external hard drive still not cooperating

  • Thread starter Thread starter hzpurple
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hzpurple

This is a re-hash of my earlier post:

I am using a Toshiba Laptop (A45-S151) running Windows XP Pro. My BIOS
is the most current for this model. I have been using a 80gb external
hard drive with no problems. I have put a 320gb into an identical
enclosure and when plugged in to power and USB, it works fine.
However, after I put computer in "hibernate" and return to use the
computer again, the drive no longer appears on "My Computer" and I
get a message that an "Unidentified Device" is present. When I
unplug the external drive and plug in again, it reappears and works
fine. I would like to have the drive ALWAYS there. Any suggestions
would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
hzpurple said:
This is a re-hash of my earlier post:

I am using a Toshiba Laptop (A45-S151) running Windows XP Pro. My BIOS
is the most current for this model. I have been using a 80gb external
hard drive with no problems. I have put a 320gb into an identical
enclosure and when plugged in to power and USB, it works fine.
However, after I put computer in "hibernate" and return to use the
computer again, the drive no longer appears on "My Computer" and I
get a message that an "Unidentified Device" is present. When I
unplug the external drive and plug in again, it reappears and works
fine. I would like to have the drive ALWAYS there. Any suggestions
would be appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...
In your USB drivers, are they set to power down the USB port when the
system goes into hibernation? If so, you might reset them to stay hot
even when the system sleeps. You can often make this setting on a
port-by-port basis. If you are providing power externally (you must if
you are using big drives) then the actual power drain over that USB port
will still be relatively small when the system hibernates.
 
hzpurple said:
This is a re-hash of my earlier post:

I am using a Toshiba Laptop (A45-S151) running Windows XP Pro. My BIOS
is the most current for this model. I have been using a 80gb external
hard drive with no problems. I have put a 320gb into an identical
enclosure and when plugged in to power and USB, it works fine.
However, after I put computer in "hibernate" and return to use the
computer again, the drive no longer appears on "My Computer" and I
get a message that an "Unidentified Device" is present. When I
unplug the external drive and plug in again, it reappears and works
fine. I would like to have the drive ALWAYS there. Any suggestions
would be appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Hi,

I'm only taking a few stabs in the dark here.............
Just because the enclosure you are using for the new drive appears to be
identical, doesn't mean it is.
It may have a later hardware revision level, ie. different controller chip,
different firmware, different circuit layout, etc...
This new enclosure may have a hardware/firmware issue with resuming from
hibernation that did not exist in the older enclosure..
It could even be a conflict between the new drive's firmware/interface and
the new enclosure's controller..
Perhaps the external drive powers down when the laptop goes into
hibernation, and when the laptop resumes from hibernation, the enclosure
tries to restart the drive, and for some reason the drive doesn't come back
online fast enough and a such doesn't get recognised correctly at that time.
ie. the new drive is taking too long to spin-up from hibernation, compared
to the older drive..
Perhaps the new enclosure has a slightly different power supply that can't
easily handle the new drive's power requirements during spin-up, temporarily
giving a lower voltage supply, resulting in the USB controller not
communicating correctly during the resume, and therefore not being
recognised. (Could be trying to draw some power from the laptop's USB port
at this instant, resulting in a temporary overload and shutdown of the USB
port).
The need to unplug and replug would seem to support one of the last two
scenario's, as the drive would have had time to fully spin up and be fully
operational in idle mose, with a resultant lower current draw on the
enclosure's supply..

I would suggest swapping the drives between the two enclosures, to see if
the issue moves with the drive or stays with the same enclosure.

This will at least help to narrow down what is causing the problem, ie.
either the new drive or the new enclosure..

Cheers,

John S.
 
what service pack are you using?
i believe there was a problem with drives larger than 120gb in sp1 also
to do with hibernation
 
hzpurple said:
This is a re-hash of my earlier post:

I am using a Toshiba Laptop (A45-S151) running Windows XP Pro.
My BIOS is the most current for this model. I have been using
a 80gb external hard drive with no problems. I have put a
320gb into an identical enclosure and when plugged in to power
and USB, it works fine. However, after I put computer in
"hibernate" and return to use the computer again, the drive no
longer appears on "My Computer" and I get a message that an
"Unidentified Device" is present. When I unplug the external
drive and plug in again, it reappears and works fine. I would
like to have the drive ALWAYS there. Any suggestions would be
appreciated. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Is it possible the interface of the external case has something to do
with it?
Geeks jump sometimes and demand a reason for some anomolies
Would it make any difference if the original drive in the case was
ATA 100
and the new one is ATA 133?
 
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