External USB drive problem - help please.

[ebbie]

Increase your virtual memory for one. This will give you more speed while multitasking. Secondly, work to the capacity of your machine. Pushing it too hard unnecessarily will lead to failures and errors. Copy and paste in blocks then delete once you have verified the integrity of the transferred data. That way you have a safety net and a margin for error.
Remember that using additional software adds to the load on your system. It may seem like it runs more smoothly but that's only because the software is throttling the bulk transfer. The load is still there. If you have 10 files amounting to 20gb that you want to move then cutting and pasting that amount of data is going to pack out your buffers. Move the files one at a time and copy and paste rather than cut. That way you won't lose the original file in case of failure and you aren't kicking the crap out of your laptop. The files will still be moved and if you are doing other things it won't annoy you in any way to do it in sections. Just remember that unless you have a brand spanking new state of the art laptop you are not going to be able to move huge amounts of media while playing Assassins Creed.

What you have just hinted at, a loss of all data on the external drive, leads me to believe that the drive is fully corrupt because of catastrophic failure in your file management software, a hardware failure, or a virus. Run scans on your system for infection just to be safe. If you have no additional PC at home take the external drive into a net cafe and plug it into their computer. External drives should be universally recognised and installed now with no problem. Use the desktop machine to check the drive, reading from and writing to it. Only do this if you have no intention of trying to retrieve the software on it.

If you do want to try but are being stumped by the USB issue then your only option is to take the drive case apart, remove the hard drive and connect it to the computer as an internal drive. It's a bit of fuss and work but it's the surest way.

Lastly FDisk is your last resort. It will format everything and makes the data on the drive practically irretrievable by a non professional. However, if the file system is pooched formatting is your only option forward.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by thecynic

ebbie: I hadn't thought about undeleting the transferred files on the laptop. Thanks for the tip. If I can recover these it will be some consolation, but it would be nice to recover the mass of data that's on the external drive.

I used to just cut and paste using explorer, but as I was moving large amounts of data , I found that if I tried to do anything else on the laptop whilst the moving was going on, windows didn't prioritise things very well, and EVERYTHING would slow don't. With a filemanager I found the file moving would be shifted to background if I was doing other stuff on the laptop and foreground if the laptop was idle. This was the only reason. I'll prolly think better of it in future.

Thanks again.

Blue Crush: scandisk command isn't available. Thanks for your thought on FDISK only being useful if my drive was FAT32. If I can find a suitable desktop pc, I'll check to see if the life-saving Hiren BootCD has any helpful tools.

[PatrynXX]

Originally Posted by thecynic

ebbie: I hadn't thought about undeleting the transferred files on the laptop. Thanks for the tip. If I can recover these it will be some consolation, but it would be nice to recover the mass of data that's on the external drive.

I used to just cut and paste using explorer, but as I was moving large amounts of data , I found that if I tried to do anything else on the laptop whilst the moving was going on, windows didn't prioritise things very well, and EVERYTHING would slow don't. With a filemanager I found the file moving would be shifted to background if I was doing other stuff on the laptop and foreground if the laptop was idle. This was the only reason. I'll prolly think better of it in future.

Thanks again.

Blue Crush: scandisk command isn't available. Thanks for your thought on FDISK only being useful if my drive was FAT32. If I can find a suitable desktop pc, I'll check to see if the life-saving Hiren BootCD has any helpful tools.

thanks to this site, I've got plenty to worry about . Got the secondary internal drive (Dell's docking bay) , The original External I built with a Seagate 300gb with a fan. (and all plugged in at the same time) and 2 Azio Docking stations for Sata drives. ebay offers ones that do both interfaces IDE and Sata. both 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch But as IDE is kinda a dying interface I'm not sure what the point is. Unless I shoved my old old old Syquest Syjet drive in it. (old as in computer years. bought it in 1997-1998. Company really crashed about a year or two later)

So at the same time I've got 2 azio's running. But 2 other drives sitting full. and now I've got a refurbed 750 gb coming. sure as sh** hope they don''t have bad sectors. Will swear off Seagate for a long time.

[ebbie]

The point of these docking bays is to make your old drives backwards compatable. You have IDE drives with data on but you don't want to lose the data. So you salvage the drives and plug them in when you want the data on them. Considering how cheap they are once would suggest they are a sound investment, if only for convenience sake.

Originally Posted by PatrynXX

thanks to this site, I've got plenty to worry about . Got the secondary internal drive (Dell's docking bay) , The original External I built with a Seagate 300gb with a fan. (and all plugged in at the same time) and 2 Azio Docking stations for Sata drives. ebay offers ones that do both interfaces IDE and Sata. both 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch But as IDE is kinda a dying interface I'm not sure what the point is. Unless I shoved my old old old Syquest Syjet drive in it. (old as in computer years. bought it in 1997-1998. Company really crashed about a year or two later)

So at the same time I've got 2 azio's running. But 2 other drives sitting full. and now I've got a refurbed 750 gb coming. sure as sh** hope they don''t have bad sectors. Will swear off Seagate for a long time.

[thecynic]

Blue Crush: Windows gui scandisk was one of the first things I tried on the occasion the drive showed up. It literally did nothing. It finished as soon as I clicked "start".

PatrynXX: Thanks for the imparting of wisdom ... and the Stellar Phoenix tip. I will indeed remember this event. Although the drive sometimes shows up on "my computer", it NEVER shows up on the Computer Management/Disk Management screen.

ebbie: Again, there is much wisdom in your practices and suggestions. It may be bit more of a fag, but data-integrity is, at the end of the day, paramount, and I will, no doubt, be changing the way I do stuff. Thanks to your undeleting tip I recovered 3 of the nine "transferred" files.

I emailed the makers of testdisk with the created log file to see if they could shed any light. I thought I should copy the reply here in case it helps anyone with future problems:

"It looks like there is a hardware problem, the disk capacity is wrong
and no disk model is reported. Check the USB cable and if it doesn't
work, connect the HD directly by SATA or PATA."

So it appears it may be a clapped-out drive. If it turns out that it is the drive gone belly-up, I have an idea. Maybe you guys can tell me if I'm being stupid.
Like I have said I have two identical drives. Would it make sense to take the circuit-board from the working drive and place it into the dead drive to see if I that gets it working, just to recover the data?

In the meantime I am gonna look for a PATA pc.

Thanks ev1.

[Blue Crush]

Sorry I don't have more ideas, so good luck!

About the circuit board, do it at your own risk, because you could damage the working disc if you don't have careful

[PatrynXX]

Originally Posted by ebbie

The point of these docking bays is to make your old drives backwards compatable. You have IDE drives with data on but you don't want to lose the data. So you salvage the drives and plug them in when you want the data on them. Considering how cheap they are once would suggest they are a sound investment, if only for convenience sake.

Ironically the IDE's on geeks are more expensive per gb than sata. cheaper just to eventually switch formats. need to run stellar phoenix on my other 2 syjet cartridges. if I ever find them because I gave up long before I ran into that program. Got 2 to work. Enuf to get the stuff off them.

[ebbie]

Work on identifying the fault by process of elimination. You haven't told me yet whether the external drive is powered through a forked USB cable Where one terminal connects to the drive and two - one for power and one for data - connects to the laptop - or if it is powered by an adapter. USB power may mean that the laptop cannot feed enough juice to the drive so it cuts out. Power failure is the most common fault.

Secondly, try different USB terminals on your laptop. Most people favour one socket even if they have several and it can break on the solder joint and form and intermittent connection.

Thirdly take the drive case apart and connect the disk to your pc. It may be a case circuitry failure in which case it will register and work fine as an internal drive. while you are doing this you will be able to hear the dive spinning up. If it is ticking or whirring up and down a few times a minute then it's a mechanical failure. If the mechanism is sound but it is still not registering then it is probably a circuit board failure.

ONLY THEN should you try to swap out the circuit boards BUT BEFORE YOU DO make sure you have all the data on the duplicate drive backed up. That procedure can work [can work, not does work it's hit and miss] but it's risky and you may lose both drives.

BEst of luck

Originally Posted by thecynic

Blue Crush: Windows gui scandisk was one of the first things I tried on the occasion the drive showed up. It literally did nothing. It finished as soon as I clicked "start".

PatrynXX: Thanks for the imparting of wisdom ... and the Stellar Phoenix tip. I will indeed remember this event. Although the drive sometimes shows up on "my computer", it NEVER shows up on the Computer Management/Disk Management screen.

ebbie: Again, there is much wisdom in your practices and suggestions. It may be bit more of a fag, but data-integrity is, at the end of the day, paramount, and I will, no doubt, be changing the way I do stuff. Thanks to your undeleting tip I recovered 3 of the nine "transferred" files.

I emailed the makers of testdisk with the created log file to see if they could shed any light. I thought I should copy the reply here in case it helps anyone with future problems:

"It looks like there is a hardware problem, the disk capacity is wrong
and no disk model is reported. Check the USB cable and if it doesn't
work, connect the HD directly by SATA or PATA."

So it appears it may be a clapped-out drive. If it turns out that it is the drive gone belly-up, I have an idea. Maybe you guys can tell me if I'm being stupid.
Like I have said I have two identical drives. Would it make sense to take the circuit-board from the working drive and place it into the dead drive to see if I that gets it working, just to recover the data?

In the meantime I am gonna look for a PATA pc.

Thanks ev1.

[thecynic]

ebbie: I have tried all manner of permutations with drives, casings and cables. Through these I have ascertained that it is definitely the drive that is at fault. What I now have to determine is whether it's logical or mechanical failure.

Since my last post I have tried Stellar Phoenix as PatrynXX suggested. No joy. Like everything else so far, it simply doesn't "see" anything more than the 512 Bytes the drive is reporting as its size.

I am most likely heading towards swapping out the circuits, but I will be sure, as you said, to backup all the data on the good drive.

Thanks again to everyone for their input.

[PatrynXX]

Originally Posted by thecynic

ebbie: I have tried all manner of permutations with drives, casings and cables. Through these I have ascertained that it is definitely the drive that is at fault. What I now have to determine is whether it's logical or mechanical failure.

Since my last post I have tried Stellar Phoenix as PatrynXX suggested. No joy. Like everything else so far, it simply doesn't "see" anything more than the 512 Bytes the drive is reporting as its size.

I am most likely heading towards swapping out the circuits, but I will be sure, as you said, to backup all the data on the good drive.

Thanks again to everyone for their input.

I've run Stellar over one drive. It actually sees the drive but I can't get data off it. only finds the drive on xp. won't run in vista. figure thats a dead 2.5 inch drive..

[Slut-Hunter]

@thecynic

i got 4 External Drives, all the same Expensive Alu Cases (40Euro) from MaPower.
The oldest is from 2005, and never got Problems.

Your not the First that i see, that got Problems, after using this stupid "Save Unplug" Function from the Windows Tray.

I just Switch the Power Off, if every File Operation is done and like i say, i never got Problems with my external Drives.

So dont use that Winfuck Function.

Sometime, when i Downripp 1080p WMV Crap, after 2-3 Days
of Ripping without Pause, my CPU is so hot that my Board Shut Down the System, to prevent damage.

Sometime my External Drives are on @ this Moment (bud no File Operations or Files in use) and the Connection to the System break down and there are still no Problems with the Drives!

That´s the Proof that this "Safe unplug" Function is useless.

Dont forget, when you use that ""Safe Unplug"" Shit Function, Windows
do all kind of Shit, and when something goes wrong, you got a Problem !

If you use NTFS, disable the "NTFS File Indexing"

It just slowdown the Filesystem, and the Harddrive is more in use, even when you do nothing !

Who say that the stupid File Indexing is stoped when you use the "Safe Unplug" Function ? Dont forget, Windows is from Microsoft, some People there now there Work, other not!