External drive problem

[Jonny_L]

Right, bit of a techy one, hope someone can help me out. I'm scratching my head about this one and can't seem to find anything on google...

I'm trying to back up the files on my hard drive before a reformat. Trouble is, every time I try to copy any large folders, it works for a few seconds to a minute then the computer freezes up, and the external drive just disconnects it's self I'm trying to use eSATA, though it does the same thing through firewire. So far USB2 seems ok but too slow for the amount of files I need to copy.

I've also tried copying different files but the same thing happens. Also sometimes if I create a new folder on the external drive it sometimes disappears after it's disconnected.

I'm pretty sure it's not the external drive, as the same thing happens on my old one.

Some details if it helps:
Vista 64bit SP1
Intel P4 3.2ghz processor, with intel 945G motherboard.
3gb ram
Nvidia Gforce 7600gt graphics card

Anyone got any ideas?

Edit: P.S. It does the same thing in safe mode too.

 

[Mav]

Just a thought - have you got much space left on the hard drive? I've seen PCs have issues dealing with large volumes of data when they haven't much space... That's about as far as my tech knowledge goes

 

[Clive]

Does the same thing happen using RoboCopy?

This can check fragmentation state.

 

[mikepg]

Have you tried to see if there any new drivers for the external h/d compatible with Vista?

Also - check to see if the cable is ok.

Finally - as Mav says, your HD requires alot of space to to the operation - so, maybe if the USB works, to save doing any more investigation, cut your losses and just let the thing cook for a day or two whilst it does the backup.

 

[Jonny_L]

Cheers guys. Plenty of space on all drives, in fact the external one's basically empty. Tried different sockets, cables etc., but as it does the same thing with my old external drive I'd expect that side of it's fine (sorry probably should've made that bit clearer).

I'm going to see if there's a bios update now, but my old drive used to work fine so I'm starting to think it's either a software issue or something's gone pop

 

[Jonny_L]

Good news, firewire seems to work fine now Not sure what I did though, I had a fiddle around inside the case (I built it myself), perhaps one of the wires was loose. Still no joy with eSATA, but that'll do for now, hopefully the rest will cure it's self with the reformat.

 

[Fanum]

Can't help thinking it might be some sort of memory/write buffer issue

Edit; the more I think about it, the more I'd say it was a buffer/speed issue.....I think the Firewire is trying to dump too much data too fast for the drive to deal with