HardDriv'n Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 This actually happens when I'm using WinXP as well, but I'm usually using Win2k on the machine this happens on.When I plug in a WD My Book Essential Edition external hard drive (1TB), Windows 2000 stops responding. The only option I have to regain control is to unplug the drive, without using the safe remove option.This HD does work in Windows ME funnily enough...Anyone ever experience anything like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaclaz Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 Well, we need a "more accurate" report.A 1Tb drive is "biggish".If the behaviour is the same on XP and 2K it cannot be connected with a pre SP3 2K (48 bit LBA addressing).I wouldn't use it on a ME unless you are really positive that the ME has been completely patched and tested for such a big drive.Did it "never" work on 2K and XP, or it just "started one bad day"?Sounds more like a driver/registry problem. It could also be a somehow malformed MBR that locks the OS when it tries automounting the partition(s).jaclaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dencorso Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 Two more questions: (i) is it partitioned or has it just one big partition? and (ii) FAT-32 or NTFS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stans4 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Not really enough data, what SP level are you at? How is the drive formatted, FAT32 or NTFS? Can you plug it in to a different PC and connect? ME may not count, it's got some built-in limits on how big a drive it can use. If you tried writing to it from that, it may need a reformat before you can do anything.I have had this happen with USB flash sticks that have had damaged media type codes, I had to use DFSee to look at the partition table and straighten things out manually. I've used up to 1.5TB drives on a USB-SATA adapter on W2K with no problems. That's basically what's in those fancy packaged external cases.Stan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stans4 Posted October 27, 2009 Share Posted October 27, 2009 Just thought of something else, a lot of those drives have a partition with software in them designed to autorun and install when plugged in. If you allow autorun, it may be locking things up that way. Just a thought.Stan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointertovoid Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 (edited) What's the interface of this external drive?If it's eSata, hot-plugging it requires Ahci-capable drivers and host.In Usb, W2k has some small weaknesses from time to time, but Xp shouldn't fail the same way, as Xp's Usb software stack is re-engineered and has little to do with W2k.I've also seen unexpected behaviours with W2ksp4 (and Nt4sp6a and Xpsp2, but not Nt4sp0) when connecting on a P-Ata port a CF card declared as removable that had several volumes. No idea if a Usb disk would be treated the same way.Also, about WinMe, I don't believe it has any Lba limitation to 28 bits. All Lba are coded on 32 bits there as far as I know, allowing it to access disks >128GiB provided the Bios is capable of it.Anyway, an Lba28 limit shouldn't let the OS hang, would it? Edited October 28, 2009 by pointertovoid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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