Disapearing sub-directories on Western Digital MyBook Essential 250 GB

[Daniel G.]

Hi,
I'm having trouble w/my new WD MyBook Essential 250. After I bought it
approx. 3 weeks ago I created 2 NTFS partitions. On one of the
partitions I created 2 folders, "video" & "Audio". two nights ago I'd
started to download 3 torrents from Dimeadozen.org. For 2 of the
torrents I created separate sub folders under the "video" folder and
another sub folder for the third torrent under the "audio" Folder.

I saw in each sub directory the files in the torrents had been created
and data was being downloaded. I left my PC on all night so I could
finish downloading all 3 torrents.

When I checked my PC the morning after there was an error message on
all 3 Bittorrent clients saying the directory name was invalid. When I
opened the Audio & Video folders they were empty, none of the sub
directories I'd created were there nor any of the torrent data. Also,
2 backup files on the other partition were gone as well. They weren't
in the recycle bin or anywhere else.

I tried rebooting and all the files & folders that were missing were
back the way they were. I'm not sure how this happened, everything
else on my PC seemed fine, only the data on the MyBook was affected.
This also happened last night under similar conditions but this time I
was at my PC when it happened & the following error message popped up
next to the "safely remove hardware" icon on the sys tray;

"Windows Delayed Write Failed
Windows was unable to save all the data for the file H:\$Mft. The data
has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer
hardware or network connection. Please try to save your file
elsewhere."


Any idea what may have caused this and how I can prevent it from
happening again? I've tried this type of download to both of my 2
internal drives but never had this problem. Thanks

FYI, I'm running XP Pro SP 2 on a Dell Dimension.

 

[Tom Scales]

Hi,
I'm having trouble w/my new WD MyBook Essential 250. After I bought it
approx. 3 weeks ago I created 2 NTFS partitions. On one of the
partitions I created 2 folders, "video" & "Audio". two nights ago I'd
started to download 3 torrents from Dimeadozen.org. For 2 of the
torrents I created separate sub folders under the "video" folder and
another sub folder for the third torrent under the "audio" Folder.

I saw in each sub directory the files in the torrents had been created
and data was being downloaded. I left my PC on all night so I could
finish downloading all 3 torrents.

When I checked my PC the morning after there was an error message on
all 3 Bittorrent clients saying the directory name was invalid. When I
opened the Audio & Video folders they were empty, none of the sub
directories I'd created were there nor any of the torrent data. Also,
2 backup files on the other partition were gone as well. They weren't
in the recycle bin or anywhere else.

I tried rebooting and all the files & folders that were missing were
back the way they were. I'm not sure how this happened, everything
else on my PC seemed fine, only the data on the MyBook was affected.
This also happened last night under similar conditions but this time I
was at my PC when it happened & the following error message popped up
next to the "safely remove hardware" icon on the sys tray;

"Windows Delayed Write Failed
Windows was unable to save all the data for the file H:\$Mft. The data
has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer
hardware or network connection. Please try to save your file
elsewhere."


Any idea what may have caused this and how I can prevent it from
happening again? I've tried this type of download to both of my 2
internal drives but never had this problem. Thanks

FYI, I'm running XP Pro SP 2 on a Dell Dimension.

Well, that's bad.

Delay Write failed can be either:

1) A problem with the USB chipset on the drive
2) A bad drive.

I'd be more likely to guess #2.

 

[Kevin]

Hi,
I'm having trouble w/my new WD MyBook Essential 250. After I bought it
approx. 3 weeks ago I created 2 NTFS partitions. On one of the
partitions I created 2 folders, "video" & "Audio". two nights ago I'd
started to download 3 torrents from Dimeadozen.org. For 2 of the
torrents I created separate sub folders under the "video" folder and
another sub folder for the third torrent under the "audio" Folder.

I saw in each sub directory the files in the torrents had been created
and data was being downloaded. I left my PC on all night so I could
finish downloading all 3 torrents.

When I checked my PC the morning after there was an error message on
all 3 Bittorrent clients saying the directory name was invalid. When I
opened the Audio & Video folders they were empty, none of the sub
directories I'd created were there nor any of the torrent data. Also,
2 backup files on the other partition were gone as well. They weren't
in the recycle bin or anywhere else.

I tried rebooting and all the files & folders that were missing were
back the way they were. I'm not sure how this happened, everything
else on my PC seemed fine, only the data on the MyBook was affected.
This also happened last night under similar conditions but this time I
was at my PC when it happened & the following error message popped up
next to the "safely remove hardware" icon on the sys tray;

"Windows Delayed Write Failed
Windows was unable to save all the data for the file H:\$Mft. The data
has been lost. This error may be caused by a failure of your computer
hardware or network connection. Please try to save your file
elsewhere."


Any idea what may have caused this and how I can prevent it from
happening again? I've tried this type of download to both of my 2
internal drives but never had this problem. Thanks

FYI, I'm running XP Pro SP 2 on a Dell Dimension.

Could the downloads have been halted for some reason, leaving the file(s)
incomplete? Did your system go to sleep or enter into hibernation, thus
mucking up your downloads? Did a program begin to run in the background,
like an anti-virus scan for instance, or some kind of automatic update to an
application installed on your system?
It just so happens I sell external hard drives (www.users.qwest.net~kcfoltz)
so I would be interested to know what you paid for your WD MyBook.

 

[Alexander Grigoriev]

1) NTFS is not supported for removeable devices. It might work, but you're
on your own.
2) Some motherboards (like ASUS I'm struggling with) have BIG problems with
USB high-speed signalling integrity. This means the devices might get
re-enumerated (go through unplug-replug cycle) at random moments.

 

[Arno Wagner]

Well, that's bad.

Delay Write failed can be either:

1) A problem with the USB chipset on the drive
2) A bad drive.

I'd be more likely to guess #2.

It can also happen with substandard cables. I had one.
Problems with an USB hub or the USB chipset in the computer
may also cause it.

The way to fix this is probably to disable delayed writes.
If I remember correctly they should not be enabled on removable
media in the first place. I don't remember were to explicitely
disable them though.

Arno

 

[Arno Wagner]

1) NTFS is not supported for removeable devices. It might work, but you're
on your own.

Aha, there is the problem. I suppose NTFS routinely runs with
write-buffering?

2) Some motherboards (like ASUS I'm struggling with) have BIG problems with
USB high-speed signalling integrity. This means the devices might get
re-enumerated (go through unplug-replug cycle) at random moments.

I have seen that with a bad USB cable as well. Was under Linux and
the kernel disabled the drive consistently during writes.
Gounf bach to USB 1.0 or using another cable fixed the issue.

Arno

 

[Rod Speed]

1) NTFS is not supported for removeable devices.

Pig ignorant drivel.

It might work, but you're on your own.

Pig ignorant drivel.

 

[buddyb]

NTFS works fine on a 120 GB WD ext drive and has for months.

Regards, Ralph

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Aha, there is the problem.

Bwahaha. Babblebot, clueless as always.

[snip]

 

[Alexander Grigoriev]

It's not like it's not supposed to work. It just doesn't take into account
some considerations required to avoid data loss when a device gets removed.

 

[Alexander Grigoriev]

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Alexander Grigoriev


Aha, there is the problem. I suppose NTFS routinely runs with
write-buffering?

I suspect FAT driver adjusts its caching behavior for removable disks. NTFS
does not care about those. But in any case, NTFS metadata is not
write-buffered.

 

[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

It can also happen with substandard cables. I had one.
Problems with an USB hub or the USB chipset in the computer
may also cause it.

Check your cabling and replace it if you have any question. USB cables are
not terribly expensive, though they do cost more than I'd like them to. Also
check your drivers to be sure they are the latest release and working
properly.

If you feel adventurous (though this will at least theoretically void the
warranty) pull the drive and run WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostics on it
(warning: may destroy data!) or invest in a copy of SpinRite from Gibson
Research Corporation and use that to test the drive. (Kind of spendy, but
generally safe for your data. I've had pretty good results in weeding out
flakey drives and "rescuing" information from dying ones with it.)

It really sounds to me like your USB bus is cutting out for some reason. If
the cables, drivers and USB hardware seem to be good, make sure the drive is
plugged directly into the computer or use another USB port. Some devices
work better on certain ports than they do others.

The way to fix this is probably to disable delayed writes.
If I remember correctly they should not be enabled on removable
media in the first place. I don't remember were to explicitely
disable them though.

Right click My Computer > Properties > Hardware (Win2000/XP only) > Device
Manager (button on Win2k/XP, tab on all others) and expand the hard drive
category. From there you can double click on the drive, select the
Properties tab and find the write cache option checkbox. Every USB drive
I've seen so far has the checkbox cleared and greyed out, probably because
of the fact that the drive could suddenly disappear from the system.

While you're at it, save yourself some potential grief (such as that caused
by a sudden power failure or computer crash) and deselect the "Enable Write
Cache" checkbox for your internal hard drives. Windows doesn't always do
real well with committing write-cached data to disk if something goes wrong,
especially with Windows 2000 and XP. (Windows Server 2003 seems to do a lot
better.)

William

 

[Rod Speed]

Wrong.

Wrong.

Nope.

Nope.

I suspect FAT driver adjusts its caching behavior for removable disks.

More fool you.

 

[Rod Speed]

It's not like it's not supposed to work. It just doesn't take into account some considerations
required to avoid data loss when a device gets removed.

Wrong, as always.

 

[Daniel G.]

Hi,
I'm having trouble w/my new WD MyBook Essential 250. After I bought it
approx. 3 weeks ago I created 2 NTFS partitions. On one of the
partitions I created 2 folders, "video" & "Audio". two nights ago I'd
started to download 3 torrents from Dimeadozen.org. For 2 of the
torrents I created separate sub folders under the "video" folder and
another sub folder for the third torrent under the "audio" Folder.

I saw in each sub directory the files in the torrents had been created
and data was being downloaded. I left my PC on all night so I could
finish downloading all 3 torrents.

When I checked my PC the morning after there was an error message on
all 3 Bittorrent clients saying the directory name was invalid. When I
opened the Audio & Video folders they were empty, none of the sub
directories I'd created were there nor any of the torrent data. Also,
2 backup files on the other partition were gone as well. They weren't
in the recycle bin or anywhere else.

I tried swapping the USB cable and that seemed to be the fix. I've
tried a few times to recreate the problems I was having and everything
worked fine. It's been over a week w/no problems. I've still got to
check the old cable again but this time ensuring the connections are
good, forgot to do that prior to swapping (duh!), also want to be sure
it is the cable that's the problem and not something else.

Thanks for your replies!!