My laptop won't recognize an external portable hard drive....

[westpheling]

It is made by SimpleTech and is about 5 years old. When I hooked it up to a new Acer laptop I get the message ... USB device not recognized. The Acer is running 64 bit Windows. The external drive worked well before I switched it to the new machine.

PW/Vienna, Va.

 

[Chaz21]

It is made by SimpleTech and is about 5 years old. When I hooked it up to a new Acer laptop I get the message ... USB device not recognized. The Acer is running 64 bit Windows. The external drive worked well before I switched it to the new machine.

PW/Vienna, Va.

See if this helps:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/871233

 

[popatim]

Have you tried searchinig for a driver for it?
Since its 5 years old its before W7 and the driver is probably the problem.