Vista Generic USB storage devices not

[lowie]

cant get vista to see my new usb hard drive.when i first plugged it in it found it for about 10 sec s.
then said it was a unreconised device and now it is totally ingnoring it as if it is not there at all.
i dont think the drive is faulty .but going to try it at work tom (the boss is on holiday).i ve seen a lot on other fourums but nothing seems to work.and not seen anything about it being ignored .
does anybody know of file or something in the reg that may be making it invisable or any other tricks or tips
getting ready to the drive and laptop in the pond soon.
thanks

[napstoo]

Does your hard disk show up in the device manager when you plug it in??

Vista has a terrible habit of not assigning external hard drive a drive letter..

To do this:

1. Right click on My computer
2. Select Manage
3.Go to Disk Management under Storage
(you should see you external hard drive listed)
4. Right click the drive and pick any drive letter u like!

Hope this works for you!!

[I Black Belt]

I had some real issues with vista and external hard drives. I tried everything, assigning drives manually, uninstalling the drivers and rebooting so they reloaded etc, - nothing worked.
in the end I had to have the bios updated, which fixed it

[lowie]

cheers for the advice i think the hd case is faulty.tried it on two pc s running xp still nothing.just tried it out again to try your tips and cant even get a light on the case.(trying to get my money back from deal xtreame (lol).might go to pc world and get a new one.