Can a usb mass storage mp3 player and usb harddrive coexist in vista?

[yoda313]

Ok I have Vista Premium on my Hp pc. I have my Dell mp3 player plugged into my front usb port. It shows that its docked and I can search the directories no problem. However i also have a usb harddrive that I Have a lot of my music on. I would like to be able to transfer them on the same computer over to the dell mp3 player.

Is that too much for usb bandwidth?

This is not critical as all my music on my emachine so I can simply pop my dell in over there and copy that way. I was just wondering if this was possible.

I know the usb harddrive works a ok when its all I have plugged in. And likewise my dell mp3 player works a ok on its own. It seems they don't like it when both are plugged in at the same time.

Now I don't believe this dell mp3 player is anywhere new enough to have usb host ability. If it did I could simply hook the mp3 player up to the usb harddrive and copy from there.

Like I said this is not critical. And yes I can simpy copy from the usb harddrive to the vista pc and then to the dell mp3 player. However I'd like to keep my media files on my external drive and free up my vista harddrive.

Any suggestions are welcome. **** Note - this is a western digital sealed enclosure and is usb only - it is not a dual firewire connectable device nor do I have a firewire port on my pc*******

[Supreme2k]

I have an HP Pavilion, and I have no problem copying usb-to-usb (external drive to portable mp3).

The only suggestion that I could make is to get a powered usb hub. Laptops are notorious for having under-powered usb ports (especially the sub $1k laptops).

[yoda313]

Thanks s2k.

You know I'm wondering if I'm running into driver problems. I'm having some difficulty getting it working without the mp3 player connected. I'll probably try uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers.

I'm glad to hear it's possible s2k. Also fyi it's a desktop I'm using so it wouldn't be that kind of issue.

And also did end up just going to my emachine pc and retransffering that way.

[Supreme2k]

I could have sworn I saw "laptop" in there somewhere

In that case, test out the usb-to-usb on the eMachine to see if you have the same issue. It may be a Vista driver issue. Was it an upgrade from XP to Vista? Did you install the drivers from a cd, or did Vista recognize both devices?

I have a Creative Labs mp3 player that "mostly" worked when Iinstalled the XP drivers on Vista (sometimes disconnected during transfers). Luckily, CL came out with ista drivers shortly after, and it works perfectly now.