** UPDATE ** My Windows 7 & DMS Cradle Observations

[VorTechS]

So, yesterday I was given an upgrade to Windows 7 after my XP machine decided to BSOD daily, and I currently have a USB 2.0 cradle attached to it - and apparently working.

My observations so far are that:

• On installation, or booting you must not have the DMS present in the cradle when the PC is starting up and you do not have the drivers installed.  (It seems there's something odd about the Windows 7 Boot Sequence that's reading and not liking the DMS drive)

• After installing the drivers / on inserting the DMS the drive is not immediately made available.  But the PHTSYS and PHTDTA do eventually become available!
  (Unfortunately right now I have no idea about what the detection timeframe is are - but will be doing a little experimentation over the next few days to establihs both that and to see how consistent the DMS detection is.)

I'll update this thread as I find anything new.....

[Terry_Kennedy]

After installing the drivers / on inserting the DMS the drive is not immediately made available.  But the PHTSYS and PHTDTA do eventually become available!

It might depend on the capacity of the drive. My genuine PhatNoise 60GB DMS (Fujitsu MHT2060AT) is detected right away. A DMS with a 250GB Western Digital WD2500BEVE sits for around 10-15 minutes and then Windows pops up a complaint saying that device driver software failed to install. This is on the x64 version - I never tried 32-bit Windows 7.

The PhatNoise USB 2 cradle uses a controller chip that has external firmware stored in a flash chip. That firmware was either written or modified by PhatNoise for the cradle, and doesn't like something in newer Windows releases. What you're experiencing sounds a lot like what happens to Mac users as well.

That's why my upcoming solution uses a very popular all-in-one IDE / USB bridge - it is popular enough that Microsoft needs to test for compatibility with it when releasing Windows.

[VorTechS]

It might depend on the capacity of the drive. My genuine PhatNoise 60GB DMS (Fujitsu MHT2060AT) is detected right away. A DMS with a 250GB Western Digital WD2500BEVE sits for around 10-15 minutes and then Windows pops up a complaint saying that device driver software failed to install. This is on the x64 version - I never tried 32-bit Windows 7.

The PhatNoise USB 2 cradle uses a controller chip that has external firmware stored in a flash chip. That firmware was either written or modified by PhatNoise for the cradle, and doesn't like something in newer Windows releases. What you're experiencing sounds a lot like what happens to Mac users as well.

That's why my upcoming solution uses a very popular all-in-one IDE / USB bridge - it is popular enough that Microsoft needs to test for compatibility with it when releasing Windows.

The drive size thing is a good thing to know.  I'm running x64, with a WD Scorpio 250GB - but there were no issues installing the drivers.

[VorTechS]

I've had a few days where on both Vista and Windows 7  the cradle has been recognised ... but not functioning and today I decided to get my head around what's going on.

The problem appears to be Windows installing a device driver for it.  

If you go to 'Device Manager' and select 'Universal Serial Bus Controllers' you'll find a device with a warning icon next to it.  
If you right-click the device and 'Uninstall driver', then when complete all of a sudden Windows can see the disk properly!

I'll try and get it checked out on Vista to see if the same applies!

[phasolutions.com]

^^^^need to check this out......I could never get Vista or 7 to work EVER!