Re: External Drive Crashing ... AGAIN



"Bowmah" <Bowmah@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:C3D4B261-C411-4975-8B50-7B51302DBCA5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi Anna,

Thank you so much for your reply. Let me answer your questions first.

From your description it sounds like you've had the identical problem
with
this Seagate external HD with two different units. I assume these are USB
devices but I'm not clear whether these are sealed units from Seagate or
you're using your own external HD enclosure. If the latter...

Yes, I have purchased a Seagate Harddrive (then got another one after the
first one crashed) and enclosed it on my own using this:

http://www.vantec.com.tw/_en/01_product/03_detail_01overview.php?mainid=6&fid=49&sid=59&id=30

1. Do you have another HD to install in the enclosure to determine if the
problem is with the enclosure itself?

Unfortunately, I do no have another harddrive to test but the case could
definitely be one of the problems as the crashes happened to 2 separate
brand
new Seagates.

In any event, have you...
a. Plugged the device into a different USB port on your computer? Can you
test the port(s) with other USB devices?

No, I have used the USB sparingly and have used the firewire connector
most
of the time. The transfer rate has been much better with firewire as
compared
to USB. I will have to keep testing with USB and see if this problem
occurs.

b. If you've connected the device through a USB hub, have you tried
connecting it directly to a USB port on the computer?

It has been connected directly to either the USB or firewire port on my
notebook. (mostly firewire)

c. Tried a different USB cable?

I only have 1 firewire and USB cable. Would a cable cause a HDD crash?

d. Any difference if the device is disconnected at bootup and then
connected
following bootup or vice versa?

This is what I am thinking since last night. The last 2 crashes happened
because the drive was plugged in and powerd up and the notebook that it
was
plugged into was rebooted. I guess one would never keep an ipod or digital
camera plugged in during reboots. Maybe this is the problem?

e. If you remove the HD from the enclosure (assuming it's not a sealed
unit)
and install it as an internal secondary drive, can you access its
contents
without any problems that way?

I have plugged the hdd into a PC as a slave and it does not recognize teh
data. But after a reformat, the drive is healthy again.

f. With the EHD connected, is there anything showing (or not showing) in
Disk Management that may bear upon this problem?

Disk Management shows a 232 GB healthy (active) status. The only thing
that
is not showing is that it is NTFS. After a reformat and everything works,
it
shows NTFS.

g. Is there a power LED on the device that may give you some indication
of a
power problem (flickering or just going on and/or off).

Visually, the power indicator seem to be smooth and constant.

I am beginning to think (by memory) that this drives needs to be powered
down before the computer is shutdown / rebooted. At least with the
firewire
connection that I have been using. If this is true, it would be pretty
dangerous as it is easy to forget to unplug or power the EHD down before
every reboot. I will have to do more testing with the firewire vs USB
connection. Does anyone know if external cases require a power down before
the computer is shut down?

Guess paying a little extra to have firewire capabilities was not the way
to
go.

Once again, thanks Anna for your post! :)


Well you certainly seem to have covered all the bases in trying to diagnose
your problem, or should I say trying to resolve the problem.

From your latest description of the problem it certainly sounds like a
problem with the enclosure especially in view that the problem occurs with
both the USB & Firewire interfaces if I correctly understand you. I would
strongly suggest you contact Vantec for technical support or possibly a RMA
should the unit still be under warranty.

But just to answer your questions...
Connecting another USB device while the external HD is connected should have
no impact on the performance of that latter device. The external HD has an
auxiliary power supply so there's no problem in that area. We have found,
however, that on occasion the XP OS will not recognize the existence of a
USBEHD if it is connected at the time of bootup. If it's disconnected and
then reconnected after bootup, the EHD is then recognized. And to make
matters more puzzling we've also encountered the reverse situation, i.e.,
the system will recognize the USB device *only* if it has been connected at
bootup. Go figure.

Ordinarily the USBEHD need not be powered off/disconnected prior to shutdown
or a reboot. I've had only limited experience with the Firewire interface as
it affects external hard drives, but I can't recall running into any problem
here either.

Anyway, I think at this point your best bet is to contact Vantec and go on
from there.
Anna


.

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