OT: External HD USB problem

RexA wrote on 1/20/2004, 2:29 AM
There's been a lot of discussions about external firewire drives and some problems, but I don't remember seeing much about USB.

I recently got a WD1200JB (120 Gig) drive and put it in a no-name external box. It seems to work fine on my Sony notebook, but when I connected it to my desktop, its no go. The mobo is an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe that has 4 built-in USB2 ports. OS is Win 2000 Pro SP3. I have the latest BIOS update (1007) on the mobo. Bios setup is configured to allow USB1 and USB2.

When I connected it, the OS saw it and loaded all the drivers. The device manager seems happy with all the pieces. I can see the drive in explorer and can see files (I actually haven't tried to read much yet). I tried to copy some files onto this drive and I it dies very quickly. I get lots of messages about dealyed write failures and the OS thinks I disconnected the USB device. The drive shows a solid activity light until I unplug and re-plug the USB cable.

As I said, the same drive-box-cable seems to work fine connected to my Sony notebook with XP.

Ideas, anyone?

Comments

epirb wrote on 1/20/2004, 4:48 AM
no ideas but I am having the same trouble with an IO Magic2.0 enclosure. or at least a a usb problem. I have an older(1.8ghz Dell) that has 1.0 ports installed a 2.0 card but the external h/d will not work in the 2.0 card. works in a 1.0 port at the snails pace 1.0
no help from IO Magic, nor Belkin the card manufacture. I am taking the drive to work to try it on a newer machine today, and maybe I'll try a diferent pci card.
this forum gave me some ideas to try(probably the best advice) but unfortunatly the problem is still there.
The toughest part Ive found is the compatibilty and of course the cust support.
1 hour hold , pay call and then the response" it's not our problem" from both parties.
farss wrote on 1/20/2004, 4:56 AM
This is only a suspicion, we're having the same trouble with a 80GB packetbook drive. Maybe the things not getting enough power, try running it from its own power supply.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 1/20/2004, 7:04 AM
Check the poer the USB port is supplying to the drive. Goto Control Panel- Syystem- Device- Hardware- then a USB controller. It will say what's hooked up and how much power. I have a USB1.1/2 & Firewire drive and i've used it on USB and firewire. I didn't have any problems. However, I only have a mouse hooked up along with it I kept it hookedup long enough to benchmark xfer speeds with USB 1.1, 2, and firewire.
RexA wrote on 1/20/2004, 12:54 PM
I have been using the drive with its own external power supply. I never even tried it without that.

Its just a hunch, but I kinda suspect something to do with buffering. The drive has an 8 M buffer. Earlier this year I got a similar drive for inside this machine. I had to upgrade the PC Bios to get it to work right. I'm thinking there maybe could be a similar issue through USB. As far as I can tell I have the latest and greatest Bios rev now.

On the other hand, I doubt I have ever had a USB2 device connected at all before this.
DGrob wrote on 1/20/2004, 1:50 PM
Just my 2 cents, gotta 200GB Maxtor on external power and USB2. No problems capturing to, editing with, rendering avis to, rendering DVDA temps to, or burning dvds from. Precision M60, 1.7 with a gig of ram and XP Pro "untweaked." DGrob
Flack wrote on 1/20/2004, 3:20 PM
Make sure you have the latest Atapi drivers installed as well... this can cause problems on large external drives...


Flack