External hard drive

[marklwood]

I'm jus fishing here, but do you use these for gigs? What I am getting at is do you take them from outside, possibly cold, to inside and fire them up? I can't tell you how many electronics I have seen fail from this. Think of your glasses fogging up, and now add electricity.

[jcsings]

I never bumped or dropped or tipped over the external. I used it one night the next morning it shorted out. Like I said this is the 3rd one to go out. The first 2 I didn't even get to use. I understand things quit, but I should have been able to use them for a little while. I just don't know why I would lose 3. I am seriously wondering if my computer isn't causing the problem. It is always taken down and put away, never left anywhere it's cold or damp. I have a show 5 nights a week, and it is in a very protected area.

[Roy Dennis]

Originally Posted by jcsings

Like I said this is the 3rd one to go out. The first 2 I didn't even get to use. .

What sort of time scale are we talking about losing 3 ? Is it over a number of years or recently ?
If they have all gone recently I should think you have a problem with your computer, or did you buy all 3 from the same supplier at the same time which might indicate a supplier problem like a batch of faulty drives.

I would expect to get a couple of years before failure, unless you accidentally drop one

Roy.

[billyo]

what brand of hhd did you have, if it's a WD i've had problems with those, i've return 4 or 5 of them in a month, do you reformat the hhd before using them ? some manufactures recomends it.. the usb cable might be bad , does your ext. hhd shows up on " hardware tab "

[jcsings]

Originally Posted by billyo

what brand of hhd did you have, if it's a WD i've had problems with those, i've return 4 or 5 of them in a month, do you reformat the hhd before using them ? some manufactures recomends it.. the usb cable might be bad , does your ext. hhd shows up on " hardware tab "

I haven't reformatted anything and I use a hub for my usb. As far as I know it doesn't have a hardware tab.

[billyo]

Originally Posted by jcsings

I haven't reformatted anything and I use a hub for my usb. As far as I know it doesn't have a hardware tab.

try plugging in your ext. hhd. to your int. usb port, does your comp. see the ext. hhd at all...sometimes hubs will give you problems...click on my comp. click on syst. info on the top left right corner, click on hardware tab, see if your ext. hhd is listed, or see if theres any yellow ? mark..

[jcsings]

Originally Posted by billyo

try plugging in your ext. hhd. to your int. usb port, does your comp. see the ext. hhd at all...sometimes hubs will give you problems...click on my comp. click on syst. info on the top left right corner, click on hardware tab, see if your ext. hhd is listed, or see if theres any yellow ? mark..

It didn't see it, the hhd quit. I tried plugging it in directly, there was nothing, the light on the external just flashed, and then started smoking. It melted the motherboard.

[jcsings]

Originally Posted by Roy Dennis

What sort of time scale are we talking about losing 3 ? Is it over a number of years or recently ?
If they have all gone recently I should think you have a problem with your computer, or did you buy all 3 from the same supplier at the same time which might indicate a supplier problem like a batch of faulty drives.

I would expect to get a couple of years before failure, unless you accidentally drop one

Roy.

I bought the original one when I bought my ruggidized laptop, I was able to get about 250 songs on it, and I don't remember the brand, then it quit. The second was a replacement from the manufacturer, same brand, I was able to load about 5000 songs, and it quit, I was able to take that one to my local IT guy and he was able to save my work, and we loaded it onto a seagate, "Maxtor" 500. I got all 24000 songs loaded to that, using different computers, and it was fine, I started to use my computer and external and within 3 weeks it quit too. How can I tell if it is the computer I bought?