2 External USB IDE Hard Drives

[tctky]

I have a couple of regular ATA 7200rpm IDE hard drives incased in separate generic USB enclosures made by "creative i/o". I also have a USB 2.0 PCI card that they are attached to. The issue I have is that when the computer boots (win2k pro) it only recognizes the first drive. If I remove the first drive the second is recognized.

My question is it possible to have two external drives on the same USB chain? If it is possible is it something to do with the jumper settings on the drive (master/slave etc.) Any ideas?

Thanks

Tom

 

[mainegeek]

tctky,
While one drive is attached take a look in Device Manager,
Usb Root Hub and see what the power requirement is.

 

[tctky]

The first drive shows 100mA used and 500mA available for each port. The second drive does not register as being connected until the first is turned off or disconnected. Each enclosure comes with it's own power supply.

Tom

 

[micker377]

All externals should be set as "master" on the drive itself. What drive letter(s) are attached to these drives when viewed in Device Mangler? Do you have enough un-assigned drive letters for all the drives? Are these drives on a network setup? If so, the second USB drive may be assigned a drive letter already in use by the network.