Earlier today i was at a friends house helping him transfer files from one computer to another. We kept getting the infamous "failed connection" error while moving files from his old computer to my (fairly new) 200 gb external western digital hard drive via Win XP and a usb connection. I opened the drive properties, and checked the "enable write caching" for my hard drive. The computer then prompted me to restart, i clicked yes, and then the **** the fan. When the computer rebooted, there was no sign of my hard drive. It was on, and working properly (physically) but it was not recognized at all under win xp. I turned off the drive and turned it back on; it started up fine, but was still not recognized. Nothing at all. No error signs...nothing...it was as if there was nothing even plugged into the usb port. I tried it on 3 other computers (including my new HP laptop: tablet pc edition) and still nothing - the computer doesn't even recognize anything connected to the usb port. I assume this has something to do with my enabling write caching, and i'm hoping i have not erased all data on my hard drive. Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Do you use this external (usb?) hard drive as the primary drive on your own PC ?

No, it is merely supplemental storage. The laptop has a built in 40 (37) gb drive. The external drive is used mainly for audio storage for my business. I plan on taking it in to GigaParts and having them make an attempt at servicing it....for some un-Godly price, i'm sure.

Drive not found troubleshooting for USB

Check Power - Confirm the drive has power and that the power LED is glowing on the drive and power converter. If the light is not lit then check that the power switch on the back of the drive is in the on position. Then check that all the connections are tight (power cable to wall, power cable to power supply, power supply to drive). If it still does not light up then temporarily remove any surge protectors and plug the drive into the wall outlet.

Confirm the USB cable is plugged in to the computer and the drive - The USB port and 1394 port on the hard drive cannot be plugged in at the same time.

Remove any hubs - Plug the drive directly into the USB port on the computer. Powered USB hubs should work fine, however if another device on the hub is having a problem the hard drive may be disabled.

Check Device Manger to confirm the USB host controller is properly configured - To open device manager (Window XP / Windows 2000) right click on my computer > choose manage > choose the device manager icon from the tree.

If the host controller is in ?other devices? then additional drivers are required for the host, check with the PCI card vendor or motherboard vendor for the appropriate drivers. USB 2.0 controllers usually require a service pack to operate properly. Windows added support for USB 2.0 in Service pack 2 and Windows 2000 added support USB 2.0 support in service pack 3 and improved the support in service pack 4.

If the host controller is not seen in device manager then it is probably disabled in the computer BIOS.

Check Device Manager to confirm the USB hard drive is detected and configured properly - If not, disconnect and reconnect the drive using a different USB port.

Try another cable and host adapter - If after following the steps above you still have a problem then try another cable and another USB port.