# external hard drive problem **URL:** \ **Category:** NYSpeed Off Topic\ **Created:** [March 29, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/external-hard-drive-problem/10005 "2006-03-29T20:22:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tunerfreak](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/tunerfreak/32/7427_2.png) [@Tunerfreak](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Tunerfreak)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/external-hard-drive-problem/10005/1 "2006-03-29T20:22:25Z")
i have a Western Digital external Hard drive and when i copy big files over to it or its in use for a while (info is constantly being fed to it) it freezes and i get the write failure and the HD becomes unusable untill i pull the plug and put it back in. the HD acts liken its been disconnected when its not and the light that that blinks when info is being passed stayes lit up. is there anything that i could do to stop this its really annoying casue i cant do much stuff on it when it does that. firm wear is up to date and this HD is about 4 years old but not that that matters much ---
**Author:** ![boardjnky4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/external-hard-drive-problem/10005/2 "2006-03-29T21:07:17Z")
u ever try taking the drive out of the case and plugging it internally? would be my first troubleshooting step ---
**Author:** ![Tunerfreak](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/tunerfreak/32/7427_2.png) [@Tunerfreak](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Tunerfreak)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/external-hard-drive-problem/10005/3 "2006-03-29T21:11:21Z")
its hooked up to a laptop ---
**Author:** ![boardjnky4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/external-hard-drive-problem/10005/4 "2006-03-29T21:14:07Z")
ahhh i see, sounds like the hdd might be on its way out. ---
**Author:** ![Locutus](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/locutus/32/7574_2.png) [@Locutus](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Locutus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 5:06am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/external-hard-drive-problem/10005/5 "2006-03-30T05:06:42Z")
how big are the files that you are transferring? is your external drive ntfs or fat? ---
**Author:** ![Tunerfreak](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/tunerfreak/32/7427_2.png) [@Tunerfreak](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Tunerfreak)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 8:29am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/external-hard-drive-problem/10005/6 "2006-03-30T08:29:52Z")
its ntfs and i use it mainly to store all my video editing work so the files can get nice and big exporting/importing, rendering etc ---
**Author:** ![boardjnky4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 10:06am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/external-hard-drive-problem/10005/7 "2006-03-30T10:06:08Z")
are we talking bout videos larger then a gig? or like 7-800 megs? ---
**Author:** ![Tunerfreak](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/tunerfreak/32/7427_2.png) [@Tunerfreak](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Tunerfreak)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 10:46am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/external-hard-drive-problem/10005/8 "2006-03-30T10:46:56Z")
well combined its larger than a gig ---
**Author:** ![Daddie](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/daddie/32/7621_2.png) [@Daddie](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Daddie)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 11:41am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/external-hard-drive-problem/10005/9 "2006-03-30T11:41:49Z")
First of all, what connection do you use? USB? Firewire? Is your laptop USB 2.0 compatible? Smells like your USB sucks ---
**Author:** ![Tunerfreak](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/tunerfreak/32/7427_2.png) [@Tunerfreak](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Tunerfreak)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/external-hard-drive-problem/10005/10 "2006-03-30T15:39:49Z")
firewire casue it was made right b4 USB 2 came out ---
**Author:** ![Tunerfreak](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/tunerfreak/32/7427_2.png) [@Tunerfreak](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Tunerfreak)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/external-hard-drive-problem/10005/11 "2006-03-30T19:26:09Z")
actually just a little update on this, i did a diagnostics test that WD has to download and it found something it says that the test found bad sectors that may be repairble whatever that means. and when i hit ok it says back up the drive first cause it will delete the stuff in thoes sectors ---
**Author:** ![boardjnky4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/external-hard-drive-problem/10005/12 "2006-03-30T21:08:57Z")
u might wanna try a hard format on that drive. back everything up and use data lifeguard tools and choose the option to write zeros to the drive. that should set the drive back to new. could help a lot.