is USB I think you will have to run [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > >. Troy, Phew! That's a relief for both of us. <g> Thanks for the feedback and I'm so pleased that you now appear to have managed to get your external usb drive up and running. Could you perhaps let me know how you did it in the end? FDISK from DOS in a Win Me window perhaps? Cheers, SignatureMike M > Thanks mike > > Tried again and worked like a champ Did what you said, using the run command in WINME i typed in fdisk and got into the menu. This time, it still showed a 12 GB drive and a 14 GB drive on my laptop. So I took the chance and deleted the non-dos partition on the 12 GB drive. after that, i followed the prompts and it repartitioned the drive as a single drive and i formatted it using WINME. Then it showed up as a 117GB drive. Why it showed only 10% of the original capacity initially, no idea. But the gamble paid off. Not really a gamble since I knew I had a 15 GB drive in my laptop. Once again thanks Troy >-----Original Message----- >Troy, [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > >. Thanks Troy. Since the device uses a USB port I think the problem that I had (stupidly) ignored initially is that most USB ports aren't directly accessible when booting from a floppy without some special help from the bios. For example on my laptop the floppy drive is an external usb device and supported by the bios but I don't think my laptop would see an eternal usb hard drive such as you have if I were to boot from a floppy. Opening a DOS window with Win Me should solve this problem as it appears it did for you. Thanks again for the feedback and additional information. Regards, SignatureMike M > Did what you said, using the run command in WINME i typed > in fdisk and got into the menu. This time, it still [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > idea. But the gamble paid off. Not really a gamble since > I knew I had a 15 GB drive in my laptop. >Your drive won't show up in Explorer until it has been partitioned (fdisk) and >can't be accessed until formatted. Let's say I partition an external USB hard drive on a computer running Windows XP, and I have selected the NTFS file system for that drive. If I then unplug that USB hard drive from the XP machine, and plug it into a different computer running ME, does ME have the drivers to read from that NTFS disk? I don't need for it to write to the NTFS drive. When I look at the properties for my internal ZIP drive, it says RAW. Is it possible to have an external hard drive with a RAW file system? What file systems do USB flash drives have? Are they FAT32 or RAW? Win Me uses the FAT filing system and has no built in support for the NTFS filing system. You would need a third party utility to read a partition using NTFS. Free readers are obtainable such as NTFS for Windows 98 v2.0 from SysInternals (http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/ntfswin98.shtml) but if you need to write to an NTFS volume you will have to purchase the necessary utility. SignatureMike Maltby MS-MVP mcmaltby@hotmail.com >> Your drive won't show up in Explorer until it has been partitioned >> (fdisk) and can't be accessed until formatted. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > What file systems do USB flash drives have? Are they FAT32 or RAW? > I am having the same problem. I downloaded the original > drivers and the USB drive shows up on my systems list and > I can eject it, however, my 120gb western digital drive > does not show up in explorer or my computer. I contacted > WD and was told to update my WINME. I checked for updates > and there are no more updates for WINME. any ideas http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=E*UlQR3h&p _lva=&p_faqid=1051 HTH Rick This is the exact same issue I am having and was given the same advice from Western Digital. Of course their advertising says compatible with WindowsME. Apparently they did not test well enough. Is there a solution that has been determined. Maybe someone should share with Western Digital! >-----Original Message----- >usbntmap.sys & usbstor.sys are, with most other usb related files, in the [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > >. Win Me includes all of the necessary files to support usb 1.1. Thus there is nothing wrong whatsoever with either WD's testing or their advertising. As for a solution may I suggest you read and use the information in the message to which you replied. If it doesn't work for you then the problem lies elsewhere and not with the operating system. SignatureMike Maltby MS-MVP mcmaltby@hotmail.com anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > This is the exact same issue I am having and was given the > same advice from Western Digital. Of course their [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Is there a solution that has been determined. Maybe > someone should share with Western Digital! http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=E*UlQR3h&p _lva=&p_faqid=1051 |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.