massplanck, what sort of hd enclosure did you buy? you might need to install proprietry drivers to get windows to recognize your hd. Did the enclosure come with software? If not try going to the manufactureres home site and find the model of your enclosure.

Buying a hub won't help you either. If you only have USB 1.0 ports on your laptop, plugging a hub into it won't make it USB 2.0. Theres no work around there, unless you can buy a pcmcia usb 2.0 card (not sure if they exist though, just an idea)

Hope this helps.