Turning NTFS on and off

[Craig]

I have a 250 GB Maxthor hard drive that stores data only.
It appears that something triggers turning NTFS data format on and off.
That happened three times since this year.
Yesterday, the D-drive was empty. When checked under Disk Management,
D-drive was unformatted (i.e., data format was empty).
Somehow, when rebooted, the D-drive revived.
It appears that something is turning NTFS on and off in my computer.
Could someone advise me how to fix this serious problem? My OS is WinXP Pro
SP2.
TIA. Craig

 

[Malke]

I have a 250 GB Maxthor hard drive that stores data only.
It appears that something triggers turning NTFS data format on and off.
That happened three times since this year.
Yesterday, the D-drive was empty. When checked under Disk Management,
D-drive was unformatted (i.e., data format was empty).
Somehow, when rebooted, the D-drive revived.
It appears that something is turning NTFS on and off in my computer.
Could someone advise me how to fix this serious problem? My OS is WinXP
Pro SP2.
TIA. Craig

Nothing can "turn off" a format. The drive is probably failing. Take it out
and slave in a working machine. Then run Maxtor's hard drive diagnostic
utility on it, doing a thorough test. If the drive fails any physical
tests, replace it.

If the drive tests fine, then possibly there is a problem with the
enclosure. Try a different one.

If this is a Maxtor One Touch external drive, I don't know if you can remove
the drive. It would be better to contact Maxtor tech support anyway.

Malke

 

[Craig]

Malke,
Thanks for your comment. I got to find Maxthor disk.
Thinking that Maxthor HD is at fault, I ordered 400 GB Seagate PATA (there
was a sale yesterday).
My question is whether 400 GB requires bios setting or not. My computer is
a 4 yr old Dell Dimension 4550.
Your comment would be appreciated. Craig

 

[Malke]

Malke,
Thanks for your comment. I got to find Maxthor disk.
Thinking that Maxthor HD is at fault, I ordered 400 GB Seagate PATA (there
was a sale yesterday).
My question is whether 400 GB requires bios setting or not. My computer
is a 4 yr old Dell Dimension 4550.
Your comment would be appreciated. Craig

I don't know if your Dimension 4550 supports such a large drive. You would
need to check with Dell. You might want to look on the tech support website
for BIOS updates for that model and if there is one, see what it fixes.

However since you're using this drive in an external enclosure, I would
think you'll be fine. One thing to check is that you are using a good
quality external enclosure, one with a fan and an On/Off button. I like to
put my external hard drives in the larger 5.25" enclosures and not the 3.5"
ones. If you had your drive in a cheapo 3.5" without a fan, that could
explain why the drive had troubles.

Malke

 

[Jyeshta]

I don't know if your Dimension 4550 supports such a large drive. You would
need to check with Dell. You might want to look on the tech support website
for BIOS updates for that model and if there is one, see what it fixes.

However since you're using this drive in an external enclosure, I would
think you'll be fine. One thing to check is that you are using a good
quality external enclosure, one with a fan and an On/Off button. I like to
put my external hard drives in the larger 5.25" enclosures and not the 3.5"
ones. If you had your drive in a cheapo 3.5" without a fan, that could
explain why the drive had troubles.

Malke

Hi Malke, I have a 400 gig external Western Digital drive. Now I am
wondering - the enclosure it came in, does it need to be near a fan
when I use it? I only use it for transferring data from the internal
drives of my old and new computers to the external drive for transfer
or back up. Most of the time it is turned off. Thank you for any
advice.

Gail

 

[Craig]

Malke,
There was a minor misunderstanding on my drive. Correction.
The current 250 Maxtor drive and the 400GB HD I ordered are for the internal
drive not for external enclosure.
Please advise me accordingly.
Thank you.
Cragi

 

[Malke]

Malke

Hi Malke, I have a 400 gig external Western Digital drive. Now I am
wondering - the enclosure it came in, does it need to be near a fan
when I use it? I only use it for transferring data from the internal
drives of my old and new computers to the external drive for transfer
or back up. Most of the time it is turned off. Thank you for any
advice.

Hi, Gail. Feel the enclosure. Is it hot? I spoke from experience when I
mentioned using good quality drive enclosures. The very first one I bought
was a 3.5" cheapie (standard hard drive size) without a fan. I put my 300GB
Seagate in there, fired it up ("fired" is right!) and since I always worry
about heat anyway, checked the enclosure. Whoa! Felt really hot. So I
quickly turned it off.

I've got two Thermaltake enclosures and a Thermaltake clone (all 5.25"), and
I'm really happy with them. I bought the bigger ones so there would be good
air flow and the enclosures have built-in fans.

If you bought an external hard drive that came in its own enclosure, then
presumably WD designed the case properly and you don't need to worry about
it. The OP was apparently not using a "pre-made" external drive like yours
or the Maxtor One-Touch.

So, no - I don't think you have to worry or put a room fan near it.

Malke

 

[Malke]

Malke,
There was a minor misunderstanding on my drive. Correction.
The current 250 Maxtor drive and the 400GB HD I ordered are for the
internal drive not for external enclosure.
Please advise me accordingly.
Thank you.
Cragi

Then what I wrote before is applicable:

Never flash a BIOS unnecessarily. If you can't find the information you need
on Dell's website, call their hardware support and ask. You definitely need
XP SP1 or SP2 installed to get large drive support in Windows. If your
computer was made within the last 4-5 years, your motherboard has large
drive support.

Another factor to consider is if your power supply will support all the
drives you have in your machine. If you are replacing a drive with the new
one, it will be fine. If you are adding the new drive, you should have at
least a 350-400 watt psu.

Malke

 

[Craig]

Thanks again.
My OS is WinXP SP2 and I am just replacing 250 GB Maxthor with400 GB
Seagate.

Thanks.

Craig

 

[Malke]

Thanks again.
My OS is WinXP SP2 and I am just replacing 250 GB Maxthor with400 GB
Seagate.

Then probably you will be just fine. Try it!

Malke

 

[Jyeshta]

Hi, Gail. Feel the enclosure. Is it hot? I spoke from experience when I
mentioned using good quality drive enclosures. The very first one I bought
was a 3.5" cheapie (standard hard drive size) without a fan. I put my 300GB
Seagate in there, fired it up ("fired" is right!) and since I always worry
about heat anyway, checked the enclosure. Whoa! Felt really hot. So I
quickly turned it off.

I've got two Thermaltake enclosures and a Thermaltake clone (all 5.25"), and
I'm really happy with them. I bought the bigger ones so there would be good
air flow and the enclosures have built-in fans.

If you bought an external hard drive that came in its own enclosure, then
presumably WD designed the case properly and you don't need to worry about
it. The OP was apparently not using a "pre-made" external drive like yours
or the Maxtor One-Touch.

So, no - I don't think you have to worry or put a room fan near it.

Malke

Thank you, Malke! I don't really know if it gets hot - I will have to
check that out next time I use it. I figured that the drive was ok
the way it came to me; ready to use, so I was startled to read about
enclosures and fans. It's probably ok as is. Thanks again!

Gail