I have a 500 GB Western Digital WDC WD 5000 AAKS-OOYGAO SATA hard
drive in a separate enclosure that lets me hook this hard drive up
with a SATA cable to my computer and use it as a back-up storage
means. Recently this hard drive has been erratic. Sometimes my
computer will stall during the boot process and ask me to run
Checkdisk on this hard drive. Other times it will go ahead and boot
and seem to work okay.

I've tried running my McAffee virus software but it always hangs up
when it gets to this hard drive. Then, after a few minutes the
computer will shut down or re-boot, although I have unchecked the
Automatic restart under Properties > Advanced Tab > Startup and
Recovery > Settings, under System failure.

Is this problem simply the early stages of a hard drive failure, or
could it be the results of some malware shutting the computer down
when it is being examined by checkdisk?

System; MS Windows XP Pro, SP3 with on-line updates current on a
computer with a Gigabyte GA-P35 DS3L motherboard with an Intel Core 2
Duo processor, 2 GB DDR2 RAM.

I have an abundance of hard drive free space on the main hard drive as
well as on this back-up hard drive.

Any suggestions? Gordon

Antares 531 wrote:
> I have a 500 GB Western Digital WDC WD 5000 AAKS-OOYGAO SATA hard
> drive in a separate enclosure that lets me hook this hard drive up
> with a SATA cable to my computer and use it as a back-up storage
> means. Recently this hard drive has been erratic. Sometimes my
> computer will stall during the boot process and ask me to run
> Checkdisk on this hard drive. Other times it will go ahead and boot
> and seem to work okay.
>
> I've tried running my McAffee virus software but it always hangs up
> when it gets to this hard drive. Then, after a few minutes the
> computer will shut down or re-boot, although I have unchecked the
> Automatic restart under Properties > Advanced Tab > Startup and
> Recovery > Settings, under System failure.
>
> Is this problem simply the early stages of a hard drive failure, or
> could it be the results of some malware shutting the computer down
> when it is being examined by checkdisk?
>
> System; MS Windows XP Pro, SP3 with on-line updates current on a
> computer with a Gigabyte GA-P35 DS3L motherboard with an Intel Core 2
> Duo processor, 2 GB DDR2 RAM.
>
> I have an abundance of hard drive free space on the main hard drive as
> well as on this back-up hard drive.
>
> Any suggestions? Gordon

When the drive is in the external enclosure, where does it get
electrical power ? Does it use an AC wall adapter ? Would the
problem be power related ? Does the light on the adapter flicker
or indicate it is having trouble providing power during the
ten second spinup period of the drive ?

There is a "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic" here, if you want to
test the disk.

http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...id=606&lang=en

Since there is a "DOS" option, it may also be possible to run
the Lifeguard, without WinXP running at the time. When they
say DOS, they usually include FreeDOS or equivalent, as part
of the boot media.

Paul

On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:10:22 -0400, Paul <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Antares 531 wrote:
>> I have a 500 GB Western Digital WDC WD 5000 AAKS-OOYGAO SATA hard
>> drive in a separate enclosure that lets me hook this hard drive up
>> with a SATA cable to my computer and use it as a back-up storage
>> means. Recently this hard drive has been erratic. Sometimes my
>> computer will stall during the boot process and ask me to run
>> Checkdisk on this hard drive. Other times it will go ahead and boot
>> and seem to work okay.
>>
>> I've tried running my McAffee virus software but it always hangs up
>> when it gets to this hard drive. Then, after a few minutes the
>> computer will shut down or re-boot, although I have unchecked the
>> Automatic restart under Properties > Advanced Tab > Startup and
>> Recovery > Settings, under System failure.
>>
>> Is this problem simply the early stages of a hard drive failure, or
>> could it be the results of some malware shutting the computer down
>> when it is being examined by checkdisk?
>>
>> System; MS Windows XP Pro, SP3 with on-line updates current on a
>> computer with a Gigabyte GA-P35 DS3L motherboard with an Intel Core 2
>> Duo processor, 2 GB DDR2 RAM.
>>
>> I have an abundance of hard drive free space on the main hard drive as
>> well as on this back-up hard drive.
>>
>> Any suggestions? Gordon
>
>When the drive is in the external enclosure, where does it get
>electrical power ? Does it use an AC wall adapter ? Would the
>problem be power related ? Does the light on the adapter flicker
>or indicate it is having trouble providing power during the
>ten second spinup period of the drive ?
>
>There is a "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic" here, if you want to
>test the disk.
>
>http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...id=606&lang=en
>
>Since there is a "DOS" option, it may also be possible to run
>the Lifeguard, without WinXP running at the time. When they
>say DOS, they usually include FreeDOS or equivalent, as part
>of the boot media.
>
> Paul
>
Paul, I don't think there is a power problem. I have the external
drive caddy's power cord plugged into my UPS so it won't get any
surges or power interruptions.

The light flickers in sync with the light on the computer's front that
shows hard drive activity. This is normal.

If it weren't for the fact that this problem will cause my computer to
shut down or re-boot even though I have that unchecked in the
Properties > Advanced tab > Startup and Recovery > Settings > System
Failure I would be reasonably sure it was just a hard drive failure
developing. But what is shutting the computer down? This is especially
puzzling since this is being caused by an external hard drive.

Gordon

Remove the drive from the enclosure and
connect it a SATA port on your motherboard.

Some tools to check your drive are as follows:
Western Digital's Data LifeGuard Diagnostics
http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=999&swid=3

HD Tune: http://www.hdtune.com/

SpeedFan has an online analysis feature for hard drives.
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

PassMark's BurnInTest which has options to perform numerous test including
the Disk: http://www.passmark.com/products/bit.htm

If the drive passes all the tests and the S.M.A.R.T. values
are OK then the problem is with the eSATA interface.

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com



"Antares 531" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a 500 GB Western Digital WDC WD 5000 AAKS-OOYGAO SATA hard
> drive in a separate enclosure that lets me hook this hard drive up
> with a SATA cable to my computer and use it as a back-up storage
> means. Recently this hard drive has been erratic. Sometimes my
> computer will stall during the boot process and ask me to run
> Checkdisk on this hard drive. Other times it will go ahead and boot
> and seem to work okay.
>
> I've tried running my McAffee virus software but it always hangs up
> when it gets to this hard drive. Then, after a few minutes the
> computer will shut down or re-boot, although I have unchecked the
> Automatic restart under Properties > Advanced Tab > Startup and
> Recovery > Settings, under System failure.
>
> Is this problem simply the early stages of a hard drive failure, or
> could it be the results of some malware shutting the computer down
> when it is being examined by checkdisk?
>
> System; MS Windows XP Pro, SP3 with on-line updates current on a
> computer with a Gigabyte GA-P35 DS3L motherboard with an Intel Core 2
> Duo processor, 2 GB DDR2 RAM.
>
> I have an abundance of hard drive free space on the main hard drive as
> well as on this back-up hard drive.
>
> Any suggestions? Gordon

> Antares 531 wrote:
>> I have a 500 GB Western Digital WDC WD 5000 AAKS-OOYGAO SATA hard
>> drive in a separate enclosure that lets me hook this hard drive up
>> with a SATA cable to my computer and use it as a back-up storage
>> means. Recently this hard drive has been erratic. Sometimes my
>> computer will stall during the boot process and ask me to run
>> Checkdisk on this hard drive. Other times it will go ahead and boot
>> and seem to work okay.
>>
>> I've tried running my McAffee virus software but it always hangs up
>> when it gets to this hard drive. Then, after a few minutes the
>> computer will shut down or re-boot, although I have unchecked the
>> Automatic restart under Properties > Advanced Tab > Startup and
>> Recovery > Settings, under System failure.
>>
>> Is this problem simply the early stages of a hard drive failure, or
>> could it be the results of some malware shutting the computer down
>> when it is being examined by checkdisk?
>>
>> System; MS Windows XP Pro, SP3 with on-line updates current on a
>> computer with a Gigabyte GA-P35 DS3L motherboard with an Intel Core 2
>> Duo processor, 2 GB DDR2 RAM.
>>
>> I have an abundance of hard drive free space on the main hard drive as
>> well as on this back-up hard drive. Any suggestions? Gordon


"Paul" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:h40g62$7jl$(E-Mail Removed)...
> When the drive is in the external enclosure, where does it get
> electrical power ? Does it use an AC wall adapter ? Would the
> problem be power related ? Does the light on the adapter flicker
> or indicate it is having trouble providing power during the
> ten second spinup period of the drive ?
>
> There is a "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic" here, if you want to
> test the disk.
>
> http://support.wdc.com/product/downl...id=606&lang=en
>
> Since there is a "DOS" option, it may also be possible to run
> the Lifeguard, without WinXP running at the time. When they
> say DOS, they usually include FreeDOS or equivalent, as part
> of the boot media.
>
> Paul


Gordon:
First of all we'll assume that aside from the apparent problem you're
experiencing with that WD HDD, there's absolutely *no* problem with your
system when the external HDD is disconnected from the system, i.e., your OS
boots without incident and functions without *any* problems.

As Paul suggests it would be advisable to check out the disk with the WD HDD
diagnostic utility. It's not clear from your description whether the
external HDD is connected to your system via a SATA-to-SATA connection or
it's simply a USB-connected system (utilizing a SATA HDD as the drive). If
it's the latter, you will most likely need to install the disk as an
*internal* (secondary) HDD in your system to utilize the WD diagnostic
utility since that program ordinarily will not detect a USB-connected HDD.

If the disk checks out OK it's most likely a defective external enclosure
you're dealing with or defective cabling or a mis-connection of some sort. I
assume you've tried connecting the external device to one or more other USB
ports (assuming it's a USB-connected device), or to another one of the
motherboard's SATA connectors (assuming this is a SATA-to-SATA connectivity
external device).

Do you have another HDD that you could install in the enclosure in order to
determine whether it's the enclosure that's the problem?

Assuming the HDD checks out OK and there's no apparent problem with the
enclosure, cabling, etc., is there any chance you could simply delete the
disk's partition and reartition/format the drive (first saving, if
necessary, whatever data you may need to another destination)?
Anna

On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:40:34 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
(snip)
>
>
>Gordon:
>First of all we'll assume that aside from the apparent problem you're
>experiencing with that WD HDD, there's absolutely *no* problem with your
>system when the external HDD is disconnected from the system, i.e., your OS
>boots without incident and functions without *any* problems.
>
Anna, this seems to be true. My computer, with the external hard drive
removed works quite well. My McAffee virus scan goes over it with no
glitches and My Computer > Computer Management finds no fragmentation
or bad sector problems.
>
>As Paul suggests it would be advisable to check out the disk with the WD HDD
>diagnostic utility. It's not clear from your description whether the
>external HDD is connected to your system via a SATA-to-SATA connection or
>it's simply a USB-connected system (utilizing a SATA HDD as the drive). If
>it's the latter, you will most likely need to install the disk as an
>*internal* (secondary) HDD in your system to utilize the WD diagnostic
>utility since that program ordinarily will not detect a USB-connected HDD.
>
I will try plugging the external hard drive into the computer using
its USB-SATA cable. I have been using its SATA-to-SATA cable. Maybe
the problem is in the SATA card or cable.

If this doesn't work I may take the whole thing to Best Buy, where I
bought it and see if their Geek Squad can diagnose the problem.
>
>If the disk checks out OK it's most likely a defective external enclosure
>you're dealing with or defective cabling or a mis-connection of some sort. I
>assume you've tried connecting the external device to one or more other USB
>ports (assuming it's a USB-connected device), or to another one of the
>motherboard's SATA connectors (assuming this is a SATA-to-SATA connectivity
>external device).
>
>Do you have another HDD that you could install in the enclosure in order to
>determine whether it's the enclosure that's the problem?
>
No, I don't have another HDD but I may take this one out of the caddy
and put it into the computer's other SATA setup.
>
>Assuming the HDD checks out OK and there's no apparent problem with the
>enclosure, cabling, etc., is there any chance you could simply delete the
>disk's partition and reartition/format the drive (first saving, if
>necessary, whatever data you may need to another destination)?
>Anna
>
I could delete the disk's files and do a re-format, but this still
leaves open the question, what is causing my computer to shut down or
re-boot when it tries to scan this external hard drive?

Gordon

> On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:40:34 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>Gordon:
>>First of all we'll assume that aside from the apparent problem you're
>>experiencing with that WD HDD, there's absolutely *no* problem with your
>>system when the external HDD is disconnected from the system, i.e., your
>>OS
>>boots without incident and functions without *any* problems.

"Antares 531" (E-Mail Removed) responds...
> Anna, this seems to be true. My computer, with the external hard drive
> removed works quite well. My McAffee virus scan goes over it with no
> glitches and My Computer > Computer Management finds no fragmentation
> or bad sector problems.


> On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:40:34 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>As Paul suggests it would be advisable to check out the disk with the WD
>>HDD
>>diagnostic utility. It's not clear from your description whether the
>>external HDD is connected to your system via a SATA-to-SATA connection or
>>it's simply a USB-connected system (utilizing a SATA HDD as the drive). If
>>it's the latter, you will most likely need to install the disk as an
>>*internal* (secondary) HDD in your system to utilize the WD diagnostic
>>utility since that program ordinarily will not detect a USB-connected HDD.

> "Antares 531" <(E-Mail Removed)> responds...
> I will try plugging the external hard drive into the computer using
> its USB-SATA cable. I have been using its SATA-to-SATA cable. Maybe
> the problem is in the SATA card or cable.
>
> If this doesn't work I may take the whole thing to Best Buy, where I
> bought it and see if their Geek Squad can diagnose the problem.


> On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:40:34 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>If the disk checks out OK it's most likely a defective external enclosure
>>you're dealing with or defective cabling or a mis-connection of some sort.
>>I
>>assume you've tried connecting the external device to one or more other
>>USB
>>ports (assuming it's a USB-connected device), or to another one of the
>>motherboard's SATA connectors (assuming this is a SATA-to-SATA
>>connectivity
>>external device).
>>
>>Do you have another HDD that you could install in the enclosure in order
>>to
>>determine whether it's the enclosure that's the problem?

> "Antares 531" <(E-Mail Removed)> responds...
> No, I don't have another HDD but I may take this one out of the caddy
> and put it into the computer's other SATA setup.


> On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:40:34 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>Assuming the HDD checks out OK and there's no apparent problem with the
>>enclosure, cabling, etc., is there any chance you could simply delete the
>>disk's partition and reartition/format the drive (first saving, if
>>necessary, whatever data you may need to another destination)?
>>Anna


> "Antares 531" <(E-Mail Removed)> responds...
> I could delete the disk's files and do a re-format, but this still
> leaves open the question, what is causing my computer to shut down or
> re-boot when it tries to scan this external hard drive?
>
> Gordon


Gordon...
As best as I can understand from your responses your external enclosure is
connected to your PC via a SATA-to-SATA connection. I'm assuming it's
connected to an eSATA external port on your motherboard or perhaps via a
SATA or eSATA adapter you've affixed to your PC case. In any event, assuming
that is so, the system treats that SATA external HDD as an *internal* HDD,
so if the HDD is defective or the external enclosure is defective or there's
a problem with the cabling or there's a misconfiguration problem, then it's
possible the shut-down/re-booting problems you're experiencing are due to
one or more of those causes.

In any event as has been suggested to you check out the external HDD with
the WD HDD diagnostic utility. That should be your first order of business.
Then undertake the other suggested processes.
Anna

On Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:37:13 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>> On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:40:34 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>Gordon:
>>>First of all we'll assume that aside from the apparent problem you're
>>>experiencing with that WD HDD, there's absolutely *no* problem with your
>>>system when the external HDD is disconnected from the system, i.e., your
>>>OS
>>>boots without incident and functions without *any* problems.
>
>"Antares 531" (E-Mail Removed) responds...
>> Anna, this seems to be true. My computer, with the external hard drive
>> removed works quite well. My McAffee virus scan goes over it with no
>> glitches and My Computer > Computer Management finds no fragmentation
>> or bad sector problems.
>
>
>> On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:40:34 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>As Paul suggests it would be advisable to check out the disk with the WD
>>>HDD
>>>diagnostic utility. It's not clear from your description whether the
>>>external HDD is connected to your system via a SATA-to-SATA connection or
>>>it's simply a USB-connected system (utilizing a SATA HDD as the drive). If
>>>it's the latter, you will most likely need to install the disk as an
>>>*internal* (secondary) HDD in your system to utilize the WD diagnostic
>>>utility since that program ordinarily will not detect a USB-connected HDD.
>
>> "Antares 531" <(E-Mail Removed)> responds...
>> I will try plugging the external hard drive into the computer using
>> its USB-SATA cable. I have been using its SATA-to-SATA cable. Maybe
>> the problem is in the SATA card or cable.
>>
>> If this doesn't work I may take the whole thing to Best Buy, where I
>> bought it and see if their Geek Squad can diagnose the problem.
>
>
>> On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:40:34 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>If the disk checks out OK it's most likely a defective external enclosure
>>>you're dealing with or defective cabling or a mis-connection of some sort.
>>>I
>>>assume you've tried connecting the external device to one or more other
>>>USB
>>>ports (assuming it's a USB-connected device), or to another one of the
>>>motherboard's SATA connectors (assuming this is a SATA-to-SATA
>>>connectivity
>>>external device).
>>>
>>>Do you have another HDD that you could install in the enclosure in order
>>>to
>>>determine whether it's the enclosure that's the problem?
>
>> "Antares 531" <(E-Mail Removed)> responds...
>> No, I don't have another HDD but I may take this one out of the caddy
>> and put it into the computer's other SATA setup.
>
>
>> On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:40:34 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>Assuming the HDD checks out OK and there's no apparent problem with the
>>>enclosure, cabling, etc., is there any chance you could simply delete the
>>>disk's partition and reartition/format the drive (first saving, if
>>>necessary, whatever data you may need to another destination)?
>>>Anna
>
>
>> "Antares 531" <(E-Mail Removed)> responds...
>> I could delete the disk's files and do a re-format, but this still
>> leaves open the question, what is causing my computer to shut down or
>> re-boot when it tries to scan this external hard drive?
>>
>> Gordon
>
>
>Gordon...
>As best as I can understand from your responses your external enclosure is
>connected to your PC via a SATA-to-SATA connection. I'm assuming it's
>connected to an eSATA external port on your motherboard or perhaps via a
>SATA or eSATA adapter you've affixed to your PC case. In any event, assuming
>that is so, the system treats that SATA external HDD as an *internal* HDD,
>so if the HDD is defective or the external enclosure is defective or there's
>a problem with the cabling or there's a misconfiguration problem, then it's
>possible the shut-down/re-booting problems you're experiencing are due to
>one or more of those causes.
>
>In any event as has been suggested to you check out the external HDD with
>the WD HDD diagnostic utility. That should be your first order of business.
>Then undertake the other suggested processes.
>Anna
>
Thanks, Anna. I'll give this some consideration. The main thing that
bothers me is that if this set of problems is being caused by some
form of malware I might end up with my other hard drive squirreled up
if I play around with this external hard drive, trying to figure out
what is causing the problem. The computer shut-down is what has me
concerned. It shouldn't do that just because the hard drive is
failing.

I think I'll just take the external hard drive, in its caddy, to the
local Best Buy Computer Store and have their Geek Squad check it out.
I bought it there, and I would think they could safely analyze it for
any malware or malfunction.

Gordon

Is it still in warranty?

If the drive is out of warranty the "Geek Squad"
will cost $$ only to tell you what you may already know.

Call first and see if they provide free diagnostics.
If it's not free and the drive is out of warranty, save your money
and remove the drive from the case yourself.

Then connect it directly to your PC as I mentioned
before as it may be the eSATA interface that has failed
and the drive may still be perfectly fine.

The

--
JS
http://www.pagestart.com



"Antares 531" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:37:13 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>> On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:40:34 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>>Gordon:
>>>>First of all we'll assume that aside from the apparent problem you're
>>>>experiencing with that WD HDD, there's absolutely *no* problem with your
>>>>system when the external HDD is disconnected from the system, i.e., your
>>>>OS
>>>>boots without incident and functions without *any* problems.
>>
>>"Antares 531" (E-Mail Removed) responds...
>>> Anna, this seems to be true. My computer, with the external hard drive
>>> removed works quite well. My McAffee virus scan goes over it with no
>>> glitches and My Computer > Computer Management finds no fragmentation
>>> or bad sector problems.
>>
>>
>>> On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:40:34 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>>As Paul suggests it would be advisable to check out the disk with the WD
>>>>HDD
>>>>diagnostic utility. It's not clear from your description whether the
>>>>external HDD is connected to your system via a SATA-to-SATA connection
>>>>or
>>>>it's simply a USB-connected system (utilizing a SATA HDD as the drive).
>>>>If
>>>>it's the latter, you will most likely need to install the disk as an
>>>>*internal* (secondary) HDD in your system to utilize the WD diagnostic
>>>>utility since that program ordinarily will not detect a USB-connected
>>>>HDD.
>>
>>> "Antares 531" <(E-Mail Removed)> responds...
>>> I will try plugging the external hard drive into the computer using
>>> its USB-SATA cable. I have been using its SATA-to-SATA cable. Maybe
>>> the problem is in the SATA card or cable.
>>>
>>> If this doesn't work I may take the whole thing to Best Buy, where I
>>> bought it and see if their Geek Squad can diagnose the problem.
>>
>>
>>> On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:40:34 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>>If the disk checks out OK it's most likely a defective external
>>>>enclosure
>>>>you're dealing with or defective cabling or a mis-connection of some
>>>>sort.
>>>>I
>>>>assume you've tried connecting the external device to one or more other
>>>>USB
>>>>ports (assuming it's a USB-connected device), or to another one of the
>>>>motherboard's SATA connectors (assuming this is a SATA-to-SATA
>>>>connectivity
>>>>external device).
>>>>
>>>>Do you have another HDD that you could install in the enclosure in order
>>>>to
>>>>determine whether it's the enclosure that's the problem?
>>
>>> "Antares 531" <(E-Mail Removed)> responds...
>>> No, I don't have another HDD but I may take this one out of the caddy
>>> and put it into the computer's other SATA setup.
>>
>>
>>> On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 21:40:34 -0400, "Anna" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>>>Assuming the HDD checks out OK and there's no apparent problem with the
>>>>enclosure, cabling, etc., is there any chance you could simply delete
>>>>the
>>>>disk's partition and reartition/format the drive (first saving, if
>>>>necessary, whatever data you may need to another destination)?
>>>>Anna
>>
>>
>>> "Antares 531" <(E-Mail Removed)> responds...
>>> I could delete the disk's files and do a re-format, but this still
>>> leaves open the question, what is causing my computer to shut down or
>>> re-boot when it tries to scan this external hard drive?
>>>
>>> Gordon
>>
>>
>>Gordon...
>>As best as I can understand from your responses your external enclosure is
>>connected to your PC via a SATA-to-SATA connection. I'm assuming it's
>>connected to an eSATA external port on your motherboard or perhaps via a
>>SATA or eSATA adapter you've affixed to your PC case. In any event,
>>assuming
>>that is so, the system treats that SATA external HDD as an *internal* HDD,
>>so if the HDD is defective or the external enclosure is defective or
>>there's
>>a problem with the cabling or there's a misconfiguration problem, then
>>it's
>>possible the shut-down/re-booting problems you're experiencing are due to
>>one or more of those causes.
>>
>>In any event as has been suggested to you check out the external HDD with
>>the WD HDD diagnostic utility. That should be your first order of
>>business.
>>Then undertake the other suggested processes.
>>Anna
>>
> Thanks, Anna. I'll give this some consideration. The main thing that
> bothers me is that if this set of problems is being caused by some
> form of malware I might end up with my other hard drive squirreled up
> if I play around with this external hard drive, trying to figure out
> what is causing the problem. The computer shut-down is what has me
> concerned. It shouldn't do that just because the hard drive is
> failing.
>
> I think I'll just take the external hard drive, in its caddy, to the
> local Best Buy Computer Store and have their Geek Squad check it out.
> I bought it there, and I would think they could safely analyze it for
> any malware or malfunction.
>
> Gordon

On Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:44:48 -0400, "JS" <@> wrote:

>Is it still in warranty?
>
>If the drive is out of warranty the "Geek Squad"
>will cost $$ only to tell you what you may already know.
>
>Call first and see if they provide free diagnostics.
>If it's not free and the drive is out of warranty, save your money
>and remove the drive from the case yourself.
>
>Then connect it directly to your PC as I mentioned
>before as it may be the eSATA interface that has failed
>and the drive may still be perfectly fine.
>
>The
>
Thanks, JS, I probably will do this. I bought the drive Oct 16, 2007,
at Best Buy, but I don't remember how long the warranty lasts.

What's your assessment of the risk that I might really mess the other
hard drive up if this questionable hard drive is installed directly in
the computer, and it happens to be infected with some form of malware
that my McAfee can't get rid of.

I can't think of any other reason that the computer would shut down or
re-start every when I try to scan this questionable hard drive with
McAfee, or run CheckDisk on it.

Gordon