Surface doesn't recognize hard drive

[willybraatlund]

So I just bought my new surface, and I wanted to transfer some movies over. But my surface doesn't recognize it. It is a 1TB hard drive from Verbatrim.

 

[dakranii]

Doesn't recognize my western digital either. Not sure how I'll get my data off of it at this point.

 

[willybraatlund]

It wouldnt have been I problem if you could connect the surface to a pc, but as far as I know, there is no way to do that. I tried downloading from my homegroup, but It takes way too long.

 

[stephen_az]

So I just bought my new surface, and I wanted to transfer some movies over. But my surface doesn't recognize it. It is a 1TB hard drive from Verbatrim.

Did you try tech support on either end? I have yet to find a hard drive or flash drive my Surface RT will not recognize. That includes Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, and Toshiba hard drives (some packaged as external drives and some created by dropping a drive in an enclosure). It even recognizes an external HP DVD read/write drive. If you didn't do so, you might also try plugging the tablet into the power supply since some drives may exceed the power available through the USB port. An old 500GB Toshiba pocket drive I had would not power up via one of the ports in my former HP laptop because the port was low power and the drive was a power hog. The last thing I generally suggest with any Windows machine is to go to Computer Management (under admin tools) and make sure it is not something as simple as a drive letter conflict.

 

[petersun21]

if homegroup is too slow, another option is to use a thumb drive.

 

[jaimeastin]

Maybe the drive requires more power that the USB port is offereing... How old is the drive? A few years?

I haven't met a device the surface couldn't use (realistically).
Just for kicks, if you have a "Y" USB cable where one supplies extra power, use it and plug the power end to another computer or USB charger. See if the surface will recognize it then. If it does, do t blame the surface for not supplying enough power, buy a new had case. Easy swap and you are good to go

 

[jaimeastin]

BTW, you can use a USB to Ethernet cable to directly attach the surface to your network for faster transfers... But this is only good if your serving homegroup PC is wired too. If you are giving and receiving wirelessly, no wonder you are getting such slow transfer speeds.