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Hello

I have a 640 GB Elements Western Digital USB external drive which I would
like to run under Windrows 98 (second edition)

It is a model type WD6400AAKS - 75A7B drive

The actual drive is not recognized under Windows 98 although when plugged
it all that happens is that the blue drive light flashes for a few seconds
- in other words it does not show up when clicking the "Computer" icon nor
on a plug and play scan.

A search on Goggle for Drivers brought up a reference to Enclosure
Manufactures which seems to imply that I need...

Firstly a driver that recognizes the enclosure

Secondly A driver that recognizes the disk fitted in that enclosure

Other points ---- The processor board is an Intel 845 board and my other
LACIE 250 GB USB external drive works fine in this computer

So If anyone has running this Western Digital drive under Windows 98 could
they let me know how / what they done

Thank you David

me wrote:

> Hello
>
> I have a 640 GB Elements Western Digital USB external drive which I would
> like to run under Windrows 98 (second edition)
>
> It is a model type WD6400AAKS - 75A7B drive
>
> The actual drive is not recognized under Windows 98 although when plugged
> it all that happens is that the blue drive light flashes for a few seconds
> - in other words it does not show up when clicking the "Computer" icon nor
> on a plug and play scan.
>
> A search on Goggle for Drivers brought up a reference to Enclosure
> Manufactures which seems to imply that I need...
>
> Firstly a driver that recognizes the enclosure
>
> Secondly A driver that recognizes the disk fitted in that enclosure
>
> Other points ---- The processor board is an Intel 845 board and my other
> LACIE 250 GB USB external drive works fine in this computer
>
> So If anyone has running this Western Digital drive under Windows 98 could
> they let me know how / what they done
>
> Thank you David

USB Support in Windows 98
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/usbwin98.mspx

Note what it says at the bottom: "Every USB device should also include a
Windows 98 driver." It mentions a USB Evaluation Utility from usb.org
but I couldn't find it on that site. I did find:

http://www.download.com/Intel-USB-Sy...-10054492.html
http://software.filefront.com/USB+Ev...formation.html

You gave the model of the enclosed hard disk. That's not the model of
the entire unit (the enclosure, interface card, disk). From your
description, my guess is that you have:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=475

Notice the model number shown on that page. It's for the entire unit,
not for the disk inside. Click on the Specifications tab. Click on
Software and Drivers. Click on WD Elements. Click on WD Elements
Desktop (I don't know what the difference would be from the Portable
link). There I noticed a couple programs. One is their diagnostic
program:

http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...&sid=3&lang=en

You could use that to ensure you can reach the disk from Windows 98 via
USB. Also there you can click on "External USB ... Formatting Utility";
however, it says it only runs on NT-versions of Windows.

I believe the drive, as delivered from the factory, should come
pre-formatted with a FAT32 partition. "Drives" in Windows don't exit
until you partition the disk and then format that partition using a
recognizable file system.

The specs tab for the product description says it needs USB 2.0. That
doesn't mean it is backward compatible with USB 1.1. You may need to
get a USB 2.0 adapter card.

Western Digital has their own knowlegebase support site. If you look
there, you'd find:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....i=&p_topview=1

Follow the link on how to install the USB drive under Windows 98SE
(don't know if this works for Windows 9. It lists Series 1 and 2
drivers. Don't know which you need. If it were me, I'd try the Series
2 drivers. Also read:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....i=&p_topview=1

Hi

I finally got the drive working under Windows 98 (SE) thanks to a
VanguardLH pointer to try. My comments on how to do this are at the bottom
of this posting so as to keep context. Its a rather lengthy posting as some
details may help others.



On Thu, 25 Sep 2008 09:16:31 -0500, VanguardLH <> wrote:

>me wrote:
>
>> Hello
>>
>> I have a 640 GB Elements Western Digital USB external drive which I would
>> like to run under Windrows 98 (second edition)
>>
>> It is a model type WD6400AAKS - 75A7B drive
>>
>> The actual drive is not recognized under Windows 98 although when plugged
>> it all that happens is that the blue drive light flashes for a few seconds
>> - in other words it does not show up when clicking the "Computer" icon nor
>> on a plug and play scan.
>>
>> A search on Goggle for Drivers brought up a reference to Enclosure
>> Manufactures which seems to imply that I need...
>>
>> Firstly a driver that recognizes the enclosure
>>
>> Secondly A driver that recognizes the disk fitted in that enclosure
>>
>> Other points ---- The processor board is an Intel 845 board and my other
>> LACIE 250 GB USB external drive works fine in this computer
>>
>> So If anyone has running this Western Digital drive under Windows 98 could
>> they let me know how / what they done
>>
>> Thank you David
>
>USB Support in Windows 98
>http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/usbwin98.mspx
>
>Note what it says at the bottom: "Every USB device should also include a
>Windows 98 driver." It mentions a USB Evaluation Utility from usb.org
>but I couldn't find it on that site. I did find:
>
>http://www.download.com/Intel-USB-Sy...-10054492.html
>http://software.filefront.com/USB+Ev...formation.html
>
>You gave the model of the enclosed hard disk. That's not the model of
>the entire unit (the enclosure, interface card, disk). From your
>description, my guess is that you have:
>
>http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=475
>
>Notice the model number shown on that page. It's for the entire unit,
>not for the disk inside. Click on the Specifications tab. Click on
>Software and Drivers. Click on WD Elements. Click on WD Elements
>Desktop (I don't know what the difference would be from the Portable
>link). There I noticed a couple programs. One is their diagnostic
>program:
>
>http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...&sid=3&lang=en
>
>You could use that to ensure you can reach the disk from Windows 98 via
>USB. Also there you can click on "External USB ... Formatting Utility";
>however, it says it only runs on NT-versions of Windows.
>
>I believe the drive, as delivered from the factory, should come
>pre-formatted with a FAT32 partition. "Drives" in Windows don't exit
>until you partition the disk and then format that partition using a
>recognizable file system.
>
>The specs tab for the product description says it needs USB 2.0. That
>doesn't mean it is backward compatible with USB 1.1. You may need to
>get a USB 2.0 adapter card.
>
>Western Digital has their own knowlegebase support site. If you look
>there, you'd find:
>
>http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....i=&p_topview=1
>
>Follow the link on how to install the USB drive under Windows 98SE
>(don't know if this works for Windows 9. It lists Series 1 and 2
>drivers. Don't know which you need. If it were me, I'd try the Series
>2 drivers. Also read:
>
>http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....i=&p_topview=1


Getting the drive to work...

Background....

The drive had been portioned into 2. Each partition been 297 GB as a FAT32
partition. This is the best combination for my needs

This was done on a Vista machine using START - Computer - Manage Disks to
format the drive into 2 x NTFS partitions (which were given drive letters
outside the range in use ) and then converting the partitions into FAT32
partitions using the DOS program Fat32format which needs the drive letter
to select the correct drive / partition.

(A side note--- The WD Site NTFS formatting program for the 640 GB Elements
Drive does not install under Vista but does install and work under XP -
Reported to and already known by WD Support)

I then tried the drive on the Windows 98 computer with no joy The computer
had had the windows drivers for the "LATICE" external drive installed -
which work well - I installed the Windows 98 drivers for the WD
"ESSENTIALS" Range as the nearest I could find for the correct later WD
"ELEMENT" range.

I _ think_ I did not install the series 1 / 2 drivers mentioned in

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....ZXh0PTk4&p_li=

as they refer to a single partioned drive though it is possible that I did
as a last resort try them.

No Joy -but the Latice drive still works !!

I posted my request to this group and VanguardLH replied (above)

His comments on a series 1 / 2 drive prompted me to look again at the USB
HUB drivers I had installed.

Using Device Manager I selected my USB HUB device I asked the computer to
find any later drivers on the Microsoft site. It found none but offered to
instead use the Generic drivers on my computer that it had listed in its
database.

I took the option - a "USB hub driver" and a "USB hub driver series 2" was
listed I selected "USB hub driver series 2"

Great Joy - My new external drive (both partitions) is now seen and my
Latice drive still works.

Notes. The main stumbling block was the need for USB Hub Series 2 .
I am not sure if I actually have USB 2 ports on the hub in my very old ACER
Verion 400D Computer.

The allocation of actual drive letters to the letters that the partitions
were given (on formatting) do not follow each other.
This can make life interesting !!!!

me wrote:

> Getting the drive to work...
>
> Background....
>
> The drive had been portioned into 2. Each partition been 297 GB as a FAT32
> partition. This is the best combination for my needs
>
> This was done on a Vista machine using START - Computer - Manage Disks to
> format the drive into 2 x NTFS partitions (which were given drive letters
> outside the range in use ) and then converting the partitions into FAT32
> partitions using the DOS program Fat32format which needs the drive letter
> to select the correct drive / partition.

I don't use Vista but it seems odd that you cannot use their included
tools to create a new partition and select to use FAT or NTFS. FAT
partitions aren't just for external drives. You may want a partition
that is accessible by more than one OS, like when multibooting.

> I then tried the drive on the Windows 98 computer with no joy The computer
> had had the windows drivers for the "LATICE" external drive installed -
> which work well - I installed the Windows 98 drivers for the WD
> "ESSENTIALS" Range as the nearest I could find for the correct later WD
> "ELEMENT" range.

You might want to look at the spec sheets for the Lacie device. It
probably only needs USB v1.x to support it. The new one you added said
it needs USB v2.x. That's what I suspected was meant by the "series 1"
and "series 2" drivers.

> I _ think_ I did not install the series 1 / 2 drivers mentioned in
>
> http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....ZXh0PTk4&p_li=
>
> as they refer to a single partioned drive though it is possible that I did
> as a last resort try them.

Disk drivers don't support partitions. They support mass storage
devices (that is, the whole device). They are the interface between
function calls in the OS to the hardware control logic on the device.
They don't care about partitions.

> Using Device Manager I selected my USB HUB device I asked the computer to
> find any later drivers on the Microsoft site. It found none but offered to
> instead use the Generic drivers on my computer that it had listed in its
> database.
>
> I took the option - a "USB hub driver" and a "USB hub driver series 2" was
> listed I selected "USB hub driver series 2"

I don't have Windows 98 to look at. I don't remember the USB driver
names having "series 1" and "series 2" that came with Windows. If you
look at the properties for the driver when looking at the driver details
for the USB controllers in Device Manager on your Windows 98 host, who
is its author?

> Notes. The main stumbling block was the need for USB Hub Series 2 .
> I am not sure if I actually have USB 2 ports on the hub in my very old ACER
> Verion 400D Computer.

From other posts that I've read, in Device Manager, look for the work
"Enhanced" in the name of the USB controller. That means v2 of USB. I
believe this was try for Windows versions from 2000 and backward. You
might not see one with "Enchanced" in its name from Windows XP and
onward since Microsoft switched to the usbohci.sys miniport driver
(Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller; see
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa940140.aspx) from the old
uhcd.sys driver. Intel pioneered USB using their UHCI design and Compaq
extended it with their Open HCI design. Since the miniport "driver"
uses the usb.inf to figure out which files to copy and use, I looked in
there. Under the "Win 95" section, it says to copy files defined in the
Hub.CopyFiles section which says to copy and use the usbhub.sys file.
It's also copied and used under Windows NT. If I look in Device Manager
at driver details for the "Enhanced" USB controller listed there, yep,
it uses the old usbhub.sys driver - but those details also show it uses
the usbehci.sys (enhanced) driver. If I look at the driver details for
the "Open HCD USB" controller, it also lists the old usbhub.sys driver
but also lists the Open HCD usbohci.sys driver. That driver isn't in
the usb.inf config file. It's in the usbport.ini file for the miniport
driver. So all my controllers support USB v1.x and 2.x.

See http://www.everythingusb.com/usb2/faq.htm, item 2 - and another
reason that I suspect you installed the "series 1" and "series 2"
drivers which did not come from Microsoft. Maybe they came with your
Lacie drive but either you or its setup only used the USB v1.x driver
for that device since that's all that particular device required for USB
support.

> The allocation of actual drive letters to the letters that the partitions
> were given (on formatting) do not follow each other.
> This can make life interesting !!!!

DOS and Windows 9x used the same scheme to assign drive letters as does
the BIOS: in physical detection order by primary partitions first on
each disk and then go back to assign by logical partitions. NT-based
versions of Windows track by the disk signature, part of the MBR on each
disk. Within an instance of Windows NT that has saved the disk
signature, it will track if the drive moves physically to other
controllers and retain the drive letter. It doesn't use the old BIOS
ordering scheme. You would assign the drive letter in Disk Management
(diskmgmt.msc). However, if you move the disk to another instance of
Windows (that you multiboot on the same host or you move the drive to a
different host), that one won't have the signature assigned to a drive
letter yet so you might get default drive letters using the next
available. You go into Disk Management and assign it drive letters
which will stick. The enumeration of a hard disk with its disk
signature is recorded in the registry for a particular instance of
Windows NT.