Thinkpads Forum

Just bought my son a T500 for college and it won't recognize any external hard disks. In the middle of trying to get Acronis TrueImage to work, and alternatives as that seems as if it's not going to happen easily, and in any case can't get it to recognize external USB drives. I'm thinking this is a security issue?

Are the usb drives self powered (i.e. no power adapter)? Are the usb drives recognized on other machines? Are other usb devices recognized on the T500 (i.e. flash drives)?

If other devices are recognized and the usb drives work on other machines, try plugging both usb cable ends into the T500.

dsvochak wrote:Are the usb drives self powered (i.e. no power adapter)? Are the usb drives recognized on other machines? Are other usb devices recognized on the T500 (i.e. flash drives)?

If other devices are recognized and the usb drives work on other machines, try plugging both usb cable ends into the T500.

One is completely self-powered (a/c adapter), the other has a supplemental USB power connection. Both work on my PC without a problem.

You could try either of these:

It may be the USB ports on your T500 if it works fine on the PC, was it a second hand laptop? You could try updating the drivers for USB support. If not your USB ports may be damaged.

or you could try the External HDD on another laptop if you have one. If it works fine on the other laptop, then the T500 is the issue here. Like dsvochak said, does it work with any other USB devices such as Flash Drives/Pensticks, Mice etc??

A31 wrote:You could try either of these:

It may be the USB ports on your T500 if it works fine on the PC, was it a second hand laptop? You could try updating the drivers for USB support. If not your USB ports may be damaged.

or you could try the External HDD on another laptop if you have one. If it works fine on the other laptop, then the T500 is the issue here. Like dsvochak said, does it work with any other USB devices such as Flash Drives/Pensticks, Mice etc??

New unit, just received direct from Lenovo. The external drives worked on the Asus laptop he was using. There's also a funky issue with system fonts: all window titles are severely distorted.

Given your last response you should do a complete hardware test using the software provided (PC-DR, System Toolbox or Thinkvantage Toolbox). It’s a good news/bad news situation: the machine may have a defect, but it’s under warranty.