Flakey External Hdd Crap...

[Msterbeau]

Running WinXP SP2. (Not for long )

System:

Motherboard : Intel D865PERL

Processor : Intel Pentuim P4 3.0 GHZ

Graphics Card : PNY Nvidia GeForce 6800GT

2GB PC2700/3200 DDR333/400 Memory

1 MAXTOR ATA/EIDE 20GB 7200RPM Hardrive

1 HITACHI 7K250 ATA/100 200GB 7200RPM Hardrive

Sony DRU-810A Dual Layer DVD Burner

SAMSUNG SD-616F DVD-ROM Drive

The external drive is a 300GB Seagate that I use for backup and is hooked up through USB 2.0. I believe it is formatted NTFS. I only turn it on when I do a backup. It has only rarely worked without incident. (Write failure error message at which point I can't access the drive and must restart.) My limited investigations in the past have left me feeling that this is a problem inherent to WinXP and external drives. I find this hard to believe. Mark, Ben, Al.... any suggestions on how to reliably use the drive? Is there a piece of hardware I'm using that might be the flakey device? I want to copy all the files on it to DVD's but I can't get the thing to stay online more then 5 minutes... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!

[Head Wreck]

is it still under waranty as i cant see a reason why it should apear and then dissapear sporadically.

also it is allways good practice to use the remove hardware safely wizzard when disconnecting the drive.

[Msterbeau]

is it still under waranty as i cant see a reason why it should apear and then dissapear sporadically.

also it is allways good practice to use the remove hardware safely wizzard when disconnecting the drive.

It's out of warrenty. I've read about others with the exact same problem using different hardware. I always use the remove safely wizard thingy.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Have any other USB problems? Do you have USB 2.0 drivers installed? Willing to let me take over your computer from afar?

[Msterbeau]

Have any other USB problems? Do you have USB 2.0 drivers installed? Willing to let me take over your computer from afar?

No other USB hassles... I have to reinsert my Compact flash card reader every time I change the card rather then just changing the card itself. Is that the way it's supposed to work or a bug in the system? Using Activesync for connecting my mobile phone is not all that reliable either, but my work PC is equally flaky so that's not something inherent in my system.

Do you have to have specific USB 2.0 drivers? I thought that was part of the system... certainly on SP2 it is, right?

I don't mind if you take a snoop around on it. I won't be home until later. Do I need a piece of software for doing remote entry?

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Nope, no extra software needed.. well.. as long as you have MSN messanger installed you can send me a request for remote help.

Anyway... do you use any instant messanger? there are a few things I can have you look at...

SP2 gives full USB2.0 support to XP but... if your install media does not include USB 2.0 drivers.. such as an original copy or one that includes SP1 then even after installing SP2 you sometimes have to do something to get USB2.0 fully functional.

[Msterbeau]

Nope, no extra software needed.. well.. as long as you have MSN messanger installed you can send me a request for remote help.

Anyway... do you use any instant messanger? there are a few things I can have you look at...

SP2 gives full USB2.0 support to XP but... if your install media does not include USB 2.0 drivers.. such as an original copy or one that includes SP1 then even after installing SP2 you sometimes have to do something to get USB2.0 fully functional.

Hmmm... When I installed SP2 this summer I slipstreamed it with my SP1 disk files. PM me your messenger screen name. I was going to go home for lunch anyways... I'll hit ya up shortly.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Hey.. I did some research.. you may need to update the Intel motherbaord drivers... I found a few artcles about problems with the Sound, Lan and USB drivers that come on the cd for that board...

go here.. download that and install it...

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/scripts-df...50&lang=eng