External Hard Drive Problem

[Acoustics4me]

Hey'a all

I recently bought an external hard drive. It is a 'Black Cyclone - 3.5" Portable Hard Disk Drive". Some of the specs are.....

Enhanced IDE/ATA/ATAPI protocol
USB2.0 downward compatible
Support ATA PIO modes 0-4, Ultra DMA 2 & 4
Up to 480 Mbps data transfer
Support Swappable (WHAT IS THAT?)

I am running XP Home/SP2. Now, what happens is I start my pc up, the external drive fires up no problem, and is recognised by my pc (shows under 'My Computer'). But after some time, the green indication light on the drive turns red, and when I look under 'My Computer' again, it is suddenly not there.

When I restart my pc, all is well again. Anyway, I'm a bit worried about my data becoming corrupted on this external drive, when it suddenly just 'turns off' (fails). I'm wondering if you guys can help me with that. Also, what does 'Support Swappable' mean? Does it mean I can just unplug the usb connector from the hard drive, and turn off the power without having to shutdown my pc? And I've also heard of hot-swappable. What is the difference?

Thanks guys

Appreciate any help you can offer.

Cheers,

Michaela

 

[Nodsu]

How about turning off and on the external hard drive?

 

[Acoustics4me]

G'day Nodsu,

Thanks for your reply. Well, I will certainly try that, and it may well work. But it doesn't help with why this is happening in the first place. I mean, it shouldn't happen at all, should it?

Thanks,

Me

 

[Nodsu]

No, this shouldn't happen.

It can be an issue with your USB controller/drivers or the HD enclosure.
Could it be that the external drive is overheating? You can try running it without the covers.

 

[Samstoned]

check see if your power saver settings are turning it off in xp
unplug usb and replug hot
may have to upgrade usb drivers or re-install anyway
most usb devices can be unplugged while power is on
do you have the icon in system tray for safe remove hardware
if not can mean you lost the usb controller some where

 

[WindsurferLA]

I have individual external hard drives connected to each of my three networked computers for data backup. Two out of the three run so hot that I've mounted surplus CPU fans next to them to keep them cool because I know that heat kills. Try cooling the HDD with a fan. If it no longer shuts down, you'll know the cause of the problem.