External HDD takes 1 hour to be recognized

[thefatkid]

I recently purchased a Maxtor 160GB HDD from Staples. I put it in a enclosure I have that has seemed to work fine for other drives. What happens is that when I power up the drive it takes Windows about 1 hour before it will see the HDD. I have tried different enclosures, cables, USB ports, etc. My USB 2.0 drivers are up to date and I even turned off the "USB power management". Anyone have any similar experience and have any ideas what might be wrong? My next thought is to get the data off the HDD and reformat.

I am using Windows XP Home SP2.

Here are the enclosures I have tried:
Bytecc
Koutech
HDD:
Maxtor 160GB

I am going to try tonight the HDD internally tonight to see if that makes a difference. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Definately try the HD internally....I find it hard to believe the problems lies with the drive and instead with the enclosure or your USB system. Then again, if you've tried different enclosures, then that doesn't help my theory much.

Have you tried other USB2.0 storage devices on the system (ie, USB flash drives)?

 

[HDTVMan]

Sounds like its overheating. I had a few of those cheap plastic drawers and my drives were overheating on me and working extremely slow.

Better to get a 25.00 external USB enclosure.
I personally like the mesh metal ones they allow the drive to breathe.

Its worth the price not to have to replace the drive.

 

[thefatkid]

The one Bytecc enclosure is plastic and aluminum and a fan. The Koutech is all aluminum and also contains a fan. So I'm not sure if it is overheating.

Is anyone familiar with this utility and can it tell me if anythign is wrong?

http://www.worldstart.com/weekly-download/archives/active-smart-monitor-1.11.htm

 

[HDTVMan]

Keep it in for an hour then power down and pull it out and physically feel the drive. A single fan on the cheap drive trays doest nothing to keep the drive cool especially 7200rpm drives.