Hello,

I have been using a laptop hard drive in a sabrent 2.5" external enclosure for a few months to move files around from one computer to another. The enclosure came with usb cord which has two usb plugs; one for data, one for power. I have always had trouble pulling enough power even with both jacks plugged in. It sometimes craps out when transfering files. In which case I just unplug, reattach and try again. But yesterday when this happened, I plugged the drive back in, the unit powered up but windows no longer recognizes the drive. I get a message "usb device not recognized." I have also tried the drive in a couple computers running windows 2000. I get a similar error on these machines "unknown usb device." The drive worked on these computers before as well.
The hard disk definately gets power as I can hear it click on and the data light blinks red. Is it dead? or is there something wrong with the enclosure?
Thanks

Try some new cables. If possible don't plug both cables into the shared usb connections. Like maybe one into a MB usb and one into a pci card usb. If you have a hookup for external power ( AC/DC adapter) use that for constant power.
On my unit the usb 1 port on the MB works great as a power supply, but I do have options to use a ps2 port for power or external power supply.
Sorry I couldn't have been more help.

I tried pluging the two cables into different usb cards/ports at the same time. I also get the same error when I plug just the data usb jack in (If the data jack can pull power, the unit doesn't need the power plug to operate).
I would try a new cable but they are only availble through Sabrent and I don't feel like buying a new cord if it's not going to help and I wouldn't be able to use it with any other devices.

.

got a powered USB hub to try it with?

According to their website, this symptom is caused by lack of power, which was my case too, I have the same unit. Now it works flawlessly.