Seagate External Backup HD Keeps Getting Disconnected on Sleep

[ramuman]

I'm running Vista and use a Seagate FreeAgent external HD for backups at night. Unfortunatly, the drive (sometimes and seemingly randomly) disconnects itself when the computer goes to sleep. Sometimes I get a backup at night, sometimes I see an error message in the morning that the backup didn't complete and the drive doesn't show up in explorer.

It's a PITA to get it to connect again too, I can't just unplug the USB cable and replug it, I have to power down the drive, disconnect USB and hope and pray it works on reconnection.

This is my second drive (I replaced it once thinking it was the drive).

 

[NoelS]

ramuman,

Apparently this FreeAgent doesn't have a hot-swap capability, which means it would only connect after you boot-up. You can't connect and dis-connect freely unless it's hot-swappable. Going to sleep would be the same as shutting down to the drive and it shouldn't start up unless you re-boot. Like some programs, it doesn't always work according to design and that's probably why it works randomly (I've had similar results with an eSATA external). Check the specs on it and if it claims to be hot-swappable, I'd say it's a drive problem and maybe a 3rd change is in the works for you. If it's not hot-swappable, you probably should back up before you shut down or leave it on all night.

Noel

 

[echo77]

I am having the same problem, but I will get to work on it only on Monday after digging through some topics

There is a possible solution mentioned here:
http://arewold.wordpress.com/2...b-external-disk-drive/

~~
Told seagate I had lost confidence in their enclosure not their drive.
Asked to speak to Tech support so I could taunt them a little and find out what kind of drive was in there. Turned out my 250 gig drive was a 3,5 serial ATA or SATA. Not a boad drive at all.

In my opinion all the trouble was coming from the interface not the drive. I verified this by (not very Gently because I wasn?t in the mood today) removing the drive from the enclosure and (yes this really is the source of all troubles with this drive.) upluged the fricken light!.

Voila! It works Its faster. So far very stable and I don?t have that stupid light taunting me anymore!
~~

Mods - please excuse me if I have violated any rules of posting links. But that is the only link I have found that has a solution to this topic. Peace

 

[octopus41092]

Try setting power options to leave the USB to always on.

 

[Old Hippie]

I'm pretty sure Seagate FreeAgents spin down after 5 idle mins. So now you have the computer and external drive both sleeping. In a perfect world, the USB connection otta wake the external when it's time for a back up, but as you can see, it's not very reliable.

If you really insist on using this configuration, I've read that the FreeAgent Desktop Recovery Software has a tool to disable the spin down feature.

No spin down might give you a fighting chance for a backup, but it's probably gonna make the drive toasty.

 

[ramuman]

Thanks the for replies guys. I took the drive out of the Seagate enclosure and decided to order an eSATA/SATA card from Newegg and cable and connect the drive with an external eSATA enclosure. If this doesn't work (as a poster above mentioned), then I'll just use the enclosure to hold the drive, rig up a power cable from the power supply to the HD directly and use an internal SATA port and run it out the back.

I wouldn't mind disabling spin down, but as long as the computer doesn't goto sleep, the drive is at least available in my computer (though it has spun down), so I don't think that's the problem.

If I had seen the LED disconnect thing before I ordered the stuff, I would have given it a try. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

EDIT: Also, I do have the power options to leave USB on and my mouse, keyboard, and USB phone work fine on reconnect (and any they can also bring the computer out of sleep).

 

[Old Hippie]

I took the drive out of the Seagate enclosure and decided to order an eSATA/SATA card from Newegg and cable and connect the drive with an external eSATA enclosure.

The eSATA hot swap feature is usually only advertised on the PCIe controller cards. I've had two PCI cards and hot swap worked on both. Your new eSATA enclosure will need to be running all the time to do your back ups. Watch the drive temps!

Good Luck!

 

[ramuman]

Here's the enclosure I bought:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817347018

and the card (PCI-E 1x):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16816132011

Both said hot plug and play compatible, so I hope it works. It's my work computer so data safety is more important to me than cost (because I know I have other possibly cheaper alternatives).

 

[Old Hippie]

The PCIe card is just fine.

I've never seen that enclosure before, but it looks just fine.

You're going to need an eSATA cable.

The drive will need to be on all night when you want to do a back up. Some enclosures without active cooling, make the drives bake. Drive temps can be read thru an eSATA connection, and it would behoove you to do so.


Good Luck!

 

[ramuman]

Things are working well with the eSATA enclosure/card combo - and it's a lot faster than the USB setup I was using. The enclosure is plastic, but seems built fairly well and includes everything needed including USB and eSATA cables.

 

[Old Hippie]

Originally posted by: ramuman
Things are working well with the eSATA enclosure/card combo - and it's a lot faster than the USB setup I was using. The enclosure is plastic, but seems built fairly well and includes everything needed including USB and eSATA cables.

Another satisfied customer! :laugh:

Thanks for letting us know the outcome!