I just purchased a 320 GB portable external hard drive with a USB2 connection. I connected it to a USB port on the front of my PC (I have a Pentium 4 with WinXP SP2, and all my USB ports are supposed to be USB2). It didn't work. Windows went wild, refusing to copy files, showing the external drive in Windows Explorer, then not showing it, then showing it again, etc. So I unplugged it (it also refused to safely remove the external disk). Then I tried plugging it into the second front panel USB port. Same thing.
Then I tried plugging it into the last available USB port on the back panel (there are a total of 4 there) and it worked! Now it works fine.
I use the front panel USB ports a lot for my SD card reader and Flash Memory stick, so I know they work. Can someone tell me why they wouldn't work with the external hard drive? I was told that that USB ports acquire and remember characteristics of the drives that are plugged into them, and that this was my problem. If so, what should I do when I take the drive to another computer? How do I know which USB port to plug it into?
Or is it possible that the front USB ports are USB2 and the back ones USB1, something which would not bother Flash Memory, but does bother hard drives?
Then I tried plugging it into the last available USB port on the back panel (there are a total of 4 there) and it worked! Now it works fine.
I use the front panel USB ports a lot for my SD card reader and Flash Memory stick, so I know they work. Can someone tell me why they wouldn't work with the external hard drive? I was told that that USB ports acquire and remember characteristics of the drives that are plugged into them, and that this was my problem. If so, what should I do when I take the drive to another computer? How do I know which USB port to plug it into?
Or is it possible that the front USB ports are USB2 and the back ones USB1, something which would not bother Flash Memory, but does bother hard drives?