mckeaniac
asked on
USB Drive Connection Problems SBS 2003
I am using external usb drives for backing up my SBS 2003 server. I keep the same drive connected for a week then swap it. When I connect the new drive, 1 out of 4 or 5 times it does not connect. I don't get an error message and it doesn't show up in disk management. The same drive will connect to other pcs. The only solution I have found is to reboot the server, then it always connects. I would prefer a more elegant solution.
noxcho
Did you scan the file system on this drive? CHKDSK /f and then see if it resolves the issue.
ASKER
The drives work fine on other pcs and works fine on the server if I reboot the server. I am not sure why doing a chkdsk will help.
Possibly the OS checks the drive during reboot. Or servers device list is full in mounted devices key of registry.
Try using Disk Management to manually assign it a drive letter much higher than local drives.
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make sure that the first drive is completely removed before plugging another drive of identical type in.
ASKER
I had to reboot the server to get the drive to work. It may be several weeks until I have this problem again. When the drive isn't working, it does not show up in disk management. I currently use the window tool to safely remove the drive before unplugging it. Thanks for your suggestions and I'll make a post next time it happens.
the tool will let you remove, and reconnect
ASKER
nobus - when I run the tool, the drive shows up as hidden. The tool removes the drive, but when I reconnect it still does not show up in the directory or in disk management. The tool sees it again as hidden. Any suggestions on how to make the drive usable?
>> the drive shows up as hidden << contact safely remove with this problem at : http://safelyremove.com/support.htm
ASKER
I had to play with the tool a little to get what I wanted, but once I hit on the correct method, it works very well. The Drive was hidden because windows was not assigning it a drive letter. The windows tool "Disk Manager" did not allow me to do this for some reason, but the solution tool did. The tool is not free, but well worth it to me since it avoids a reboot of my server once or twice a month.
that is why i suggested it...tx for feedback
maybe you could assign a drive letter from disk management also ? as said by Robwil
maybe you could assign a drive letter from disk management also ? as said by Robwil
ASKER
The drive doesn't show up in disk management. I am not sure if there is a way to show hidden drives in disk management, but I didn't find anything.
ah - ok; tx for feedback