Ext USB Seagate HDD random dis/re-connecting !

[Hansanter67]

Hi All,

I have an external Seagate Pushbutton Backup 300GB USB HardDiskDrive (ST330062 2A). It works perfectly (most of the time), no problems at all. It's a few months old, never been dropped, the power supply is fine and the USB cable/connection is fine. It reads and writes fine also but there is one problem that bugs me and I don't know if it's the HDD itself or a PC problem...

Randomly, the Ext HDD drops it's USB connection to the PC and then reconnects again. Every time it reconnects I get a small window showing the files on the HDD being quickly scanned then the usual window asking 'how do I want to view the software on this HDD' etc. This is driving me mad, it's particularly annoying when trying to burn a CD or DVD from this HDD because during the burn process it often drops its USB connection thus ruining the disk. Sometimes it will sit for hours without a problem, other times it dis/re-connects every few minutes or so.

I have updated WinXP-SP2. Drive is

Any help appreciated thanks and happy new year.

Hansanter

 

[g-paw]

What RAM, CPU, and security software do you have? Could try disabling all start up item through msconfig, possible the system is being taxed

 

[bobbknight]

Try another USB socket and see if that makes a difference, and check it with Seagate Seatools. If it's going bad it's not worth the trouble to mess with, RMA it to Seagate.

 

[Hansanter67]

OK guys, I will try those suggestions.
Many Thanks.

Hansanter

 

[technology-sponge]

Have you tried running drive diagnostics on your disk?

Use the diagnostic/maintenance utility that came with your disk, and check for an updated version online at Seagate Support/Downloads.

If one wasn't provided, try Seagate Seatools, and run the SMART tests, and the generic tests. Seatools also doubles as a firmware updater for Seagate products, so use it to check for new firmware. New micro-codes often fix issues like that - dropouts, performance issues, incompatibilities with certain controllers etc.