Windows 8 - Hitachi Touro Pro

Anonymous
2012-10-29T18:44:53+00:00

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.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2013-02-23T13:31:13+00:00

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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  1. Anonymous
    2012-11-04T14:32:02+00:00

    After completing my upgrade to Windows 8, my Touro Mobile Pro 750 GB asked if I wanted to mount as GPT or MBR and would give me an I/O error now matter which option I chose. I connected using a USB 2.0 microUSB cable and connected to a 2.0 instead of 3.0 port. I was able to successfully transfer a few files. I tried again yesterday to use the drive, but file explorer would stop responding each time I clicked a file or folder. I thought my drive was going bad until I used it to copy some files from my mother's Windows 7 computer and it appears to still be working fine on Windows 7. I have a desktop and laptop that I already upgraded to Windows 8, but I have not been able to use the drive with either of my own computers.

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-11-03T21:56:30+00:00

    I have exactly the same problem with my Touro Desk Pro 3TB.

    If you wait a little bit till it is available in the explorer, you click on the drive one time, go up and click manage and wait. After few minutes, you'll be able to doubleclick the drive and see the root folders you created, but all are empty. But the problem isn't still solved.

    Oh and before I made the Windows-Updates, it worked fine for me.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-11-01T11:45:03+00:00

    I face the same issue with an Hitachi Desk Pro 3Tb, it just "disappears" on Windows 8 machines (and still shows up on Windows 7)

    I hope Microsoft solves it quickly, I need to get my drive back to back up some movies!!

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  4. 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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