device driver icon inaccessible

[xenocrisis0153]

i'm not sure what the exact problem is, but the (G:) drive where I have my portable hard-drive plugged in refuses to let me into the areas where I can access everything stored in there. When I use the device-manager to check the status of the drive, it says everything is working fine, but when I go to "Computer" and try to click on it, it just processes forever then crashes my windows program. It doesn't even label itself as "BUFFALO (whatever) Drive" anymore... just generic "G: Drive"

I've tried unplugging it and replugging it. I've tried using the (H:) Drive. I've refreshed... I've restarted... nothing seems to want to grant me access into this area of my files. When I go to "Remove Devices Safely," it recognizes everything, but when I click "stop," it processes for a few minutes, then tells me that it can't disconnect because the device is in use.

bullshit... what's going on here? please help!
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GTX: Great Teacher Xeno... my daily blog about teaching in an elementary and middle school in Japan (see right-menu)

[Killswitch]

I had a similar problem some time ago. My problem involved my optical drives, but the problems i had sound very familiar to yours. In my case the device drivers were corrupted and needed to be re-installed. I got an error message at least, so i sent it to Microsoft and they sent me a hot-fix.

Re-installing the drivers could solve your problem, and you could also check if the USB drivers are functioning properly.

These are just some suggestions based on my experiences. I hope it helps.

[Jsy3k]

[xenocrisis0153]

[cheshire]

External hard disks are more prone to errors because they tend to be in small cases and are more liable to overheating (particularly in hot climates)

The best solution to try for when your HDD starts to fail like this is
(1) try and copy it all off immediately if you can
(2) shut down everything
(3) get a replacement hard disk ready
(4) PUT THE HARD DISK IN THE REFRIGERATOR (not freezer) for a hour or so.
(5) Try and connect the HDD up with the case off. This may well now spin up and work for a short while, during which you can copy off the important data. Having the case off helps it keep cool for longer.

I did this and although it took 3 cycles through the list of steps, I managed to retrieve all my data. I've used this trick a couple of times over the last 20 years with success.

If the disk is spinning up, but the content is going weird, you should run chkdisk on it. From a command line, 'chkdsk /X /F' and possibly add /R as well if you've time. This can correct filesystem errors caused by failing disks and let you get at the all-important data.

[cheshire]

Reading again, if you also have problems with other USB devices, try another USB port (of course). It may be the port, or the USB controller chip, failing. If your PC has >4 USB ports on the motherboard then it will have more than 1 USB controller chip, so try all the other ports in case the controller chip is failing.

If you have problems with the C drive, the run chkdsk on your C drive (with the /F flag but not /X). Possibly the C drive is corrupt - if so, you may end up having to do a repair reinstall of the OS.

Back up all your data from the C drive; you may need to wipe and reinstall the OS completely. I tend to do this every few years anyway as Windows gets more and more loaded down with cruft over time.

Check for viruses and trojans having hooked your disk driver and hosed the OS. You *do* have a up to date virus scanner installed, I hope...

Connect your external HDD to someone else's computer, see if they can read it without problem or if they see errors as well. Possibly the disk is fine, it is your OS at fault.

The trouble with backups these days is that there's no easy way to do it; disks are 150GB+ and even a DVDR is only 4G. Tapes can manage high volumes but they're far too slow and the hardware is expensive.

Steve

[xenocrisis0153]

the overheating probably isn't the issue since the weather has been alright as of late.