Author Topic: 4TB Drivestation freezes Vista machine during data transfer  (Read 1844 times)

JohnJBii

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4TB Drivestation freezes Vista machine during data transfer
« on: March 26, 2009, 06:43:11 PM »
   

Buffalo Drivestation HD-QS4.0TSU2/R5

     Successfully set up Raid 5, NTFS, TurboUSB

     Don't know firmware version, but there isn't a new one available on Buffalo support, so must be the latest.

     Switch on back set to "manual."

 

Computer AMD Phenom 9500

     32bit Vista Home Premium SP1, OS up to date, original BIOS, but there's not a new BIOS flash available, so assume it's the latest.

 

- Couldn't set up with the eSATA connection supplied by Buffalo.  The OS sees it as a new drive but can't read it, but I assume that's because the supplied connection is just a pass through from the motherboard, not a PCI card, and the SATA and eSATA voltage standards are slightly different.

 

- Used USB, and had no problems transferring data until the array was about 60% full.  At that point, the system began freezing after a few minutes of transferring.  Noticed that at that point the fan in the back of the array was not running, though the drives were.  Turning off the power to the raid array unfroze the system.  Also, as long as the Drivestation was connected and on, rebooting the computer resulted in a freeze at the Gateway screen, before the Windows splash screen.

 

- Contacted Buffalo support, who diagnosed overheating and arranged for an RMA.

 

- Received the replacement unit.  This is definitely a "refurbished" unit, complete with dents in the case and one hard drive that sounds like a hay bailer (maybe there are a few farmers out there that can relate.)  So, I'm expecting to have to replace one drive soon, but I soldiered on....

 

- Found exactly the same experience with the second Drivestation.  USB only, and worked like a champ until it was about 60% full, then would cause system freezes after a few minutes of data transfer, and would prevent the system from rebooting in the same way.

 

- I tried three USB cables.  Tried connecting to all 6 USB connections on the machine, then bought a PCI USB expansion card.  No Joy!

 

- Device manager recognizes the TurboUSB connection as working properly, as well as the Drivestation registered as a USB device and working properly.  Drivers are 6.0.6001.18000 provided by MS, and version 1.02.0 provided by Buffalo.  Write caching is disabled.  Device manager recognizes a single volume of about 2.8 TB.

 

- One posting suggested removing the indexing option.  I tried this.  The system froze part way through, but the box is now unchecked.  No change in performance.

 

- The Drivestation won't be recognized by my XP machine, but I assume that's because it's a volume larger than 2 TB.

 

- Interestingly, it seems to work, at least for a while, including rebooting successfully, while attached to a friend's WIntel Vista 32 bit machine.  Could be a clue there.

 

- Running chkdsk found no errors.

 

- Ok, gearheads.  I'm at the end of my rope.  Any thoughts?

 

-- John B.