USB Hard Drive Issue

F

FlagCompGuy

Hi,

I have a strange problem that I have never run into before. I'm a
computer consultant and have a small office that has been backing up
data to an external USB hard drive. It had been working well for a few
months, recently the computer (Windows 2000 SP4) reported that the disk
was "corrupt and unreadable". I assumed the drive had failed and
removed it. When I brought it back to my office and connected to it
using my computer (SUSE 10.1) I could read and access all of the data
on it, it appeared to be working normally. I have also connected to
other XP machines and was able to read and write no problem. The drive
and external inclosure both seem to be functioning normally.
I brought it back to my client's 2000 machine and reconnected it.
When I plug it in, a drive appears under My Computer, with a large red
question mark, no drive letter, no name. When I double click on it it
says the device may have been removed and is no longer available. Here
is the strange part. It is fully visable and configurable via the disk
management app under computer management. I can remove partitions,
create new ones, format, assign drive letters and paths. All seems
totally normal using Disk Management. However, no useable drive ever
appears under My Computer. I know that partitions are being created
deleted and formatted, because after doing these operations on the 2000
machine I can pull the drive connect to another computer and all works
normally, new partitions and all.
I have tried just about everything I can think of:

1. Delete existing partition, create new one.
2. Tried both NTFS and FAT32 partitions
3. Re-install USB drivers and disk drivers.
4. Change Drive Letter and Path via disk management.
5. Different PCI Slot for USB card.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
P

philo

FlagCompGuy said:
Hi,

I have a strange problem that I have never run into before. I'm a
computer consultant and have a small office that has been backing up
data to an external USB hard drive. It had been working well for a few
months, recently the computer (Windows 2000 SP4) reported that the disk
was "corrupt and unreadable". I assumed the drive had failed and
removed it. When I brought it back to my office and connected to it
using my computer (SUSE 10.1) I could read and access all of the data
on it, it appeared to be working normally. I have also connected to
other XP machines and was able to read and write no problem. The drive
and external inclosure both seem to be functioning normally.

<snip>

I'd put the drive on an IDE channel and run the mfg's diagnostic on it...
if it checks out ok...
try using another PCI , USB card
 
G

Glen

FlagCompGuy said:
Hi,

I have a strange problem that I have never run into before. I'm a
computer consultant and have a small office that has been backing up
data to an external USB hard drive. It had been working well for a few
months, recently the computer (Windows 2000 SP4) reported that the disk
was "corrupt and unreadable". I assumed the drive had failed and
removed it. When I brought it back to my office and connected to it
using my computer (SUSE 10.1) I could read and access all of the data
on it, it appeared to be working normally. I have also connected to
other XP machines and was able to read and write no problem. The drive
and external inclosure both seem to be functioning normally.
I brought it back to my client's 2000 machine and reconnected it.
When I plug it in, a drive appears under My Computer, with a large red
question mark, no drive letter, no name. When I double click on it it
says the device may have been removed and is no longer available. Here
is the strange part. It is fully visable and configurable via the disk
management app under computer management. I can remove partitions,
create new ones, format, assign drive letters and paths. All seems
totally normal using Disk Management. However, no useable drive ever
appears under My Computer. I know that partitions are being created
deleted and formatted, because after doing these operations on the 2000
machine I can pull the drive connect to another computer and all works
normally, new partitions and all.
I have tried just about everything I can think of:

1. Delete existing partition, create new one.
2. Tried both NTFS and FAT32 partitions
3. Re-install USB drivers and disk drivers.
4. Change Drive Letter and Path via disk management.
5. Different PCI Slot for USB card.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Stick with FAT32 partitions, try booting to a DOS6.22
diskette and run fdisk /mbr on the drive. If that doesn't
help, use a low-level (sic) format utility to zero out the
first 200 or so sectors on the drive. Then recreate your
partitions.
 

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