Two computers. One Windows XP and the other Windows 7. theres a few problems

WD External and Portable SSD Portable SSD
1

First problem:

i cannot use the external hard drive like a normal flash drive where i can plug into a computer and look at any of the files i have on there. i have one computer for home use (windows xp) and another netbook for school (windows 7) because it is lighter. i have many movies and albums on my drive so i would like to have access to it. Even if i put documents such as word files, i do not have access to both sometimes depending which computer i saved the file on.

second problem: i have two files currently locked. i know it is locked because on the Windows 7 there is a lock on the folder of the icon. and in the windows xp it appears as empty and wont allow me access to the folder. how would i make it so that the drive recognizes both computers or maybe all computers just by inputing the password to the drive.

2

I kinda of have the same problem. I have had my book for over a year and works fine on my XP and Vista. Now I have Win 7 and it doesn’t even recognize the drive.

3

Window 7 has this tendency of not showing WD external drives on explorer. What you have to do is to assign a drive letter to your device.

Please follow these steps.

  1. Remove all your USB drives from your PC and shutdown.
  2. Remove the AC power cable and battery if it is a notebook.
  3. Wait for 2 minutes and reconnect battery and AC cable.
  4. Reboot.
  5. Now connect your subjected USB drive and see if it visible on explorer.
  6. If you don’t press Win Key + R key and type devmgmt.msc on RUN dialogue box.
  7. On Device Manager, look for your WD drive is properly installed. (Under Disk Drives)
  8. If listed, Press Win Key + R key and type diskmgmt.msc on RUN dialogue box.
  9. On Disk Management, look for your drive. (Right side Pan)
  10. Right click on WD drive and choose “Assign Drive Letter & Paths”.
  11. Now from the pull down list choose Letter W for WD drive.
  12. Be sure not to assign letters from D to P as these drive letters are dynamically changed when other external drive(s) connected.
4

I tried it twice . It doesn’t even show up in the device mnger. I have two of the wd’s and they both work fine on my Xp. Thanx for the help. Any more suggestions?

5

adavis214

Would you care to describe following?

  1. Are the XP and Win 7 PC’s  two different machines or single PC running dual boot?
  2. Details of your External drive: Model size USB 2 or 3 etc.
  3. Type of USB cable and the condition: New/old/Long/Short/Wobbly on Win7 etc.
  4. Is the Win7 is a notebook? Describe Make & Model.
  5. If it is a Desktop, Make Model and if Home built: Mother board Details including Model#
  6. When you connect to Win7 PC, can you see the white LED? If so, what is the status? (Steady/Blinking cont, Blink for few sec and Steady)
  7. If Desktop which ports? (Front/Rear Motherboard or Rear Aux USB?
  8. Do you have a power booster cable (Y cable)?
1 Like
6

2 diff machines…I just purchased it 3 or 4 weeks ago …E-machine “Power House Desktop” win 7, AMD athlon II X 2 processor, 4 gb ram, 460 gb HD. Model # ET1352G-03W.  The “My Book” Essential is USB 2, 500 GB, new usb cable, (short). I am plugging it into the front of the machine. I have a 1 TB connected to it also and it reads fine. Don’t have a Y cable…Whew that was a mouthful…HUH?..Thanks for the help

7
  1. Are the XP and Win 7 PC’s  two different machines or single PC running dual boot? Two different machines. 1 HP Pavillion dv2000 notebook running xp. and a netbook toshiba running windows 7
  2. Details of your External drive: Model size USB 2 or 3 etc. i think they are both usb 2
  3. Type of USB cable and the condition: New/old/Long/Short/Wobbly on Win7 etc. new/short
  4. Is the Win7 is a notebook? Describe Make & Model. the windows 7 is a toshiba netbook that is lightweight and has only 1gb in its hard drive
  5. If it is a Desktop, Make Model and if Home built: Mother board Details including Model# no desktop both laptops. one notebook and one netbook.
  6. When you connect to Win7 PC, can you see the white LED? If so, what is the status? (Steady/Blinking cont, Blink for few sec and Steady). i can use the drive perfectly fine but i cant get into all the files i need. but when i plug it into my notebook which runs xp i can access all files because thats where i first set up my wdpassport. but somehow i tried taking ownership of a file on the windows 7 netbook and i successfully did and was able to watch the file that was locked. but now the file’s icon has a lock on it and i cannot access it on the xp notebook.
8

k3lvynn

“Taking ownership” is the point you should have stated in the first place. Before I go any further, can you still access your files from Win7 PC? 

9

adavis214

The originator of this thread had replied to the massage I that post for you. So I replied to him first.

You missed out LED status. Try using real USB ports.

10

The LED comes on, no blinking. When I plug it into the back it doesn’t even come on. BTW I have 2 WD’s and both aren’t able to work on the Win 7

11

Give me sometime to study your PC user manual… looks like you have BIOS issue if you cannot use other drives on rear USB ports.

12

In the mean time I suggest you to download your PC chipset drivers from here and install, if you haven’t done that already.

http://www.emachines.com/support/drivers.html

13

Generic user manual for your PC is somewhat useless. It doesn’t explain anything about USB nor BIOS settings. Looks like you’re on your own as far as eMachine is concerned. Try calling them if you can.

Anyway, you could try your own if you hit DEL key or F2 key (may be you need to keep pressed for a couple of seconds) as soon as you see the initial boot screen. This will allow you to get in to BIOS settings. F10 key will save your settings. (Not Windows boot screen) In certain motherboards you can disable or enable USB ports as well as set to work on USB 1.0 or USB2.0 modes.

Please note: BIOS settings are critical settings. If you don’t know what you about to do, always better to get help from someone who knows PC hardware. 

14

yes but most folders are locked on the windows7 netbook