Hardware Drivers :: External HDD Slows Windows Down?
Jul 16, 2014
I am on an i7-12gb RAM+SSD Asus laptop, running Windows 8 x64. I am using two external HDDs attached via USB. One is an external-powered 2TB 3.5" WD, and the other is a 1TB 2.5" 5400 rpm Matshita HDD.
I store my music and movie collection in these drives, and a few setup files for the programs that I use.My problem is, from time to time when I boot up my computer, I start my browser, Word, iTunes, even Snipping Tool, etc. or when I need access to some function in a program (e.g. language proofing in Word, some function in Photoshop CS6, etc) my laptop randomly needs to access one, or both of my external drives and read something from there. I hear the whirring sound from the HDD and then my laptop starts responding again. This does not happen all the time, but it happens frequently enough to spoil a good workflow a few times during the day.
My external HDD's are slow in access times, and the 2TB WD actually shuts itself off after a non-use period and takes 6-7 seconds to turn back on.
So this translates into me randomly waiting for 6-7 seconds while using my laptop.
This case has been the same since using Windows 7 and through a few fresh installs.
I want these two HDD's to just store my files and not interfere with my OS' working.
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Apr 10, 2013
I had been running windows 8 for a while, and within the last month I installed a new video card (Nvidia EVGA GTX560ti), and a new SSD (OCZ vertex 4 256GB). While still running Windows 8, I had been playing games, doing a lot of photoshop work....and other various CPU intensive things. I was editing photos one day in photoshop CS5 , and I noticed that the program became somewhat slow all of the sudden (basic tasks that used to be very quick and painless). The program eventually became unresponsive and had to reboot the computer. Upon restart I got all sorts of "boot drive errors", and unreadable boot disk errors.
However, these errors only seem to happen randomly. I checked my CPU core temps, and while doing the regular work I do on the computer, all 4 cores averaged about 92 degrees Celsius! I ran a virus scan, for something unrelated, and I checked the temps and they were spiking 98 to 100 Celsius!!!! While im just using the computer regularly they settle around 65-70. But if I do ANYTHING slightly intensive, I could probably cook dinner on my heatsink. I guess my main question is WHY am I getting boot errors, and why do they seem to happen randomly. I suppose the motherboard could be fried, im really not sure. This happened in the past, and reinstalled windows 8. After a couple days, same story. I'm almost positive this is a hardware thing. My first priority is of course to lower the CPU temps however I can.
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Oct 18, 2013
I user FTP & Telnet a lot to connect to devices on our LAN.
With Windows 8 I've been using ZoneAlarm as my firewall as I found Windows Firewall caused a 5 -10 second delay in every FTP / Telnet Connection.
Last night I upgraded to Windows 8.1 and ZoneAlarm no longer works, so I'm back with the Windows Firewall and the delay in connections.
I've ensured the APPS I use have access via the firewall and they do connect and work fine... but after establishing the connection there is a 5 - 10 second delay in the connection. With ZA this was all instant..
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Jul 27, 2014
Few days ago I bought a new Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E540. It has two USB3.0 ports and one USB2.0. I bought the machine without OS and installed Windows 8.1 Pro(x64) myself. Everything seems to be working fine except when I want to use My WD Elements 1TB external HDD in USB 3.0 port. It just doesn't get recognized. In USB 2.0 port it works fine.
What I've gathered and tried so far :
- Device manager does not show anything not even Unknown Device , yet my USB 3.0 Kingston pendrive works fine out of the box in the same slot
- I'm pretty sure the USB power is not the issue because the WD HDD , when plugged, starts blinking for a while , then lights up fulltime and i can feel and hear the drive spinning
- I've disabled USB selective suspend in my Power plan
- I've disabled Fast Startup
- In msconfig , im stuck at "Selective startup" (if changed it doesnt even let me APPLY and switches back to Selective right after I close/change tab in msconfig, I tried doing it in safe mode , same thing)
Using my harddrive in USB3.0 speed is essential for me.
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Sep 15, 2013
HP Envy dv7, Windows 8
Seagate 2TB drive mounted in a Thermaltake, Max 5 enclosure. The drive does not show in Windows 8. Does show when running Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) but shows as "Unallocated" without a drive letter. If run the Seagate drive tools, it shows up as unallocated, with drive letter "C". But there is obviously already a drive "C".
Disk Management does not present a means by which to assign a drive letter
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Jul 12, 2014
Yesterday I formatted my computer and today I was updating it to Windows 8.1 again. Everything was fine except I forgot to disconnect my hdd. During the update, it said it was detecting and fixing errors. When the update finished, I tried to open my hdd and it wasn't accessible. How can I recover the data?
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Dec 26, 2013
I use start 8 on both my windows 8.1 desktop and my tablet. My internet speeds were okay, but I wanted more. Based on the speed tests that I ran, it appeared to me that I was on Comcast's performance starter getting download speeds of 7.37mbps and uploads of 15.65. So I called Comcast to see about an upgrade. The tech that I spoke with stated that I already had the faster that they offer. He asked me how many icons did I have near the start button, I had 5, he told me to unpin them from the taskbar and my speeds went to DL - 57.48, the upload stayed pretty much the same 15.64.
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Jul 21, 2013
I have a Sony Vaio all in one but it doesn't have a cd drive. I've purchased two and neither were recognized by Windows 8. Can found a USB optical drive recommended?
[URL]
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Mar 16, 2013
I'm currently using a Dell Inspiron 3520 laptop with Windows 8 on it. I have an external hard drive from a Windows 7 desktop. It recognizes the external hdd right away and I can access it but I can't figure out how to boot Windows 7 as the primary. I've tried changing boot order in bios but I've had no luck as it still boots Windows 8 first. Is there a way to use the Windows 7 as the primary drive ? Even a way to temporarly turn off the Windows 8 hard drive will work. I just need to access the Windows 7 hard drive without having to navigate through program files to have to open something.
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Feb 7, 2014
I have a new internal HDD. When I first put Windows 8 OS on it I needed to disconnect my External HDD because I was getting the error (don't quote this):
"Can't find operating system. Disconnect any drive that doesn't not have an operating system."
It booted fine when I disconnect the External HDD.
It stopped doing this until today. I need to disconnect it when IU reboot.
I believe I ejected the External by mistake and tha6t5 screwed everything up again.
I entered the BIOS and I don't see the External HDD there. Only my internal and my cd/dvd drive.It currently looks for an OSA on the cd/dvd first.
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Sep 15, 2014
I have this external hard disk of 500Gb of Verbatim. Previously it was of NTFS format. Then I had converted it into Fat32 because I wanted to write stuff on it from MAC. I transferred movies, pictures, videos, songs, etc in it.
Now, I use Windows 8.1. I connect this hard disk. I hear the sound of it getting connected. But then I can't access the hard disk. As in my laptop doesn't read the hard disk. I read a few posts regarding converting a hard disk from FAT32 to NTFS wiithout losing the files. But I was not sure whether I have the same problem.
I want to transfer all the files in my hard disk to my laptop.
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Jun 7, 2013
After a week of using both on and offline WIN 8 like clockwork slows down after a week, there are have run multiple virus and malware checks and nothing, task manager shows normal with only 28% memory use, programs running are minimal, no unusual hard disk accessing, defrag is run every two days and again performance falls dramatically both online and offline.
The only way to get performance back has been to do a system REFRESH, but once a week is NUTS!
This is a Windows 8 certified Gateway laptop with 2.20 ghz Pentium processor and 8 gigs of ram.
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Jul 16, 2014
My one - drive works well except that it slows my system when uploading. Is there a way to control when one - drive uploads or is there a way to pause it?
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Apr 20, 2013
I recently purchased a WD 1TB external portable hard drive.When I first got it it was immediately recognised by my laptop (a 2 day old Asus Ultrabook S400C). This is my first time with Windows 8 so I am still learning to navigate it.
The first thing I did was transfer 650gb of movies and music across. I didn't format the hard drive first, maybe that was my first mistake. My files were still recognisable on my laptop and my WD TV Live media centre. The next day all of a sudden my media player wouldn't recognise it and when I plugged it back into my laptop it also cannot see it.
The device can be seen in device manager (when I click on properties it says it's working corectly), but not in the drives list in my computer. It is showing as "Disc 2" 'Not Iniitialised' and when I click on 'Initialise' and choose 'MBR' and hit OK it comes up with this error msg: 'The request could not be performed due to an I/O device error'.
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Mar 24, 2013
If I left my memory at stock speed (1333 MHz) my internet speed is normal (around 390-450 KB/s). But once I overclock it with XMP (2400 MHz @10-12-12-31 2T), it drops down to 30-60 KB/s. The internet speed will also back to normal if reduce the clock and timing to 2133 MHz @9-11-10-28 2T.
My motherboard is on qualified list by G.SKILL to run this memory on XMP profile (G.SKILL- World leading DDR3 computer memory and SSD manufacturer -Products) and I ran Prime95 Blend and 3DMark11 Physics test just fine.
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Mar 10, 2013
My Seagate GoFlex 500 isn't showing up in Windows. Disk Management sees it, but there's no feasible option there. It's not a blank drive, so I can't make a new simple volume, only delete it.
I have important data on there. What gives?
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May 1, 2013
I have purchased from a local electronics store, an after market HDD drive housing to enable me to use a surplus 450GB IDE hdd from a now defunct computer.
Once assembled I plugged it in ( it comes with its own power pack , and uses a USB cable to connect to the computer)
Windows 8 knows it is there and installed a driver called - USB to IDE bridge. there the problem starts
I am unable to see the drive in explorer or anything . either as a mass storage device or an external drive.
Do I have to register the drive or anything , and if so how - shouldnt Windows 8 do this automatically ?? I have another HDD ( more modern one ) and windows see's that straight away.
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Jun 30, 2013
I have this problem were external hard drive do not show up on my PC.
First my I put my friends in and it did not work, then I went out and brought one myself (different brand) and it does not show up.
Windows automatically installed the drivers it said it even know what time of external it was. But now it doesn't appear in explorer. What should I do. It appears in the device manger list, but how do I access it?
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Oct 30, 2013
I have an external Lacie HDD which does not seem to function.When I plug it into a USB port I can see the HDD in the Computer Management snap in. I have formated it with exFAT. When I try to move something to the HDD it will start off right then will get to a certain %, after a while it will come up with a message saying that it cannot find the hdd.
I have monitored the activity of the flashing blue light & at the start of the transfer it would flash constantly, then slows down till eventually it will go off.What can I do to get the HDD to function right?
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Aug 22, 2013
So I have a WD external HD with all of my research data as well as some text books and other important things on there and for some reason I got an I/O error and after that the drive does not show on the computer anymore. The computer recognizes that there is a drive there and will read that it is a WD passport but cannot tell the size of the disk and will not register it as an external drive whose media I can explore and work with. What is wrong and how can I retrieve the data?
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Nov 25, 2012
I just installed Win 8 last night and everything seemed fine before I turned off the computer. Now, I'm a student and I work a lot from my USB/HD. I have both my usb and HD connected to the computer but the computer doesn't read them now.
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Dec 28, 2013
I have a Toshiba 2TB External HD that came with NTI Backup software. Seemed to work fine until Win 8.1 installed and now I get the 'Corrupted' message, although the Drive shows up in This PC. Driver appears okay and as far as I can see the USB 3 hub the Drive is connected to is working. Have tried in USB 2 but with same result.
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Jun 28, 2014
I have a external drive that I used for backup with XP. What do I need to do to make it work with windows 8? How do I get win to recognize it? It is a IDE drive and is connected via USB.
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Aug 17, 2014
My portable hard drive stops showing up all of a sudden. It is connected to a USB hub. When I go to 'Disk Management' in 'Computer Management', the hard drive shows up as Unknown - Not Initialised. Also this hard drive works while not using the USB hub, and the USB hub works as well with other devices.
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Jun 9, 2013
Is there a way I can back up my files from my 2tb WD My Passport External Hard Drive? I have a lot of files on there which I want to back up and convert to NTFS.
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May 23, 2013
How do I unplug external drive safely, when I right click their is no safely remove menu like their was on windows vista.
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Nov 12, 2013
I have Windows 8.1 x64, I have a 1TB drive attached on USB 3.0 port, the disk has four partitions, two are not allocated, I am trying to extend the volume on one of the active partitions, a Healthy, Primary partition but I get a message "The operation you selected will turn the selected disk(s) to Dynamic disk(s).
I'm not sure what it means but how do I get the extended volume to be a Basic volume?
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Jan 6, 2013
My windows 7 computer crashed and I took out the hard drive and placed it in the enclosure. I connected it to my windows 8 computer and it sees the drive, says it is working properly, but everything moves in slow motion. To download some pics back to my other computer it will take 17 hours. I can see my files, but every folder takes a long time to open up. I also made sure all drivers are updated and I have all the windows updates, etc.I also receive a permission notice a lot and I click continue, but that takes forever to change the ownership file by file as well.
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Nov 10, 2013
I'm unable to 'Safely remove' or 'Eject' external USB 3.0 drives (I have 2) on my Lenovo Thinkpad running Wndows 8.1 without having the computer claim that the drive needs to be scanned for errors when the drive is reconnected to the same laptop or attached to my desktop PC's.
When I connect the same drives to my desktop PC's USB3 ports I initially get the same "scan for errors" prompt. But any further attaching and removal of the same drives to either my Windows 7(64) and Vista (64) dsktop PCs's does not reproduce the same error and further safe removal and reconnecting to those 2 systems is error free.
When scanned for errors there has never been any errors discovered. The 2.5" drives (one Seagate the other WD) are in Vantec USB 3.0 external enclosures that use a '2x USB plugs' cable; one for data and one for power. My usual removal method is to click on the 'Windows Explorer Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media' icon on the Taskbar and select Eject for the drive and then wait until the 'Safe to remove' message pops up before removing the single cable attached to the external enclosure.
The USB Controllers are:
Intel(R) Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Coltroller - 1E26
Intel(R) Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Coltroller - 1E2D
Intel(R) USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller - 0100 (Microsoft)
I unsuccessfully tried updating the Intel(R) Series/C216 Chipset controller to v9.4.0.126 but it's still at v9.3.0.1011.
If it's a USB 3.0 driver/firmware related, or a 'feature' of Windows 8.1?
I can live with the problem as I'm sure that the drive is not being removed while data is being written, and Indexing is disabled on external drives. But I prefer using a computer that does not exhibit these sort of problems.
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Aug 10, 2013
I have a Simpletech Simpledrive External Hard drive. It works on my desktop running xp. When I connect to my Asus N56DP Laptop, I hear the binging and all. But I do not see it in my control panel. I can see it in the device manager. Not in Disc MAnagement. Is there something I can do to get it to install and be accessible? I have some race car pictures I would like to post to Facebook.
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Oct 26, 2013
Every since I updated to Windows 8.1 my seagate external hdd has been randomly turning off and coming back on when I start to use it or open a program again
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