External HardDrive problems

[Toxin]

I bought myself a Fujitsu 80Gig laptop HDD and an enclosure for it ( this one but with MECER branded on it: http://tradeshow.globalsources.com/...03/2008800006879/1000912000/ProductDetail.htm )

The PC picks it up and I had no problems till last night when I started using it fully. I was copying about 21Gigs worth of data to it and three times it bombed on me. Windows says that the device I was copying to doesn't exist or something and one of those balloons pops up on the bottom right of my taskbar with a long message telling me the device shut down and that any data I was copying could be corrupted.

If I plug the drive out, wait a while and plug it back in, everything's fine again.

All the USB cables are plugged in correctly.

Possible problems that I can think of:

1) I used my front USB sockets on my case that are plugged into my motherboard. Maybe use the ones on the mobo itself?
2) RAM. I'll test my RAM tonight to see if that could be a problem.
3) The enclosure was warm but not hot, so I don't think it was overheating, but that could have been the problem.

Is there anyone who has the same type of setup with the same problem?

 

[Spindrift]

Hi,

I had a similar problem once. I Opened up the case and found that the harddrive isnt plugged into the interface card properly. After I made sure everything's plugged in properly, things started to work fine again. Hope that helps.

Spinz

 

[Toxin]

Will check that. Thanx.

 

[andres101]

take the drive back ASAP. i had a 40Gb hdd that did that as soon as i did a lot of writing.

i took the drive back to the suplier who first said that there is nothing wrong with the drive. when i took at back and showed him what the problem was, i was told that i broke the drive.

i carried on using the drive and just remembered never to copy more than 1Gb at a time... still have the drive.

 

[Goobie]

I'm guessing here, but could it be that the USB port is not supplying enough power to the drive?

 

[Toxin]

I'll do a couple of tests and see. What I think it might be is my front USB plugs. My friend says he couldn't even use his external drive on his front USB.

The drive and enclosure are only 4 days old, so I can't see that I could have busted them already. Even so I got a 2 year warranty on both the drive and enclosure so I should be fine if it is.

 

[ebendl]

Thats one of the biggest problems I've found as well - the drives don't get enough power.

In some PC's, when you plug it in you can actually listen close to the drive: mine switches on, starts spinning and then stops again (little click each time it does this). While it doesn't seem to hurt the drive (well, I hope not) it does mean that you can't use it.

Although in my case I can't use it from the start, perhaps yours starts using more power when copying more data, then bombs out?

I also find USB ports on the MB at the back (directly on the MB, no cables) supply more power.

 

[bboy]

does the cable not have 2 usb connectors?
normally they do so that they can draw power from 2 ports to supply the drive, theoratically if the drive spins up and works then it should be fine from there onwards because it draws most power spinning up and getting going!

 

[Toxin]

I've got two completely separate cables for my enclosure. One for data transfer and one where it draws power from. Effectively I need two free USB sockets for it to work.

I've done some testing and it seems that my front USBs that plug into the motherboard directly, can't supply enough power for the drive to operate over a long period of time. Once it doesn't get enough power it switches itself off.

 

[ebendl]

Thats interesting, first time I've heard about the two-plug thing.

Mine (40Gb laptop HD enclosure) has a 5V DC socket, which I can use for external power. Haven't searched for the correct adapter yet, though.

 

[Toxin]

I specifically searched for one like this. It makes life a lot easier, no need to sort out an extra plug for an adapter. I mean, who doesn't have at least two USB sockets open these days?

Even in the unlikely event that someone only has two USB sockets and is using one for say a mouse, the package comes with a ps2 ( the socket not the console ) connector you can use to draw power from.

This puppy's gonna work overtime at RAGE. Yeah!!! Bring on the Anime!!!!