USB external drive problem

[Rick Savery]

Hi

I have a problem with an external bus-powered hard drive. It experienced a
'delayed write error' and then became invisible to Windows Explorer and,
after re-booting and plugging the drive in again, it show up in Device
Manager as an 'Unknown Device'.

The only way I can access it - at a reduced speed - is to disable the SiS
Enhanced Host Controller. However, this then means that I cannot access USB
2 devices, like my TV tuner.

I have installed Windows XP SP3, which apparently includes a Hotfix for just
such an issue as this, but with no joy.

It has happened before, and I had to re-format my Laptop's hard drive and
re-install everything, and I really don't want to do that again.

I would appreciate any help or advice you can give

Thanks

Rick



PS I have posted this to a number of newsgroups so apologies if you see this
more than once.

 

[Leonard Grey]

A 'delayed write access' error means you removed the USB or power cable
before information in the cache was written to the disk. This can leave
the disk in an unstable state.

If you can access the data on the disk, using the method you described,
I suggest you copy it to your hard drive and then format the external
drive. After that you can move the data back to the external drive.

In future, use the Safely Remove Hardware procedure before disconnecting
your external hard drive. It's an extra step, I know, but you won't lose
any data.

 

[Rick Savery]

Hi Leonard
Thats what I thought I might have done - clumsy as I can be- but other
external drives & an external hub aren't recognised either. That's what
makes me think that it must be a larger problem
Rick

 

[Leonard Grey]

You'll have better luck if you connect devices to the USB ports on the
computer. If you want to use an external hub, you'll have better luck if
it's a powered hub (i.e., it does not run from the current in the USB
connection.)