Mybook does not mount on Vista after reboot

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
1

I have a Mybook external drive and when I reboot my Vista machine the Mybook does not mount.  It’s nowhere to be found.  I have had nothing but problems with Mybook drives.  Is there anyway to get the drive to mount consistently when I reboot the PC???

thanks,

Max

2

Welcome Max,

Is the drive connected directly to an available USB port?  Does it detect properly and receive a drive letter if you un-plug and re-plug the USB cable after the system has started? 

3

No, it’s conencted to a powered hub, it’s a laptop and there are only 3 USB ports.  It works sometimes.  This is the 2nd or 3rd MyBook that I have had and it’s nothing be problems. :frowning:  And if I plug it into the port on the side of the laptop that I usually leave for thumb drives, it doesn’t recognize it either. 

No, if you disconnect and reconnect it doesn’t even recognize the device.

Thank you,

Max

4

Hi Max,

Thanks for this info.  A few more questions.  Are any error messages displayed?   Driver needed, not found, etc? Or does the drive just spin and nothing more?   Does the drive appear in Disk Management when connected? 

I’d lose the hub.  In the majority of cases, even powered hubs do not allow external drives to be detected properly.  This is not true of mice and/or keyboards.  Also, if you have a fixed drive with two or more partitions, 1 or more CD/DVD drives and 1 or more thumb drives, etc connected at the same time, the OS may not correctly assign a drive letter, or next logical letter to an externally connected storage device.   Please disconnect all externally connected devices…  mice, thumb drives, etc.  Are the results the same with the drive directly connected when the system restarts? 

I have some other thoughts, but wanted to get your feedback first.

5

Thanks for the response.

No error messages.

Everything is loaded and it works, but only occasionally.  Normally it just sits and spins and does nothing.

Drive does not  show up in disc management.

More than likely I’ll loose the MyBook!  I have had nothing but problems with the several that I have owned over the years!  I’ve even had TWO replaced under warranty.  I guess just because CostCo has a good price, it’s not worth dealing with the issues that WD and MyBook.   I have even spent more than it’s worth having a company retrieve data off of  the drive.  For one thing WD is ridiculous in the power supplies – I mean, come on, different  power supplies with in  one product model.  That’s just plain stupid.  I do NOT HAVE problems with the Seagate FreeAgent drive mounting an it’s on the same hub.  If that’s WD’s advice they should say on the box “This device requires a dedicated USB port and will NOT WORK with a hub.” 

I am so sorry, but I am really pissed off at WD and their Stupid MyBooks that are NOT RELIABLE!

Anyway, I’ll probably take the FreeAgent out of the mix, get what data I need, and FreeCycle this drive, I don’t care to have hurdles just for the sake of getting things done.  IT SHOULD WORK AS IS.  Either the device is designed to low standards, or the drivers are designed to low standards.  It’s better off in the trash bin.

Thanks for your help,

Max

6

Max,

Understand your frustration.  We’ve all purchased a product only to find it doesn’t work as expected, or with our particular configuration. Vista was notorious for its inability to mange multiple connected USB devices.  I thought a recent service pack had resolved this for the most part, but there are always going to be those with particular circumstances where more intervention is required.  

7

Yes, but this can’t be blamed on Vista, I’ve had the same problems with WD MyBooks in other OS’s.  It’s more practical to just NOT BUY WD stuff anymore. :slight_smile:   Thanks again for your help.