external disk

[mikhu1]

Have external 3.5 disk drive with 2.0 USB connection. Having trouble seeing drive.Not connected permanently but appears as drive J occasionally(three times out of 30 attempts approx).Tried all USB ports.Windows XP. Tried my sons system - no problems. Anyone any ideas how I can 'prompt' my PC to see it ?

[rojash]

It may be that your PC just has rather weedy power on the USB ports. If the drive has a socket for an external power supply, you might try that.

[4candles]

I've got a similar problem with a Freecom external HDD used for backups, connected via USB2 on a WinXP machine. If the PC is running, 75% of the time it won't see the Freecom.

I've found, though, that if I throw the power switch to "on" before booting up the PC, it's always recognised.

[Tweed]

I can only suggest you update the drivers; it will at least elliminate that possibility. Go to Control Panel/system/device manager, look for USB controlers, expand and right click on update drivers.