i am currently looking for a software that does a real particular thing. i had a friend that let me use a pc tools mag disc at one time that had a large amount of programs but there is one in particular that i am looking for at this point in time. the program that i am looking for gives a detail account of every usb device ever connected to the computer that you are currently using. if anyone could maybe tell me what the name of the program was called it would be most apreciated. the reason is i have a external hard drive i had alot of information on and i have never just had all my information come up gone from using it ever. like it isnt even formatted anymore and its a seagate external 250gb hard drive. i personally think someone broke into my house and stole or switched it with a different hard drive. cause after having it for 5 years in which i have always used it the same way all the time and never once wiped it at all and still had tons of space on it it meant alot to me anyways thanx in advance and i appreciate the help. i think it would have been maybe pc tools mag 44 or something like that so it definitely was a while ago. please and thank you for telling me what the name of it is or was. and it probably is some free software that im looking for if not thats ok. i will find someone that has it.
acejames1 0 Junior Poster
rubberman 1,355 Nearly a Posting Virtuoso Featured Poster
I don't see how this could be possible unless you install some bit of software that registers every USB device connected. AFAIK, Windows does not do this by default. IE, if you installed such software, it could tell you about any USB device attached since it was installed, but it could not tell you about anything connected before that.
AcmeUK 0 Newbie Poster
Try searching Google with the terms 'USB Audit'! I did and found 'DeviceLock PnP Auditor' a free utility. On running it I got a report of all the USB devices I have used!
rubberman : If you think about it, when you plug in a usb device the system knows if it has seen it before and loads the required driver. If not it takes you through the new device routine. Hence there must be some sort of internal database listing devices used.
caperjack 875 I hate 20 Questions Team Colleague
hard drives fail , .and it sounds like you may have bit the dust .
did you try plugging it into another computer to see how it acts
AcmeUK 0 Newbie Poster
If it is your hard drive failing, try lying the unit on it's side. This will, sometimes, give temporary access to the drive and allow access to critical data. It is an old 'techies' trick that has saved my data on a couple of occasions.
caperjack 875 I hate 20 Questions Team Colleague
Try searching Google with the terms 'USB Audit'! I did and found 'DeviceLock PnP Auditor' a free utility. On running it I got a report of all the USB devices I have used!
i tried it and it said found no network ,never detected any usb device i used ,i musthave missed something
acejames1 0 Junior Poster
device lock is not the program i was looking for. to know what i am talking about a lil more in depth it came in a sleeve that came with the pc magazine tools magazine meaning you would have had the magazine to have the program i could be off a lil bit on what issue it was. but i know that it went way more in depth than that the program device lock plug and play and as many of you guys that call yourselves techies should have this magazine geesh it was like 5-6 years ago that i found out about this program.
krushev_kun 0 Newbie Poster
Have you tried connecting your drive to a Linux or Unix machine and reading it from there? I had the same problem recently with my drive. The drive might not be dead but the filesystem might and is probably corrupt. You can use a live CD preferably something recent to check if you can still read the drive.
gerbil 216 Industrious Poster
You really don't need software to do this, but it does make the job easier. You'd have to be going pretty forensic to bother....
All the connected devices' (now and ever) information is stored in registry under a few keys... types, classes, descriptions, serials, colour of your eyes... Places to start are HKLM\mounted devices and Currentcontrolset\enum.
So if you ever use a removable drive to rip info offa your place of employment you better make sure to ditch the drive.
Ace, if you still have the problem with lost info on that drive give me a tickle (a PM) cos I just may not check back here otherwise... :) I like doin stuff to find stuff.
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