one of two external harddrives connects to universal instead of usb2.0

[justanickname]

Hi all,

here is my challenge:

Running a Samsung X10 Notebook w/ WinXP Pro SP3, all latest drivers, etc.

The notebook comes w/ two USB 2.0 ports, which I use to connect two external hard drives to.

One of the harddrives refuses to connect as an USB2.0/extended USB device, even though the other smoothly connects as USB2.0.

The 'naughty' drive is a Hitachi hdt725040vlat80 with UDMA capability, should easily make use of the 2.0 speed.
When plugging it in, I get an error message that the drive is capable of USB2.0, but connected to a slower USB1.0 port - which is wrong, as I can exchange the connections as much as I want with the second external drive at 2.0 speed.

Thanks for any advice.

[Shoreguy]

sounds like you need an external power adapter for the Hitachi. Drives at or over 250Gb generally need more than the 5V the USB provides. My external came with a 2nd USB cable that has USB and power adapter, so I utilize 2 ports when plugged in. Otherwise, you may want to try figure 2
http://www.amontec.com/fix/picture/eshop/amt-100-2001.jpg
http://www.cubeternet.com/images/hub_power.jpg

[Midknyte]

The speed of the drive has nothing to do with USB mode. It's the USB adapter.

[justanickname]

It is definitely not the power supply, as the external 3.5' drive always needs external power supply.

Midknyte, maybe I don't get your post 100%, but what exactly do you mean with the usb adapter? The one from the mainboard _is_ usb2.0, as I can connect the other external harddrive and it connects as 2.0 and 'proofs' by transfer-rates > 1mbit.

In Windows' System Management I can see (filter for connections) that it shows _two_ USB adapters - one for 'universal USB' and one for 'extended USB'.
The connected device seems to negotiate(?) the transfer mode.

Thx.

[Shoreguy]

check your bios then...flip around USB Legacy support to on/off

[Midknyte]

The performance of the hard drive has nothing to do with USB 1.1 or 2.0 detection. It's the USB SATA/IDE adapter.

Go into device manager and remove the USB devices, then allow windows to redetect them. Make sure to remove phantom USB devices as well.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315539/en-us