Newbie here with a 64-bit compatibility issue
I bought a Viao FW with Vista 64 last week, after my very old, tired Dell crapped out (mechanically failed hard drive, it looks like). Sensing the end might be near after hearing grinding from the HD, I backed up my files to one Maxtor Onetouch 4 Mini and used another day to day (bought 3 when they were 50% off). I had enabled “drivepass” and password protected both of the used drives – always worked like a champ on the old notebook (XP).
I needed to get Maxtor Manager on my new Sony. Seagate’s website doesn’t provide the software, just a few drivers – nothing for 64-bit OS. They refer you to the software preloaded on the drives and require you to contact them with a SN on your drive before they’ll send you software (not sure why anyone would want the software if they didn’t have a Maxtor drive. Whatever..) I dug up the 3rd, unused onetouch and installed manager from it. The new drive was now recognized and manager seemed to work fine, except that Drivepass didn’t work (error: “this drive does not support security). When I connected the other two drives that were password protected, windows did not recognize anything. Maxtor manager recognized them as “unknown” and prompted me to format.
Seagate’s tech support was no help. They basically said there was no 64-bit compatible software and my only option was to “ask a friend if I could use their computer” to remove drivepass in order to access the files (a feature that appealed to me when I was deciding on what kind of ext hard-drive to purchase, and one I don’t think I should have to give up). I feel stupid asking someone if I can install software on their computer and connect externals – why? Cuz it doesn’t work on mine and almost made me erase 200+GB of important data. I’d be wary if it were asked of me.
Any alternative would be great, especially since I’d like to keep the drives password protected.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
I bought a Viao FW with Vista 64 last week, after my very old, tired Dell crapped out (mechanically failed hard drive, it looks like). Sensing the end might be near after hearing grinding from the HD, I backed up my files to one Maxtor Onetouch 4 Mini and used another day to day (bought 3 when they were 50% off). I had enabled “drivepass” and password protected both of the used drives – always worked like a champ on the old notebook (XP).
I needed to get Maxtor Manager on my new Sony. Seagate’s website doesn’t provide the software, just a few drivers – nothing for 64-bit OS. They refer you to the software preloaded on the drives and require you to contact them with a SN on your drive before they’ll send you software (not sure why anyone would want the software if they didn’t have a Maxtor drive. Whatever..) I dug up the 3rd, unused onetouch and installed manager from it. The new drive was now recognized and manager seemed to work fine, except that Drivepass didn’t work (error: “this drive does not support security). When I connected the other two drives that were password protected, windows did not recognize anything. Maxtor manager recognized them as “unknown” and prompted me to format.
Seagate’s tech support was no help. They basically said there was no 64-bit compatible software and my only option was to “ask a friend if I could use their computer” to remove drivepass in order to access the files (a feature that appealed to me when I was deciding on what kind of ext hard-drive to purchase, and one I don’t think I should have to give up). I feel stupid asking someone if I can install software on their computer and connect externals – why? Cuz it doesn’t work on mine and almost made me erase 200+GB of important data. I’d be wary if it were asked of me.
Any alternative would be great, especially since I’d like to keep the drives password protected.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
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