External Hard drive 1394 Random disconnect

Gidsvista

New Member
I am running Vista 64 Ultimate :) and have an external hard drive connected via 1394. If my computer is not accessing the drive it will often fail to recognise the device after only a short while. ie it does not appear as a drive in explorer, and any programs start which need data on the drive say the drive is disconnected.
Turning the drive off and on again reconnects it as does simply unplugging the cable and reconnecting it but not only is this a hassle I am concerned about corrupting data somewhere along the line. The machine does not actually sleep and in some cases I am actually using the machine, but have not accessed the drive for a few minutes and it still disconnects. On other occaisions I might leave the machine on over night and the drive is still connected the next day. :confused:
As a result I have no idea if this is a driver, hardware or settings issue.

Does any one have any suggestions for a fix or even how I should start more detailed fault diagnosis?:geek:

Cheers
 

My Computer

Look at the power options in device manager.
List your system specs.
Look at your error logs;

Left Click on Start Menu.
Right click on Computer and choose manage.
Click on the event viewer.
You now have loads of options to try and pin down what is happening.
Expand the error tab.
Look for things in the last 24 hours.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Z77-DS3H
    Memory
    4 x 4GB corsair ballistix sport DDR3 1600 Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte Geforce GTX 660 TI
    Sound Card
    creative x-fi
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Primary CiBox 22" Widescreen LCD ,Secondary Dell 22" Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    Both 1680 x 1050
    Hard Drives
    2 x 500G HD (SATA) 1 x 2TB USB
    PSU
    Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Complient PSU
    Case
    Antec 900 Ultimate Gaming Case
    Cooling
    3 x 80mm tri led front, 120mm side 120mm back, 200mm top
    Keyboard
    Logik
    Mouse
    Technika TKOPTM2
    Internet Speed
    288 / 4000
    Other Info
    Creative Inspire 7.1 T7900 Speakers
    Trust Graphics Tablet
Hi Thanks for the tips.

I am running a power plan that is set not to sleep when plugged in. Basically when plugged in its set to keep every thing running with no restrictions.

Checking the event viewer logs, there seems to be some correlation between errors logged by SBP2Port and my disconnects. Have setup an alert to see if correlation is accurate and report results.

Thank you again.


Dell XPS 1710
Vista Ultimate SP1
64 Bit OS
Dual Core [email protected]
2x 2GB RAM PC2-5300
NVIDA GeForce Go 7950 GTX
 

My Computer

Hello again,

I have been monitoring this fault for a while now and am inded getting errors related to SBP2Port.
Today the error did not correct simply by disconnecting the drive and reconnecting. Another drive also failed to connect after the fault logged. I have included a txt file of the events that seem relevant.

Can anyone tell me what is going on? (or at least translate the events?)


---------------------

Dell XPS 1710
Vista Ultimate SP1
64 Bit OS
Dual Core [email protected]
2x 2GB RAM PC2-5300
NVIDA GeForce Go 7950 GTX
 

Attachments

  • ext disk error log.txt
    14.9 KB · Views: 127
Last edited:

My Computer

Okay...If this hasn't been posted yet...Here is the fast and easy Fix to Firewire issues (Im on windows 7).

Part 0.5: Make sure your drive is formatted to NTFS. It isnt nessecery, but it really helps in the long run:
1. Navigate to computer.
2. Find your drive
3. Right Click > Format
4. NTFS | Default Allocation | Format

Part 1: Insuring you have proper power settings in effect:

1. Go to Control Panel > Power Options
2. Make sure your computer is plugged in (if your on a laptop).
3. Change Power plan to "High Performance" (If this doesn't show up for you...Try creating a new profile. Desktop users shouldn't have to worry about this.)
4. Okay, click "Change Plan Settings"...Then click where it says "Change Advanced Power Settings".
5. Find Hard Drives > Click the + > Turn Hard Disk Off After > Plugged In > Change this to NEVER.

This will ensure that windows won't just automatically shut off the drive.

Part 2: Making sure your drive Properties are set correctly.

1. Navigate to Computer.
2. Find your Firewire drive > Right Click on the Drive > Properties
3. Select the Hardware tab...and then highlight your firewire drive.
4. Click on Properties.
5. Select the Policies tab.
6. Change the Removal Policy to "Better Performance"
7. Under the Write-caching policy...Enable write caching on this device.

That's it. You should notice increased write and read speeds...and your drive will no longer disconnect.

Cheers,

Tdawg
 

My Computer

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