Windows 8 - Hitachi Touro Pro

Anonymous

Can anyone help me out with this.

I have 4 x 2TB Hitachi Touro Pro external hard drives. All work 100% in Windows 7.

However, they do not work under Windows 8. When connected you will hear the sound notifying you a USB device was attached but not drive letter.

After a couple of minute (2-4 minutes) a drive will appear but it you try access the drive the machine will freeze.

I have tried all 4 drives and they all show the same issue, working in Windows 7 not in 8.

This has to be a windows issue.

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Anonymous

Can anyone who has gotten their Hitachi Touro to work with Windows 8 confirm the USB 3.0 host controller?

After first noticing the compatibility issues when I first installed Windows 8, I traded my Hitachi drive for my brother's Seagate Expansion drive. His drive is smaller capacity, but at least I can use it with my computer.

Anyway, my brother's computer is having some issues and I was going to try reinstalling Windows 7. before doing that, I decided to do a test installation of Windows 8. His computer is running on an Intel Series 4 chipset and I have added a USB 3.0 add-on card to connect to his external drive. After installing Windows 8 to his computer, I was able to access the Hitachi Touro Pro hard drive with no issues at all.

I checked in the device manager and his USB 3.0 host controller is listed as Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller. My computer that has problems with the Hitachi drive is running on an Intel H77 based motherboard with integrated USB 3.0. The host controller on my computer is listed as Intel USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller - 0100 (Microsoft).

Based on this information, would the issue lie with the drivers for the USB 3.0 controller, and not the operating system? Intel doesn't provide any updated drivers for the USB 3.0 on Windows 8; only previous versions of the OS.

(Update)

I just found a thread at the Intel Support Community that has over 225 comments from users discussing this issue. Apparently the native Windows 8 drivers from Microsoft for the Intel USB 3.0 controller are causing issues with other USB 3.0 devices as well. Someone hacked the lasted Windows 7 driver for the Intel USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller to make it work for Windows 8. It is available for download on page 16 of that thread. You must disable driver signing to be able to install the driver.

Hold the Shift key while selecting Restart to enter Advanced Startup Options
Click Troubleshoot
Click Advanced Options
Click Startup Settings
Click Restart
After the computer reboots, select option 7 to disable driver signature enforcement
Go to Device Manager
Right-click on your USB 3.0 host controller and select Update Driver
Select "Browse my computer for driver software"
Choose "Let me pick..."
Click the Have Disk button
Browse to where you downloaded the modified driver and select it
Click Next
Select the option to install when warned about digital driver signing
If an unknown device appears, you can install by selecting the "Browse..." option and entering the containing folder rather than having to manually pick a specific driver. This will install the Intel USB 3.0 Root Hub

Hopefully, Intel will recognize this issue and release updated drivers. Until then, this will hopefully work with no issues.

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85 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-05-04T09:52:19+00:00

Don't have the preview. Tried endless amounts of things to get this drive to work. Neither Microsoft OR Hitachi want to take any responsibility for supporting this drive.

Mine gets recognised as a SCSI device in both USB 3 and USB 2 ports, and the drive actually appears in the USB 2 slots but is still unusable.

This was not a cheap drive at the time, and I have data from a previous windows 7 machine stored on it of which I just can't access. Setting up the hacked windows 7 USB 3 driver DID work in Windows 8 but not Windows 8.1.

We cannot spend this sort of money on hardware for it to just not get support. I'm actually more inclined to blame Hitachi, but correspondence with them just shifts blame to Microsoft.

I'm not removing the drive out of the casing because if it gets damaged then I've lost.

I even tried creating an UBUNTU live disc to boot from to try the drive in there but it just makes UBUNTU go nuts.

If you reckon it works in Windows 10, then only being patient will help.
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Anonymous

2015-04-05T10:57:05+00:00

I installed Windows 10 Technical Preview build 10049 and connected my Hitachi touro 750 Gb drive into USB 3.0 and it WORKS!!!!

I can't believe that after several years of frustration with this device incompatibility with Windows 8.1 it finally works fine in Windows 10! Please check if you also have Windows 10 TP if your Hitachi drive works as well
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Anonymous

2015-03-29T07:29:51+00:00

After much searching how to get my Hitachi Pro 750GB to work with Win 8.1

I lifted the black side panel off the case took out the Hard Disk placed it in a $15 HD caddy case and all fixed. No thanks to Hitachi or Microsoft.
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Anonymous

2015-01-24T16:26:41+00:00

The problem have not been resolved and it is not fixed even in new Windows 10 technical preview. It is related on how Toshiba made file structure on their HDD which is imcompatible with Windows file structure in Windows 8,8.1 and 10 versions. You can use it with any external USB hub. I myself connected it to Router with USB and I use it as media storage
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