External hard drive problem, HELP!??

[whistlerdan]

I am running a SOny VAIO NV109 with an external hard drive that consists simply of a Hitachi deskstar 160gb in a box conected to the laptop via USB. Whilst running several programs this morning i was evidentally trying to get too much information down the usb 1 connection ( it supports usb 2 but i do not yet have that) . Windows showed several messages saying there was a delayed write error and that the data could be lost. The whole system slowed down and when i closed all the programs it then said it could not write to the external disk due to an i/o error. Rebooting my computer did not help, now the 2 partitions on the external disk do not show up in the "my computer" screen .

I am running xp

In the device manager there are no errors. It shows the drive as being plugged in and recognises it but will not give a size/space. I have tried various usb ports and uninstalled the drivers. They re-install immediately with no problem but it doesnt help.

Any thoughs would be appreciated , there was a lot of information on that disk!! I find it hard to believe that it isnt ther anymore but i cant get to it?!

 

[jfolkert]

I've come across this error a few times with an external hard drive on a USB connection. I haven't determined the exact cause but I do know that a cheap USB 2.0 controller was the culprit in one situation.

Try running Disk Manager under Computer Management. What does that tell you? You might be able to repair the damaged partition. Was the partition NTFS or FAT32?

-Joel

 

[silence782]

Are you sure your USB cables aren't comming loose? A write error could mean you've lost data due to a surge/lag in power, or the heads of your HD mave have scrached the platter. Are their any granding, or clanking noises? Barring that, are you able to perform a scan disk with windows or a boot disk like the Ultimate boot CD? What does the manufacturer's web site have to say? Have you tried emailing them?

 

[whistlerdan]

Well it cant be a dodgy usb 2 controller because i wasnt using usb 2. Disk management isnt helpful because the two partitions no longer show up in there. As if its not plugged in at all. It was an NTFS partition. I moved the cables around a bit and it made no difference. As for a lag in power, well that could have been the start of the problem as the power cable is a bit loose. But i cant see how that would have had this long term effect. Its just totally dead. I have been and purchased a firewire cable(it has a socket for that too) but it made no difference. When switched on with this an IEEE 1394 compliant device appears in the device manager but it doesnt say what it is and the drive is still not accessible.
I havent e-mailed the manufacturer as yet. As the case and the hard drive are from different manufacturers im guessing they will blame eatch other. The deskstar disk is brand new though. And to be honest i dont know who made the case and theres no markings on it. Im stumped.

 

[Campeador]

I have a similar problem, this is my story:
I downloaded a large file from my computer at work, around 650mb. I want to take the download home so, I transfered to my "ACOM DATA" 80gb external hard drive USB2.
The computer at work is only USB1 so it took a good half an hour but it transfer the files as expected.
Finaly I conected the external drive to my home computer (USB2 by the way) which would have take like a minute or two to download, it stops with the same error as "delayed write error and that the data could be lost". I get is this error message transfering the large portion of the download. It was able to transfer small files, but it does not want to work with the big files 600mb. All kind of probles as you guys describe.
So I was asumming that the data was corrupted. Went to work and try to move the files from my external to my work computer, expecting to repeat the same problem, but to the contrary, it transfer the files without any problems!???
I do have XP on the two computers, NTSF on all the drives mentioned.
I think that there is something maybe interfering with my file transfer on my home computer, the fire wall (which I try to turn off to see if that was the problem), or another program that I can't identify, (I will try to use a diferent USB prt to see if it makes a diference) since at my work computer I do not have any problem transfering back and forth to my external hard drive.
I am not sure if this started happening since I installed the service pack2 on my home pc, since I never transfer nothing really big until now.
I am also stumped, but I will find a way. Will let you know.