2.5" USB HDD problems

[rusky]

OK, I have a 2.5" HDD caddy that I've used for a couple of years.

I recently wanted to back up my documents to it but when I plugged it in, I can hear the drive trying to spin up but it never does.

The caddy & HDD are both fine as I can use them on a laptop running Linux. So that only leaves this PC.

My guess is the spin up of the HDD is too much for the USB ports on the PC. Since I was using the onboard USB controller, I added a PCI card but that didn't help so the only conclusion I can come to is the problem is caused by Vista.

The root hub in device manager shows it's capable of supplying 500mA but I've got no way of measuring, in any case if it needed more, I'm sure it can take more at device  startup.

Anyone got any other ideas??

[rusky]

IK, just tried it in the BIOS so that rules out Vistargh

[Dez]

Is there the option to supply power to the caddy independently of the USB cable? If not, have you tried using a powered USB hub?

[rusky]

USB power is the only option on this one.

Just got back from digging a powered hub out of the loft & it's working on that.

Not sure why it doesn't work connected to either a USB port on the board or on a  PCI card though, it used to work fine on the motherboard ports!