2 USBs drives crashed!

[Gary D]

The Situation:

Both of my USB drives crashed. It started with the Maxtor 320 GB III. Whenever I turn either on, my computer freezes. There is no response from the keyboard or mouse or CPU (I had process explorer on to watch what happened) Earlier, I could not go into safe mode but now I am able since reinstalling WIN XP.

The Facts:

My system restore was turned off before I discovered this problem. I have no restore point to fall back to.

I have a picture of drive C on one of the USB drives but is unaccessible because the computer freezes before detecting it.

I have uninstalled and reinstall (by booting) all of my USB drivers.

I have reinstalled windows XP in repair mode hoping it was the plug and play feature corrupted but no luck.

I rebuilt the boot.ini with no luck.

If I plug in the USB drive hot (on) or cold (off/then turned on), it freezes everything in about 10 seconds.

If I have the USB drive on while in BIOS, the computer detects it.

If I turn on the drive then the computer, windows does not get to the log-in screen.

I am able to use the USB ports for the printer and camera downloads.

I have switched the drives to different ports with no luck.

I have unplugged the drives (hoping it was a RAM issue inside the drive) and replugged them in with no luck.

It has been 8 hours now and I am out of ideas.

[Chewy]

was drive indexing enabled?

were the usb drives both fat32?

[Gary D]

was drive indexing enabled?


were the usb drives both fat32?

Neither drive was being indexed as they were mainly JPEGs and VOBs.

Both drives were formatted NTSC.

I did find this in my documents:

DISASTER RECOVERY INFORMATION for a Windows XP System

Backup Set: "Backup Set A-2007-01-28"
Snapshot: PRESARIO
Date: 28/01/2007 12:44 PM
Volume partitions:
C  PRESARIO  (NTFS: 143.8 G)
H  PRESARIO_RP  (FAT32: 5.3 G)
O  WD USB 2  (NTFS: 149.1 G)


These instructions assume you have experienced a disastrous data loss and furthermore, that the computing environment required to restore that data is not available. If you can boot your computer, start Retrospect and use the application's Restore function. If you cannot boot your computer, use these instructions to return the computer to working order. Read these instructions carefully before proceeding.

Preparing for Disaster Recovery
-------------------------------------
Make sure the following items are available before beginning Disaster Recovery:

- A Windows XP Setup CD. If the computer will not boot from the Windows XP Setup CD, you will also need the setup disk or disks that allow you to install from the Windows XP Setup CD.

NOTE: The temporary system installation will require the Windows XP Setup CD's Product Key: 
	[B]XXXXX-XXXXX_XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
[/B]
If you only have a Windows XP Upgrade CD and you need to perform a complete Windows XP OS install, then you will need the original operating system CD and its product key to confirm OS upgrade if you intend to perform a complete install of Windows XP environment before beginning Retrospect Express's restore.

If the system you are restoring is running Windows NT, you must also have a Service Pack 6 or later installer available.

- A Retrospect CD or the Retrospect installer if you downloaded the software from the Internet.

- All disks for Backup Set "Backup Set A-2007-01-28".

- The Catalog File for Backup Set "Backup Set A-2007-01-28".


- A printout of these instructions.


Additional Preparation for WINS Servers
--------------------------------------------
If your computer is a Windows NT 4 Server, Windows 2000 Server, or Windows 2000 Advanced Server acting as a WINS server on your network, you need to configure the WINS server to make a backup copy of its database.

Set the WINS Manager to replicate its files by setting a database backup path in the WINS Manager. NT 4 Server: Go to WINS Manager>Server>Configuration>Advanced. Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server: Go to WINS>Action>Properties. Set the backup database path to %SystemRoot%\configbk\.


Performing a Disaster Recovery
--------------------------------------------
Make sure you have all items mentioned above in the Preparing for a Disaster Recovery section before you start.

1. Start your computer using the Windows XP CD. 

If your computer will not boot using the CD, boot using the setup disk or disks needed to access the Windows XP CD.

NOTE: If you only have a Windows XP Upgrade CD, you will need to install a temporary system using the original operating system and then upgrade to Windows XP.

2. Recreate the following partitions on your computer:
C  PRESARIO  (NTFS: 143.8 G)
H  PRESARIO_RP  (FAT32: 5.3 G)
O  WD USB 2  (NTFS: 149.1 G)


WARNING: Erasing or formatting a hard disk destroys all data stored on the disk. If you are not sure whether you should erase or format your hard disk, contact your computer or hard disk vendor for assistance.

3. Windows XP Setup installs a temporary system onto your computer.

When Windows XP asks you for the product key, enter:
	[COLOR="Red"][B]XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX[/B][/COLOR]

Windows NT 4 Workstation and Server users: after the core OS is installed, you must install Service Pack 6 or later.

4. Install Retrospect.

When the temporary system is up and running, install Retrospect.

Start Retrospect and enter your Retrospect license code:
	[B][COLOR="Red"]XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX[/COLOR][/B] (OEM Express 6.5.342)

5. Prepare to restore your computer.

If you have your Backup Set Catalog File, copy it to the hard drive. Select Configure>Backup Sets, then click More and then Open to add Backup Set A-2007-01-28 to the list of available Backup Sets.

If you do not have your Backup Set Catalog File, recreate the catalog from your storage media. Select Tools>Repair Catalog. Then select the Recreate from disks option and insert the first disk. Continue following the onscreen instructions until the Backup Set Catalog File is recreated.



6. Restore your computer.

Select Restore>Entire Volume.

In the top list of the window that appears, select the Backup Set: 
"Backup Set A-2007-01-28"

In the bottom list, select the most recent PRESARIO Snapshot, then click OK.

A window appears listing hard disks to which you can restore. Select your hard disk and leave the drop-down list box set to Restore Entire Volume, then click OK.

Retrospect matches files from the Snapshot, scans the destination, and displays a summary of the restore it is about to perform.

Put the first disk from Backup Set A-2007-01-28 in your backup device and click Restore.

If you need to restore additional volumes, repeat the Restore your computer instructions for each volume you need to restore.

Once you have restored your desired volumes, exit Retrospect and restart the computer.

If your computer is a server, skip to step 7.

If your computer is not a server, after it starts up, log in. If you get an alert from Retrospect telling you to restart, restart one more time. (Some systems have additional components installed that require a second reboot).

Congratulations! Your computer is ready to use.

7. Cleanup for servers.

If your server is a Windows 2000 Domain Controller (using Active Directory): When the character based Starting Windows progress bar appears, immediately press F8 to enter the Windows 2000 Advanced Options Menu. (If you get to the colorful Windows logo, it is too late and you need to restart again.) Select Directory Services Restore Mode (Windows 2000 Domain Controllers only) and press Enter. At the Log On to Windows dialog, enter the appropriate user name and password. Dismiss the Windows is running in safe mode alert.

If your server is not a Domain Controller: When prompted, log in to Windows with an appropriate name and password.

All Servers: A service installed by Retrospect now starts and restores special server components. As each component is restored (for example COM+ Class Registration, Certificate Services database, IIS Metabase, and Active Directory), you will see a dialog. Once all appropriate components are restored, a final dialog appears telling you to restart the computer. Finally, if your server is a Windows 2000 DHCP server, open the DHCP Manager and verify that your DHCP Server scope is active.

Congratulations! Your computer is ready to use.

I will print this out at work tomorrow and do it when I get home.

The RED Xs were done by me to protect my serial #s.

[Chewy]

H PRESARIO_RP (FAT32: 5.3 G)
fat32 hidden partition to be accessed from dos with all you installation files

[Gary D]

That was wiped clean with a clean install 18 months ago. I just use it to store old programs. That H drive is a partition on my C drive.

[Gary D]

An update!

Yesterday, I brought the 2 drives in for "data recovery". Both drives were fine when hooked up to their USB ports.

It looks like my USB card got fried from the USB HDs. So tomorrow, they will put in a new card and delete/remove the other ones from the computer.

I did a lot of googling and it looks like certain (cheap) USB cards do not like the power fluctuations from an external HD. Having 2 HDs just compounded the problems. So by this time tomorrow (hopefully), I will have both drives up and running.

One final note, while the computer is in the shop, they are going to clean the dust bunnies out of it.

Gary D

[Gary D]

Mystery solved!!

It was not my USB card!

It was my power supply. I only had 165 watt power supply with a max peak of 227 watts. My current build runs 292 watts. So my power supply went kaput when the USB drives were turned on. After the old power supply was remove, they tested it and it could only produce 120 watts now.

I now have a new 420 watt power supply. Everything is working great now!

This is what happens when you take an entry level computer and add 2 DVD burners, one fan, a wireless internet receiver, and 2 external USB drives and do not worry about the power supply.

Nothing like practical experience to build on!

[gonwk]

Gary D & Chewy,

I am really a newbie to computers ... here is my dumb Q ...

How does an External USB Hard Drive over-drive your Desktop computer power supply!?!?!?!?

The reason I am interested in this answer is because at times I am running 5 External USB Hard Drives off my Dell Desktop PC on their own power strip and plugged into the USB port in the back of the computer.

Am I asking for similar problem that Gary had!?!?!?

Thanks,
G!

[Chewy]

Best I can figure it gary's PS and computer were way overtaxed already, the pci card was drawing power to supply usb power for the external, I am pretty sure the usb power comes from the source not the external hard drive power supply.

To keep from overdrawing power from the usb use a powered hub

there's only like 200milliamps available from the usb bus, each device uses some.

I googled it at one time, some devices use 25-50% of all available power

[gonwk]

Hi Chewy,

Thanks dude!

G!