External hard disk

[heinz]

Dear All,

I have purchased two (20 GB and 40 GB) external hard
disks, primarily for back up purposes. When I used them
to copy directories (especially from remote computers
over the network!) I frequently loose connectivity. I use
simple "copy/paste" type of copying whole directories. It
is annoying if, for instance after half an hour all the
sudden the connection drops. The external hard disk is
connected through USB 2.0 and using an extra power supply
for the hard disk does not substantially change it. Is
there a more robust way of doing this type of copy in XP
Home Edition or is there a patch for XP existing?

Thanks,

Heinz

 

[Cari \(MS-MVP\)]

Are your USB ports set to go into standby? Device Manager, under USB
Controllers.... right click, select Properties.... look in the Power
Management tab. Uncheck the box that says the PC can turn them off to save
power.