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.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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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

2012-10-30T12:31:54+00:00
Hi James P O'Grady,

Welcome to Microsoft community. I would need few more information as listed below to assist you better.
1. Do you face any issue, if you use flash drives on your computer?
2. Have you installed device drivers on your computer?
I would suggest you to try these methods and check the issue status.

Method 1:

I would suggest you to run the Hardware and devices troubleshooter to diagnose the exact issue.

Follow the steps:

a. Press “Windows Key + C” to open Charms Bar.

b. Select Search option.

c. Select “Settings” then type “Troubleshooting” in the Search box and hit enter.

d. Select “Hardware and Sound” from the Troubleshooter Window.

e. Select “Hardware and Devices” under Devices option.

f. Follow the On Screen instructions.

**Method 2:**I would suggest you to download and install the drivers from manufacturer’s website in compatibility mode, then check if this fixes the issue.

Follow the steps:

a. Download the driver setup file and save it on your local disk.

b. Right click on the setup file of the driver and select “Properties”.

c. Select “Compatibility” Tab.

d. Make a check mark next to Run this program in “Compatibility mode” and select Windows 7 from the drop down list.

e. Let the driver to install and then check the functionality.

If you need further help, reply us with more information, we’ll be happy to help you.
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Anonymous

2012-10-30T13:00:45+00:00

I guess you have not read other posts from people with the same issue.

This option do not help at all. This is a issue with the way Windows 8 recognises these drives.

I have already spoken to Hitachi about this today and they recognise it as as issue but say it Windows 8 related and nothing they can do.

So my question is, is Microsoft going to do anything about it and when. I have 8TB of data which I cannot access using Windows 8.

I currently have about 120+ customer and to be honest I will be recommending not to upgrade to Windows 8 and clearly there are issues with the OS if we can't get a simple USB hard drive to work.

Regards

Jimmy
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Anonymous

2012-10-30T16:59:34+00:00

I'm having the same issue with a single 750 Gig Touro drive. Seems to have been a problem even with the early releases of Win 8, but I have yet to find a solution.

I locked windows Explorer up twice trying to trouble shoot the problem.

sincerely,

Jim
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Anonymous

2012-10-31T10:13:38+00:00

What is interesting is that Microsoft are pushing business customer to upgrade to new operating system and not to be waiting until service pack 1 is available.

Why the h3ll would someone recommend upgrading to a new OS when they can't get a simple USB hard drive to be recognised correctly. I have recommended to my customer base NOT to upgrade yet.

Considering the fact that this issue was raised with both MS and Hitachi during Windows 8 preview, I would have expected it to be resolved by the time is was released to the general public.

So we upgrade to a new OS and have to replace have the hardware we own, no thanks.
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