Instability on new hard drive?

[Space Toker]

I have a brand new external Seagate hard drive, and it has been telling me the system needs to be checked for stability, some FAT32/NFTS thing or something. After several problem-free uses, I copied some old images to it, to get them alll in one place for sorting and condensing before saving to CD, and now it is giving me this message 2 or 3 times in a row now. Why? I hope the thing isn't fried already! God I have the worst luck in cyberland! WTF?!

OK THANKS
PEACE

[mace]

is it running on your USB2 port?

[n2ishun]

The external dive is *probably* formatted with the NTFS file system.
Your internal hard drive sounds like it is *probably* formatted with the FAT32 file system.

Those can be reversed and you'll still have the same issues.

Hopefully you didn't delete anything yet after trying to back it up.....but here's what ya do...

Right click 'My Computer' and hit 'Manage'.
In that window you can see a thingie called 'Disk Manager'.
Click that and you should see the properties of all of your drives, including the file system you have them formatted as.
You can right click on the external drive in the right side pane and then click 'Format'.
Choose the same type file system that your internal C: drive is using.

No more problems.

[n2ishun]

Oh, and that ONLY works on Windows XP (home/pro/or media center).
If you're not running one of the above you seriously need to update your box.

[Space Toker]

It seems that on my system, it is called "disk managment", and it says it is NFTS. I have Windows XP service pack 2, home edition I believe. But I was surprised to find the USB ports seem to be 1.1 and not 2.0! It's what, 3 or 4 years old? NOt all that primitive, so this shocked me!
Now to find out what the External drive uses. the point is, it seems like it is something simple for a change, which is a huge relief. THANKS for the guidance! PEACE

[n2ishun]

USB 1.1 has the same bandwidth as 2.0 it just uses a slight bit higher processor bandwidth.

No worries, as you were.

[mace]

sorry n2ishun, thats not true: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus

I have an 1.1 USB on my Latptop, my external HD would be as slow as a floppy drive, till i bought an USB 2.0 cardbus :D

Space Toker, i'd get an USB 2 port, doesn't cost much, neihter for PC nor for a Laptop.
The improvement is huge!!!

Maybe your problems come from you unplugging the HD to soon or not by "Safely remove hardware" ;)

[Space Toker]

thanks for the link, I guess I should read it before asking this, but it seems so complex... so here goes [forgive me if it seems dumb]:

This USB 2.0 cardbus is something you buy to plug into the existing USB port, or an internal thing that you use to replace the old one? If it is internal, is it hard to do for the non-technical types like me?

OK THANKS
PEACE

[mace]

Cardbus bus is for Laptop, former called PCICIA

you want an internal USB2.0 port/hub, even cheaper than the Cardbus version.

If there are not IRQ problems, its really easy:
1. open PC
2. install card
3. close PC
4. turn on PC and insert driver disk when asked

[Space Toker]

so then some computer repair guy is trying to shaft us? He says it costs like $38 plus like $25 installation, and says you have to plug it into the "motherboard" or something like that, he mentions a motherboard, that's all I know!
I know for a fact that he mentioned something about a motherboard in regard to something else and I know we caught him in a lie that time, but he is close and convenient and has good prices on some things, not so good on others.
So you just have to take it for what its worth and do your own research...
so is it really that easy mace? Humor me as I am an idiot when it comes to this kind of thing: "open pc... close pc".... what do you mean by that, can you be more specific? Open the tower I take it? I know where the 2 USB ports are in front of the tower, I guess there's 2 more in back somewhere. So if you could please tell me what the specific product is called and where it is installed, that would be very appreciated and helpful! THANKS
PEACE

[Space Toker]

ok I guess the product is pretty self-exlanatory from re-reading everything. And yes mace, the external hard drive was not quite right as it was never formatted beyond what the factory settings were, and it was re-formatted and now it is clear that you are right about the unplugging to quick and safely removing hardware. It did not seem to offer these options before, but it is now obvious that you have to do things properly and that wasn't being done until now. THANKS
PEACE