>Windows 7 External Hard Drive issues. Strategizing for future. (NTFS vs 32)

Greetings!

For the most part, I LOVE WIN7 64.

However, I have had huge complications with my external hard drives that has made it essentially impossible to write to a 2 Terabyte external.

I've googled and tried for hours various combinations of 'take ownership' and file permissions etc etc, but still, I have huge hangs / crashes etc etc with my NTFS drive while swapping between my different windows systems. (Desktop / Laptop).

I also have a little fat 32 drive (500G) that is a dream, and gives me no headaches.

So, after failing to get my terabyte external usb to work, I'm wondering:

a. if I reformat NTFS, is there a way to set file permissions etc to 'easy / loose' so I don't have similar problems in the future, OR

b. should I just go fat 32 and avoid all the headaches?


I never in my whole life had these problems with XP and ntfs external usb drives, and it's really driving me bananas!!

7UP

Is this some type of retail external drive, or did you get an enclosure and supply the drive yourself?

If it is USB, is it 2.0 or 3.0? Have you tried different USB ports?

Has the drive been used on another system?

Does it show in Disk Management? (diskmgmt.msc)

hi Saltgrass, and thanks for responding.

It's a WD external mybook kind of thing, and I'm pretty sure it's USB 2.0 (don't have it handy as it hasn't been working).

- I have tried different USB ports (same)
- It has been used on 2 or 3 systems, which I believe is part of the problem (permissions?)
- I've never checked the disk management thing.. how would I do that?

thanks for any input

7UP

Originally Posted by 7UP

- I've never checked the disk management thing.. how would I do that?

Type diskmgmt.msc in the search box on the Start Menu. See if the drive is listed, and you may have to expand the window to see all the information.

Does that device have any type of web interface where you set it up or is it just a plug and go?

What message are you seeing when you try to open the drive to check the files?

Does the drive still work on one of your other systems?

I keep separate external drives for my two system, just to avoid any such problems. If you are using it on several systems, you may want to leave it on one and just map the drive to the other systems.

Hmmm.

I'm looking at the Disk Management page, and I don't see any problems (ie. it says status 'Healthy).

How would I know if there was a web interface? I think it's just a plug & go?

I'm able to access files relatively easy (ie. I can see everything I've loaded on).

The main problem I'm having really, is I'm unable to copy large files onto it without it hanging (even say a 700 meg .AVI or a Gig of MP3s). Small files (under 100 meg) are fine, one at a time, but any large folder / single file over 100 meg makes it hang indefinitely.

It does the same thing on both systmes (win7 64 Laptop & win7 64 desktop)

What does 'leaving a drive on one and mapping it to other systems mean?'

Essentially, I'd like to use it as backup, so say I downloaded a linux iso for example, I'd like to just hook up the external and copy over the 700 meg file for backup, but NO DICE! System hang indefinite

Hence my questions about reformatting and fat32 vs NTFS

I don't doubt you could also have permissions problems if you have been moving the drive between systems, but they are solvable.

However, this does not sound like permissions at all. If the drive really hangs, I.e. progress bar just stops moving (a more detailed explanation of what you mean, along with error message, if any, would help), and it happens on two systems I suspect a faulty enclosure. You could try removing the drive and directly connecting it internally for testing, or, if worried about warranty, simply take it back. If you bought it in a retail store you could attempt to demonstrate the problem in store.

hi Jong, and thanks for chiming in.

I've been going back and searching this for hours.. and think I may have actually found my solution.

One is to make the transfers in safe mode (which instantly solves the problem) and the second is the permissions. I had read and tried the following before, but it had never worked. Tonight, I tried it again, and wow, it worked!

No more hang on large file transfers. If anybody else has been having these kind of problems.. I recommend:

a. trying it in safe mode.
b. the following advice

permissions - Permissionless external drive with NTFS - Super User

I can't tell you guys how happy I am, after MONTHS of this problem with multiple drives.. Success!

Thanks very much for your input fellas : )


*edit just went to copy a huge folder to the external and.. freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze : (

7UP

Yes, as I was saying, I can believe you might have some permissions problems and that sounds like not a bad guide for fixing them. But the freezing will definitely not be caused by them I'm afraid. Reformatting, even to FAT, is also very unlikely to resolve anything.

What anti-virus are you using? Maybe it or something else is scanning the file while it is being transferred.

Is there any encryption or compression going on with file transfers?

The fact is works in safe mode would normally suggest some utility is starting in normal mode that is effecting the transfers. Next time, try using msconfig.exe to limit what utilities to just the Microsoft ones when starting in Normal mode. If that helps, you may be able to narrow down any problem by eliminating others one at a time.

You can map a network drive when it is on another system so your system thinks it is part of a local system. If you were to normally leave one of your systems running, you could put it on that one.

If it matters, I believe file sizes in Fat32 are limited to 4 GB. Most of my Video files are larger than that, but maybe you don't use those. Fat32 doesn't have the security NTFS does, but you could try a reformatting, assuming the device would allow for such.

I have been thinking about this and was wondering about how you disconnect the drive from the various computers. Since external drives can be set to either a Quick Removal (default) or Better Performance, the way they are disconnected, (Safe Removal, or just remove), might make a difference in what condition the drive is in when it is reconnected.

Different OSes may leave the drive in different states..