Buffalo 500GB Harddrive falls asleep while copying files...

[Dietmar]

   Hi there,

i use my Buffalo 500GB for Backups and usually let it run all over the night. Now I have the following problem, when I want to copy a file onto my Buffalo harddrive it kind of falls asleep after a few minutes while I am copying files onto the harddrive and then an error message pops up saying it could not copy my files to the buffalo harddrive. Does anyone have any idea what that might be ? I hope I don't have to buy a new external harddrive now :(

[Paul]

There is an auto/manual switch in the back.  Please flip that to manual.

[Dietmar]

   I did that, but this doesn't change a thing. When I copy files to my Buffalo harddrive, after some minute the yellow triangle with the exclamation mark appears in the right bottom of my taskbar, there where you can see the time etc. in windows xp, and then everything becomes slow, so in order to be able to use my PC again i have to switch off the buffalo harddrive and then I get a popup that the files couldn't be copied and the computer works fine again.

Do I need to buy another external harddrive or is there a solution to fix this problem with my Buffalo harddrive ? :(

[MulderDK]

   

Hey there.

 

First of I'd like to know if there's a specific reason why there is no option for "Buffalo Forums" on the Euro site.. :smileywink:

 

Secondly I have been experiencing the same problems. And after hours of googling for an answer I have found many solutions, none that work for THIS specific problem. While copying files from the Buffalo drive to any other source it will suddenly lock up windows. Not all files, far from it, and no specific file types either. I can "read" the files without problem, but copying them (the specific files that causes the problem I mean) is a big no no.

 

I was doing a format this weekend and was backing up some old data to the Buffalo drive without any issues, it was not copying TO the drive that was causing problems. But when my system was back up and running and I wanted to get the data back, it would continuously stop responding at the same files and the "Access Led" would light up permanently. Only way to get my computer back into my control was to power down the Buffalo drive which causes Windows to error the transfer (obviously) and give the "Delayed writing" warning.

 

It is very annoying as I would like to be able to rely on the data I backup will be available to bring back again. Hehe. Goes without saying, I'm sure.

 

Browsed many websites that described similar problems, though I only focused on the "Delayed writing" error, which isn't really the problem here. And none of the solutions paid of for me. Right now I'm just trying SP3 for WinXP as I was told there might be some minor fixes that could help me out. It's a shot in the dark, but I'll try anything.

 

I'm not really a hardware tech and don't know much about how these drives work. Hehe. Here's my PC specs, but if any other info could be helpful, please just ask.

 

 

Gigabyte - nVidia nForce 68x MCP GA-N650SLI-DS4 

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 @ 3.00 GHz

2x 2 GB DDR2-666 PC2-5300U Kingston RAM

2x SLI 8800 GTS' 640MB DDR3

Seagate 320GB SATA150  44372rpm 16MB cache

 

Windows XP Pro 5.1.2600 SP2 Build 2600

 

 

I doubt it's software specific, as I've experienced it on a fresh install of both XP Pro and Win2K Pro. And on two different computers.

 

Sorry for the long post, but English isn't my native language and I just wanted to try to get my message through as understandable as possible. I'm sure it could be said in much less words.

I hope this issues can be resolved as I am really fond of my Buffalo drives.

 

Thanks for your time. :)

 

Message Edited by MulderDK on 11-25-2008 04:17 AM

[Paul]

When this happens again can you tell me what you see in the disk management tool?

It sounds like windows is not seeing the drive.  I would make sure the drive is in NTFS and  run a disk check and a defrag on it.

[MulderDK]

   

Hey.

 

The drive is NTFS. I've run multiple chkdsk on the drive all came out with no errors and no damaged sectors. I checked disk management last time it halted and everything was perfectly fine. Maybe I should switch the drive with one of the others I've got in my Link Station, but would still require alot of data transfers for me. Hmmm.

 

I will try running a defrag on tonight when I go to work as I imagine it will take a LONG time to complete. ;)

 

The thing that I just don't understand is I can copy a folder of documents to the drive without problems and then I might not be able to copy them back. I will keep halting on the same file as if it's corrupt in some way. But why would that put Windows to a halt? It's difficult to test the drive as it seems totally random which files it will eventually get errors on. Is there any way to create corrupt files so I can test it? Could the disc corrupt a file while transfering it?

 

Sorry for the rookie questions. ;) Appreciate any help, thanks.

 

 

PS Windows XP Service Pack 3 did not solve anything. ;)

[Somchai111]

   

Have a gork at my thread over here,

 

http://forums.buffalotech.com/buffalo/board/message?board.id=0101&thread.id=1286&page=1">http://forums.buffalotech.com/buffalo/board/message?board.id=0101&thread.id=1286&page=1, sounds like you've a similar problem, if not the same.

[Somchai111]

   Though I don't understand what you mean by, "Access Led"  and don't have an auto/manual switch on the drive's exterior.

[MulderDK]

   

The little red light on the front of the HD indicating the drive is working. It is labeled "Acess" on mine. :)
And yea, I have a switch on the back, which is now set to manual. Neither option work. Besides it shouldn't be "falling" asleep while copying files (should only poweroff when inactive, right?). And then it would be very weird that it's only on some certain files.

I will look at that link now though. Thanks for the replies. :)

 

 

Edit: Read your post. And though the problems may seem similar they aren't quite as I never "loose" my drives from disk manager or from device manager. It "just" locks up on certain files (which may be corrupt, I don't know). But even if those files are corrupt, I dont see why it should be such a big deal for the HD as it didn't complain when the files were being copied to it. But then again, I have no idea how it works. ;)

Message Edited by MulderDK on 11-27-2008 09:33 AM

[MulderDK]

   

Okay. Got around to running a defrag on the drive.

It got to 3% and then everything "froze" again. It got stuck while moving a file, so I noted the file. Powered the drive off and on again. The I tried moving that file myself which again made the Buffalo drive upset. Then I just deleted the file without a problem. Is there any program out there that may determine if there is actually something wrong with these files?

 

After that I ran defrag again, only to find it halting at 3% again on another file. Really seems like bad sectors, but chkdsk found nothing wrong. Hmm. I'll keep testing. ;)

[Dietmar]

   I don't think that this is a file problem. Because I have tried other external drives like TREKSTOR and they work fine, but with the Buffalo I got this freeze problem especially when I copy folders that contain like several 100 files, a message pops up after a while and says cannot copy on device and that yellow triangle in the taskbar near the time in windows.

I have tried different programs to copy files, like windows explorer and windows commander. Windows commander is definitely better. But there to, the hard drive just gives up after a while.

It seems like there is no solution to this problem ? :( thus it means I will need to buy a new external drive then ? :( Like you, or anyone else, if the harddrive is not reliable, its very risky to use it as a backup for a company, which I do...

[MulderDK]

   

I don't know if it's a file problem. I just report it how I experience it. Right now I'm copying all my data on the Buffalo drive to another disc. And everytime the drive freezes I take a note of the file it stops at, restart the drive and delete the file it stopped at. Then I can copy the folder just fine. This procedure I've done 50+ times by now. Which means I have lost at least 50 files so far. I just can't be bothered to wait for a fix anymore, so I will just have to sacrifice some files in order to get my system working properly again. Then I'm gonna put that Buffalo drive away till someone finds a proper solution. Sucks yea, it's alot of work. Hehehe. Ohh well gives me a weekend project.

 

Hope you find a solution soon mate. Problems like these are very frustrating. I'm just glad I haven't lost all the data.

[ajtruckle]

   

I have been suffering the same problems. The first drive was faulty within 5 minutes. A week later I had a replacement from Ebuyer. My PC refused to format the drives and I had to use a laptop to do it. They are both NTFS.

 

I use drive 1 as my data drive and drive 2 as my backup drive. I am running software to backup from 1 to 2 on an occasional basis.

 

Nearly each day I get a "Delayed Write Failure" and I have to switch off the unit to rectify. I have to say I find this frustrating. I haven't been over imimpressed with the fact that the software shipped with the drive is fauly right out of the box.

 

The unit looks really nice and I want it to work. But I am not really in a position to constantly delete partitions and reformat drives. The unit has to work and I think something untoward is going on.

 

But I have to admit, it does seem that it is when you are copying alot of data from 1 to 2 that it causes delayed writes. And I find it odd that this happens when the drive is supposed to support mirroring anyway.

 

I have contacted support and am waiting for a response. They say about doing a replacement but I am not really thrilled with that option.

 

Did your issue get solved? My drive is connected via USB to a XP Home SP3 operating system.

 

Andrew