I'm at a loss folks. I've Google searched for this mishap and, after trying everything posted on the many sites, have had no luck. Here's the situation:

I have an XPC (running XP SP2) with two hard disks. Disk 0 is an 80GB Seagate SATA drive with letters D:, G:, and F: associated. Disk 1 is a 120 GB WD EIDE drive with letters C: and E: associated. I have a Plextor DVD-RW listed as H:, and at any given time I have a USB flash key that takes up I: and J:, a USB card reader that takes up M:, and a Cat-5 WD MyBook that takes up K:.

I recently purchased a USB to IDE device so I could read the contents of my old 2.5" drives (old mp3 players). When I plug this device in, the computer acknowledges a "USB mass storage device" is installed, but doesn't assign a drive letter. When I manage the PC, Device Manager shows the device listed under Disk Drives as a "Fujitsu USB" (which is fine, it is a Fujitsu 2.5" IDE drive). However, the Disk Management doesn't show the drive as attached.

I have tried any combination of the following:

Disconnecting my Cat-5 MyBook
Using regedit to reassign the other USB devices to other drive letters (N:, P
Using regedit to delete all traces of USB devices then plugging in my new USB-IDE device (no avail)

My computer can see the USB device attached. It has correctly identified the device attached as a Fujitsu drive. Why no drive letter?

Thanks

Update: In another thread I read someone solved their similar problem by installing a jumper on the device. I just tried that with no luck. Still stuck... any ideas?

I am having the same problem with a Staples branded Relay 2GB USB flash drive. I've tried on multiple PC's and get the same result.

When I insert the drive, the indicator on my physical thumb drive lights up orange and XP recognizes a USB device has been connected. Device Manager shows a mass storage device connected. But the drive does not show up in Explorer or Disk Management.

Is there any other way to diagnose a potentially faulty thumb drive?

For the USB thumb drive, try the following:

Run "regedit" and select the "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/MountedDevices" folder. See all the "Dos Devices" listed? You'll have one entry for each physically mounted drive (HDD or Disc) plus you'll have one show up for each USB drive you attempt to insert. Double click each device listed and see if you see text saying something like "U.S.B.S.T.O.R...". Once you find that device, right click it and select "Rename". Now change the drive letter to something unused... like Q: or something. Close regedit, disconnect the USB device and reconnect again.

If all went well, you should be able to see your new drive when you plug it in. I recently had a conflict with my Sandisk 5-in-1 reader and my PNY thumb drive. I forced my PNY to be the N: drive and the Sandisk to be the M: drive, that solved the problem. Unfortunately, I can't get this darn USB-IDE to resolve it's conflict.