Is this normal behavior

[Walter R.]

I am running WinXP SP3. Everything is running fine. I am using NTFS on all
files. I invested in an exterior USB drive as a backup.

When I plug in the USB connector for the external drive, my computer rapidly
zooms through all the files on the external hard drive, seemingly taking a
very quick inventory of all the files.

Is this normal behavior? Why can't the computer just wait to access the
external HD until I ask for specific files? Maybe XP is just curious to see
what is on the new drive?

Thanks

 

[Mike Torello]

When I plug in the USB connector for the external drive, my computer rapidly
zooms through all the files on the external hard drive, seemingly taking a
very quick inventory of all the files.

That's Autoplay trying to figure out what to do. Do you get a message
shortly afterwards asking you what to do, and giving you a list of
choices?

 

[Walter R.]

Thanks for replying. No, there is no further interaction after the scanning
process. It just lets me access any of the files on the drive.

 

[Mike Torello]

Thanks for replying. No, there is no further interaction after the scanning
process. It just lets me access any of the files on the drive.

You've apparently previously told Autoplay to open it with Explorer
when there are multiple file types. Either that, or it is somehow set
by default on your system.

Glad it's settled for you.

 

[Lil' Dave]

I am running WinXP SP3. Everything is running fine. I am using NTFS on all
files. I invested in an exterior USB drive as a backup.

When I plug in the USB connector for the external drive, my computer
rapidly zooms through all the files on the external hard drive, seemingly
taking a very quick inventory of all the files.

Is this normal behavior? Why can't the computer just wait to access the
external HD until I ask for specific files? Maybe XP is just curious to
see what is on the new drive?

Thanks

What's normal?

On my PC, if I leave the PC be for a moment after the desktop is loaded, all
drives and their partitions, CD/DVDs are already polled as well. And, it is
not reacting to autoplay as one is a CD game that starts if I remove that CD
and reinsert it. That CD is always in the CD player. USB and Firewire
connected hard drives have the same behavior if already on when booting XP.
If not already on, and then energized, said USB or Firewire hard drive
access is obvious by the activity led on both of those here. They are
obviously polled after that as when I open windows explorer to examine, the
root with files and folders is already present. The activity time for
polling is very insignificant, so I don't consider that time loss as an
inconvenience. In my opinion, XP is readying the drive for the user. If
not polled at energizing point, the user would have to wait when selecting
the drive for polling anyway to display root contents. So, I don't see your
point at all.