Other External products

[petergm]

Hi,

Hope someone can help me a little here!  I bought a Maxtor Basics 500Gb external HDD, formatted it using Windows XP (500Gb - no problem) After transferring about 10Gb data to it and went back to check later, Windows reported that the drive needed re-formatting, and only offered to format it at about 40-something Gb.  I returned the drive to my retailer who replaced it with another.  The same thing happens, I can see the data after I transfer it, and after a while Windows asks me to format at a lower size.  I have noticed if I unplug the power to the drive it comes back up to 500Gb with no problem with all the data still intact.  I am a little worried as the backup data stored on it is from my company.  Any help you guys can 'throw' at this one would be MUCH appreciated!

Peter 

[sdarkn3ss]

"I have noticed if I unplug the power to the drive it comes back up to 500Gb with no problem with all the data still intact."

 My issue is similar. Windows 2000 pro sp4 and also tried on Windows 2003 server, both updated.

EDIT: got my w2k corrupt (i will format) and i used last known configuration that put my w2k as if i just installed it with sp4. funny thing is that the external drive has been awake all night.

EDIT: follows what happened and doesnt happen now:

If I dont open any folder on the Maxtor external Basics hdd (500 GBs), after sometime, windows shows it as if it was new and ask me to format. But if i unplug it and plug it again, windows see hdd as it was, with all its data.

 coul it be something with built in sleep or something like that? On the Freeagent software that i cannot use for this drive and neither with those windows versions, they say: "It also provides an interface to adjust the built-in sleep timer on the drive and includes diagnostic software." 

 So, if it is the built-in sleep timer that puts the hdd (not in use) on sleep mode, and windows is unable to wake it up, and giving us the risk to format it accidentaly. How can we disable that sleep timer? or how can we wake it up from windows?

- I also disabled the windows property letting it to power off drive and checked usb properties in case was related to them.

-Right now, i have a window showing the content of the Maxtor hdd, and for now the light is on.

-After some time the green light of the external hdd was like loosing power and gaining power again (edit: it has also done that while i had the folder open)... and windows only showed me a letter for the drive but like if it had no partitions...

edit:: the drive works fine on windows vista. i feel confused ;-)

edit: i use to disable all services from win2k, thing i havent done on windows vista and is not done now on the corrupt win2k i gonna format.

Message Edited by sdarkn3ss on 05-21-2008 12:19 PM

Message Edited by sdarkn3ss on 05-24-2008 11:44 PM

[Supertess]

Hi there.
I to have just bought a Maxtor Basics 500Gb external HDD and I have the exact same problem as Petergm with my new disc dissapering and reappering in my computer. It´s gone everytime I restart and I have to unplug the power to the drive to make it show up properly.I´m running WinXP on my computer.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks
/Tess

[gareth]

I have the same problem.....Why are we not getting any help.............

[Smakatac]

Just noticed this after posting same complaints for the Basics External 1Tb model ! Hopefully someone can help with this

[BlackRoss]

Exact same problem here with 500gig model, some help to fix this would be really nice, or even some sort of explanation from support.

[bjblackmore]

Same problem with Maxtor Basic 1 TB External USB drive, on WIndows 2003 Server SP2. Have posted here: http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=PersonalStorage&thread.id=418 and also found this thread with same issue: http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=PersonalStorage&thread.id=383

[pitboss158]

I'm another person with one of these dud drives -- a 1Tb Basics.
The problem has to be the drive.

Why do I say this?
I have the same problem with the drive on:

1. My 5 year old generic PC with add-on USB2 card running XP Pro
   
2. My wife's 2 year old Dell Inspiron P14L with XP Home.
3. My new PC with an Asus P5E-Deluxe S775 motherboard running Vista Home Premium.

I'm clearly not the only person experiencing this problem and these drives are obviously faulty, otherwise there would be some sort of fix or workaround offered,  instead of the deafening silence from Support.

[Teis]

It seems we are quite a few with this problem, anyone from Seagate has any answers? Should I try to get a new drive or will the same problem just occur with that?

[AlanM]

Just a few comments here:

1) Please remember that this is an online community where many of the responses come from other users, such as yourself. The forum is not a replacement for Customer Service. Seagate representative do from time to time come to lend a hand answering posts but not necessarily on a continual or frequent basis. If you have immediate needs, your best bet is to contact Customer Service directly whether by phone, email, or chat.

2) I'm seeing a lot of careless wording thrown around, such as "these drives are faulty". 
The "these", when pitboss158 writes it, means "the whole line", in my estimation. 
A little perspective, a little calm, please.  There are many tens of thousands of these drives sold already and in use around the world.  Where are the thousands of defective units, posting and returning these drives en masse?  So far, we have, what, 5 users posting about this problem?  5 out of tens of thousands is not a "these drives" problem.  It's either a problem with your unit, or a problem with your computer, or it's user error.
So I'd just like to ask everyone here to take a deep breath and stop with the breathless Seagate-bashing.  Bash Seagate if you want and if you must, but I will enforce at least a minimum of rationality and substance.