ext. HD USB connection failure

[arej00dazed]

specs:
dell 2.8ghz w/XP pro SP3
1 TB WD ext. HD (mybook home)

originally installed this drive via firewire. works fine, but not happy with the transfer rate (average 38.8mb/s). So i wanted to try it via USB. powered down the drive, removed the FW cable, powered the drive back up (dunno if its hot swappable, didnt want to chance it) and plugged in the USB cable. windows went thru the typ new hardware installation, but it said it failed. so now the computer doesnt see the drive at all when using USB as far as I can tell. works fine via FW. any solutions? anyway to speed up the transfer rate with FW?

FYI, I tried the drive on my laptop, both FW and USB works fine. tried different USB cables and ports, no success.

edit: And I've already contacted WD, basically they cant do anything........however I did get a free upgrade from a 750gb to a 1tb drive!

[arej00dazed]

bump

[Blade285]

http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm
firewire is faster than usb?

[arej00dazed]

dunno, but I know on my laptop, USB is twice as fast as FW......but Im also using a FW PCMIA card, if that matters

[Blade285]

USB1.1 – This 1st generation Universal Serial Bus connection is found on all PC’s which are Pentium II or
faster. Maximum throughput on this port is 11Mbits (1.5MB) per second.
USB2.0 – This 2nd generation Universal Serial Bus connection is found on most new PC’s, but there was no
clear jump like when USB1.1 hit the market. Maximum throughput on this port is 480Mbits (60 MB) per
second.
Firewire 400 – This 1st generation Firewire connection is found on about 30% of PC’s by default.
Maximum throughput on this port is 400Mbits (50MB) per second.
Firewire 800 – This 2nd generation Firewire connection is currently found on very few PC’s by default.
Maximum throughput on this port is 800Mbits (100MB) per second.
Serial-ATA (SATA) – This is a newer technology which is not an external port by default. New hard drives
are connected internally by this connection but external connections are, for now, only available by request.
Maximum throughput on this port is 1200Mbits (150MB) per second.


from http://www.powerlandcomputers.com/PDF%20Brochures/firewire-usb.pdf

i reckon you have firewire 400, so the difference is about 10mb/s. i personally wouldn't put the effort into trying to get it sorted (because i have no idea how) and it's good they sent you a 1tb version.
sorry but that's all the help i can give

[arej00dazed]

Mbits, ahh thats where I was going wrong. every place I looked says mb