Does Windows NT support USB?

[stingray2]

my uncle wants an external storage device (like a harddrive or cdrw) to take between work (where they use Windows NT) and home (where he uses Windows 98). The hardware guy at his work tells him that his computer has USB and it works, but I am being told by my tech friends that Win NT does not support USB. the hardware I recommended to him (before I knew that his work used NT, he just told me to find him something that was USB) is from compgeeks.com (2.5 inch External USB notebook HardDrive case for PC/MAC), and they only have drivers to Win98,Me,2000,XP.. so, I know have to find something else, unless someone out there thinks that WinNt does support USB and that it might work with one of the other OS drivers???

 

[John]

Nope, you need to move to 2K or XP (NT platform).

 

[JackBurton]

<< Nope, you need to move to 2K or XP (NT platform). >>


John's answer is the MS AND practical answer but the truth of the matter is that NT DOES have limited USB support with SP6a. And when I say limited I mean limited. Epson is the only company that I know of that provides NT USB drivers for some of their scanners. There might be some other companies support NT and USB but not very many. If you want REAL USB support, I'd go with 98SE, ME, 2000 or XP. Of course my preference would be 2000 or XP.

 

[Ausm]

Very Limited indeed...Forced us to move to Win2K but IMHO Win2K BLOWS away Win NT 4.0


Ausm

 

[stingray2]

NOPE, my uncles complany is not going to change their OS just to allow him an external device. So, does anyone know of an external storage device that will work with Windows NT? I guess, only the ones that connect through the Parallel port?

 

[Mitzi]

<< NOPE, my uncles complany is not going to change their OS just to allow him an external device. So, does anyone know of an external storage device that will work with Windows NT? I guess, only the ones that connect through the Parallel port? >>



How about an external, parallel port 250Mb zip drive?

Or if you don't need 250Mb of space, 2 x Internal 100Mb zip drives. Would be much faster than external version and they are dirt cheap, though the media is pretty pricey.

 

[Eug]

<<

<< NOPE, my uncles complany is not going to change their OS just to allow him an external device. So, does anyone know of an external storage device that will work with Windows NT? I guess, only the ones that connect through the Parallel port? >>



How about an external, parallel port 250Mb zip drive?

Or if you don't need 250Mb of space, 2 x Internal 100Mb zip drives. Would be much faster than external version and they are dirt cheap, though the media is pretty pricey. >>

Or just get a 250 internal (IDE). I have one in my NT box. No additional drivers needed.

Also, does anyone have experience with IDE PCMCIA interfaces? Parallel PCMCIA on my NT box is very flaky.

 

[AndyHui]

Please read the FAQ: Does Windows NT 4.0 support USB?

 

[DSTA]

What about an external SCSI disk? A bit bulky, but a lot faster compared to USB.

An option to use USB 'for free': build yourself a mini linux system with USB and NTFS support, put that on a CD-R and boot from it when it's file transfer time.

Slow solution with limited capacity: Flashpath 'floppy' adapter with compact flash. Advantage is that you only need to install a driver (dunno if their stuff finally works with smp boxes, watch out).

As for firewire, I'm pretty sure the older Adaptec pci adapters came with NT drivers, never tried it though. If size is not a problem, I'd go with an external SCSI disk.

 

[stingray2]

thanks for all the help,, but my uncles company will not allow any internal devices to be installed on his desktop computer. so I guess I have to look at tape backup devices, ones that have NT support.