Vista "forgets" USB Device Locations

phillfri · External Since: Apr 19, 2007 Posts: 8

When I plug in the external USB drive I use for backup, Vista recognizes it,
can read and write to it, etc. But within a few minutes Vista "forgets" the
location of the USB drive. I note that, like most people, I have multiple USB
devices plugged in. The error message I get is:

=============================================
Could not find this item.

This is no longer located in <%3 NULL:OpText>. Verify the item's location
and try again

DATADISK
Space free: 74.4 GB
Total size: 74.5 GB
=============================================

This obviously appears to be a Vista USB problem, but searching the web for
this error message turns up nothing. Is anybody else having this problem, or
knows of a solution?

[Removing error code numbers in Vista error messages was a really badly
thought out decision. Error messages like the above are almost impossible to
find based on the text itself. At least with an error number one had a chance
of locating error message info on the internet.]

DevilsPGD · External Since: Dec 29, 2006 Posts: 483

In message <129C59C3-9513-4757-8F19-4EF4A5D36F35 RemoveThis @microsoft.com> phillfri
<phillfri RemoveThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>This obviously appears to be a Vista USB problem, but searching the web for
>this error message turns up nothing.

It does?

It sounds to me more like a bad USB cable, or faulty/unpowered drive.
I've seen very similar from drives which were supposed to be USB
powered, but were trying to draw more current then the USB spec allowed,
on a system that wouldn't or couldn't provide it.

That is very much a shot in the dark though.

--
I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.

phillfri · External Since: Apr 19, 2007 Posts: 8

Thanks for the suggestion. But my USB hard drive has its own power source,
and works just fine on my Windows XP machine - which kinda indicates that the
issue is a Vista issue.

"DevilsPGD" wrote:

> In message <129C59C3-9513-4757-8F19-4EF4A5D36F35 DeleteThis @microsoft.com> phillfri
> <phillfri DeleteThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >This obviously appears to be a Vista USB problem, but searching the web for
> >this error message turns up nothing.
>
> It does?
>
> It sounds to me more like a bad USB cable, or faulty/unpowered drive.
> I've seen very similar from drives which were supposed to be USB
> powered, but were trying to draw more current then the USB spec allowed,
> on a system that wouldn't or couldn't provide it.
>
> That is very much a shot in the dark though.
>
> --
> I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.
>

ghostfacekillah · External Since: Jan 17, 2009 Posts: 1

-Fixed the <%3 NULL:OpText> USB problem by- updating all Universal
Serial Bus Controller Drivers in the Device Manager.

--
ghostfacekillah
Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com

Karoltgreat · External Since: Aug 26, 2009 Posts: 1

Sorry for reviving an old thread as again but my iomega prestige can be
recognised and can be read but most of my files are missing and it still
says that this is the amount of space used up so i know its still there.
Whenever I try to create a new folder or rename a folder it says unable
to locate <%3 NULL:OpText> on my external harddrive. I cant do anything
to the hard drive

--
Karoltgreat

"Cari · External Since: Jan 14, 2009 Posts: 35

SoundIs more like the Iomega is failing rather than Vista. Try it on
another PC.
--
Cari (MS-MVP)
Windows Technologies - Printing & Imaging
http://www.coribright.com/windows

"Karoltgreat" <guest.RemoveThis@unknown-email.com> wrote in message
news:c0dbd9f67f7fe69d8478511b25ea4662@nntp-gateway.com...
>
> Sorry for reviving an old thread as again but my iomega prestige can be
> recognised and can be read but most of my files are missing and it still
> says that this is the amount of space used up so i know its still there.
> Whenever I try to create a new folder or rename a folder it says unable
> to locate <%3 NULL:OpText> on my external harddrive. I cant do anything
> to the hard drive
>
>
> --
> Karoltgreat