Seagate external and Vista

[jtrory]

Hi,

I recently bought a new computer which runs Vista64. So far, only one problem. The 300GB external Seagate disk, running on Firewire 400, that I use for backup does not function properly.

It has an automatic standby feature that kicks in after about 15 minutes of no use. This seems to cause Vista to get very confused, and assume the drive has failed. The drive itself appears to crash because Vista disables it, and I have to pull the power plug. Then, once I turn the drive back on, Vista recognizes the drive but won't let me use it because it says the device failed. I have a Code(10) if that's of any use. The only way to get the drive to work again is to uninstall the driver, then restart Vista so it will reinstall the drive.

This, incidentally, never happened on my old computer when I was running XP.

Since Seagate don't provide drivers for HDD's that run on XP or Vista, which I think is retarded btw, I think the only thing I can do is figure out how to shut off the disk's standby mode, so the disk's communication with Vista is never interrupted. Anyone know how I could do this?

 

[r_manic]

I'm not entirely sure if this is correct, but you can try disabling Vista's Power Management? Try Control Panel > System and Maintenence > Power Options. You can set the hard disk sleep times there to never. Unfortunately, I don't think you can change settings for specific disks.

Let me know what happens.

 

[jtrory]

Actually, I figured it out in the end. I completely uninstalled the driver for the disk, and restarted Vista. It then correctly installed the driver, which I guess it hadn't done when I first got the computer, so the disk is now recognized.

I also found out that the Fireware cable doesn't sit properly in the back of the computer, so whenever the drive is on and Vista can't find it, I have to reach around back and giggle the cable. Not the best solution, but about the only thing I can do. I don't think it's the cable's fault, so I just have to put up with it.

Anyway, thanks for the help. I did look in the advanced power settings, and it gives mention only to your HDD, so I don't think changing that setting would affect an external drive. I guess the sleep mode on an external Seagate is just something you have to put up with.

 

[jtrory]

Actually, I figured it out in the end. I completely uninstalled the driver for the disk, and restarted Vista. It then correctly installed the driver, which I guess it hadn't done when I first got the computer, so the disk is now recognized.

I also found out that the Fireware cable doesn't sit properly in the back of the computer, so whenever the drive is on and Vista can't find it, I have to reach around back and giggle the cable. Not the best solution, but about the only thing I can do. I don't think it's the cable's fault, so I just have to put up with it.

Anyway, thanks for the help. I did look in the advanced power settings, and it gives mention only to your HDD, so I don't think changing that setting would affect an external drive. I guess the sleep mode on an external Seagate is just something you have to put up with.

 

[jtrory]

Sorry for the double post. My bad.

 

[r_manic]

No problem... but from experience, a drive (external or internal) only goes to sleep when inactive, so I don't know why yours is going inactive while your backup app is supposedly writing on it...