I had a 1TB SATA II Hitachi Ultrastar drive inside of an Inateck USB 3.0 enclosure. I designated this drive R. I was using it as a backup. I put system images created with both Macrium Reflect Free and Windows Backup and Restore on it. It was quite simple, and I was able to create multiple backups with ease. A few days ago, I needed to do a system restore, so I used the Macrium bootable disc and restored from the last system image I had created with Macrium (stored on drive R). It went off without a hitch.
Later, after modifying my system, I needed to create more backups. I decided to create a Windows Backup and Restore image first. In the middle of the process, my whole system froze. Even the mouse pointer wouldn't move. I did a forced shutdown. Afraid that I may have damaged something in my system through the forced shutdown, I decided to again restore from the last Macrium image I had restored from (again using the bootable disc to restore from the image stored on the external drive). However, this time, the restore process stalled part of the way through, and never finished. I rebooted, booted from the bootable disc again, and tried again. Again, the process didn't complete.
I decided that the issue must be related to the external hard drive (as it was the only common factor present when the Windows Backup and Restore imaging process froze my system and when the Macrium restore process didn't complete). Booting from a different hard drive (that I keep stored away as a contingency), I copied the latest Macrium system image from the external drive onto an internal SATA drive I have in my computer (designated drive F). (It took two tries, as the copying process dropped to 0 bps and didn't recover, requiring a power-down and restart of drive R.) I then put my current C back in, booted up from the Macrium disc, and restored from the copy of the system image I had copied to drive F. The restore process worked perfectly.
My problem was clearly related drive R. But what I am uncertain about is whether it was caused by the Hitachi hard drive itself, the Inateck USB 3.0 enclosure, a driver issue of some kind, or maybe something related to the Windows Backup process that froze my system. I have another SATA drive (a Western Digital SATA II drive) that I can use as a backup inside the Inateck enclosure, but I'm afraid that I might have the same issue again. I did move the WD drive to the Inateck USB 3.0 enclosure, and copied some large files to it, and it didn't present any problems. But I'm still wary.
My main suspect is the Hitachi drive (which I received for free as restitution for my computer coming with a 250 GB hard drive instead of the 1 TB drive it was advertised as containing), as, judging by its SMART data, it clocked over 3,900 hours before it ever came into my possession. That said, after moving the Hitachi drive to an old USB 2.0 enclosure, it doesn't stall when I copy files from it, even for long periods (although I don't know for sure how it would handle backups and restorations at this point, as I don't dare try to use to backup to or restore from anymore). This lack of freezing or stalling makes me wonder if the issue might be related to the USB enclosure, rather than the drive.
Is there any way I can tell for certain what is the exact cause of my problem?
Later, after modifying my system, I needed to create more backups. I decided to create a Windows Backup and Restore image first. In the middle of the process, my whole system froze. Even the mouse pointer wouldn't move. I did a forced shutdown. Afraid that I may have damaged something in my system through the forced shutdown, I decided to again restore from the last Macrium image I had restored from (again using the bootable disc to restore from the image stored on the external drive). However, this time, the restore process stalled part of the way through, and never finished. I rebooted, booted from the bootable disc again, and tried again. Again, the process didn't complete.
I decided that the issue must be related to the external hard drive (as it was the only common factor present when the Windows Backup and Restore imaging process froze my system and when the Macrium restore process didn't complete). Booting from a different hard drive (that I keep stored away as a contingency), I copied the latest Macrium system image from the external drive onto an internal SATA drive I have in my computer (designated drive F). (It took two tries, as the copying process dropped to 0 bps and didn't recover, requiring a power-down and restart of drive R.) I then put my current C back in, booted up from the Macrium disc, and restored from the copy of the system image I had copied to drive F. The restore process worked perfectly.
My problem was clearly related drive R. But what I am uncertain about is whether it was caused by the Hitachi hard drive itself, the Inateck USB 3.0 enclosure, a driver issue of some kind, or maybe something related to the Windows Backup process that froze my system. I have another SATA drive (a Western Digital SATA II drive) that I can use as a backup inside the Inateck enclosure, but I'm afraid that I might have the same issue again. I did move the WD drive to the Inateck USB 3.0 enclosure, and copied some large files to it, and it didn't present any problems. But I'm still wary.
My main suspect is the Hitachi drive (which I received for free as restitution for my computer coming with a 250 GB hard drive instead of the 1 TB drive it was advertised as containing), as, judging by its SMART data, it clocked over 3,900 hours before it ever came into my possession. That said, after moving the Hitachi drive to an old USB 2.0 enclosure, it doesn't stall when I copy files from it, even for long periods (although I don't know for sure how it would handle backups and restorations at this point, as I don't dare try to use to backup to or restore from anymore). This lack of freezing or stalling makes me wonder if the issue might be related to the USB enclosure, rather than the drive.
Is there any way I can tell for certain what is the exact cause of my problem?
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