Sometimes, the native Microsoft driver fails entirely. Here are two robust alternatives:

Older versions of Windows XP (pre-SP1) could not recognize drives larger than 137GB due to 28-bit LBA limitations. While SP3 supports 48-bit LBA (up to 2TB), some very cheap USB controllers present themselves in a way that confuses XP’s disk driver.

Go to Start > Run > type winver . You need (Build 2600.xpsp_sp3...). If you have SP2 or lower, install SP3 immediately. Without SP3, stop here—modern USB drives will never work reliably.