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01/11/2006 06:53:33 AM · #1 |
I now am the proud owner of two external hard drives. One a 75 gig that I've had for about a year and a half and a 250 gig one that I got for Christmas.
The 75 gig one has served me well, being just a basic Western Digital with not even a power switch.
My brand new 250 gig Western Digital is a "smart one" (Dual-option with a safe shutdown buttion, manual backup button, and automatic backup button) but it is being a bit of a pain. I won't go into some of the other things that are frustrating me with it, but the main problem is that after sending a certain amount of data (around 2.5 to 3 gigs) to another drive it comes up with an error saying that it could not copy a file because there was an error.
However, if I turn it off (which is an adventure in itself) and then back on, it will then allow me to copy that file and more up until the same amount.
Originally the drive was formated as FAT32, but I emptied the contents and formated it to NTFS, thinking that that was the cause of the problem.
No such luck. Just had the same error a minute ago.
What's going on? Is there some way I can stop it? I'm trying to copy my music folders and some images back to my other external drive (I just formatted it to NTFS from FAT32 tonight) and it'll be a nightmare if I have to stop and start the large one every 2.5 gigs, considering that my music folder alone is over 16 gigs.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Message edited by author 2006-01-11 07:30:01.
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01/11/2006 08:12:26 AM · #2 |
| does it only hang up on the one file or folder??? |
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01/11/2006 08:53:27 AM · #3 |
Since it's a new external drive, I suppose it's USB2. Does your PC have a USB2 port, or only USB1? I've used both and find USB1 can be a bit wonky on big copies. You might want to get a USB2 PCI card for your PC if it doesn't have it.
I still don't like external drives very much, but I've only ever bought the cheap enclosures & put the drives in myself.
I still prefer sending files to another PC via network.
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01/11/2006 09:01:43 AM · #4 |
what strikeslip said. I just bought the WD 160gig and originally had it connected via a USB hub. Had similar problems, bought a USB2 PCI card and now I do not get the error messages but it is still a pain to shutdown and the button manager uses a good amount of system resources when its on. I have gotten into the following habit, leave off until I need to backup files. Shutdown computer when finished copying files.
Good luck hope this helps. |
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01/11/2006 09:13:46 AM · #5 |
This won't be helpful to the OP's problem at atll, though it looks like the solution is apparent, so just a few words about interfaces. The USB interface is simply not the best way to go for devices with high data transfer requirements (rates and/or amounts). For that, FireWire is by far the best choice, it takes up less system resources and effeciently uses more of it's design bandwidth than USB 2.0. FireWire external drives are readily available and only marginallly more expensive than USB. Heck, you really do want a FireWire card reader anyway if you have faster CF cards.
Though many PCs don't directly support FireWire, some video cards come with it built in, and it's not expensive to add it as a standalone card.
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01/11/2006 09:24:39 AM · #6 |
| I've recently bought larger drives from Maxstor and Seagate -- both came with both Firewire and USB 2 connectivity. I don't use those "one-touch" backup utilities -- I just transfer things via the OS (Mac or Windows) ... |
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01/11/2006 05:21:09 PM · #7 |
notonline: It is not just one file that causes the hang up, because as I said, after I shut it off and turn it back on, it will transfer that file, but then gets stuck on a different one.
Strikeslip: Both it and my computer are USB2 as is the hub that I have everything connected through (my laptop only has 2 USB ports and my mouse requires one).
I was able to transfer this exact folder from my smaller 75 gig drive to the large one with no problem. It's taking files OFF of the large one and putting them back onto the 75 gig that is the problem.
kirbic: Firewire...I honestly have no idea if either hd has firewire, but I do know that they didn't come with the cords for it.
GeneralE: I haven't used the one touch back-ups or anything and don't plan to, more than I need.
zapgrafx: The button manager is a pain. I originally uninstalled it thinking that I could remove the drive via the device manager like the documentation said, but it doesn't appear there, so I had to re-install the button manager. Which honestly does no good other than tell me that it's not ready to remove even though I've shut down EVERYTHING that was using the drive.
I always leave my externals off when I'm not using them, because it's just easier that way.
Message edited by author 2006-01-11 17:21:39.
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01/11/2006 05:29:49 PM · #8 |
Not sure if it's the same problem, but I had my external plugged into a hub that didn't have an external power source and it would hang up. Since give the drive it's own usb port(non-hubbed) directly linked to the computer it has not happened.
I still need get one of those external powered hubs.
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01/11/2006 05:43:16 PM · #9 |
Originally posted by faidoi:
Not sure if it's the same problem, but I had my external plugged into a hub that didn't have an external power source and it would hang up. Since give the drive it's own usb port(non-hubbed) directly linked to the computer it has not happened. |
My hub is powered, I only got it within the past 3 months.
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