What happened to my USB HDD?

[miketoro]

I have a 250GB Western Digital Media Center USB 2.0 external HDD. Sometimes my fleabay T43 would recognize it, other times not. Sometimes it would recognize, then drop off as if it were disconnected, then recognize it again. The ding ding bell of Windows XP recognizing a USB device would ring on, ring off, ring on, ring off, etc.

I did some research and believe the T43 has the well known issue of the USB 2.0 ports behaving as USB 1.0. The drive, I know, flat-out does not work on USB 1.0.

A few days ago, while the drive was recognized by the T43, I scanned it for viruses with Free AV and it was clean.

Until that time, I was also able to plug it into my PowerBook G4 and read/write without any trouble. The drive is FAT32. Something changed, however, shortly after the virus scan, and the Mac no longer recognized the drive.

I've since bought an NAS drive with a USB 2.0 port. I plugged in the WD HDD and can see the drive, through the network, without problems. HOWEVER all my files are funky. The folder that was titled Documents, for example, reads docum~1 now. This ~1 thing hasn't effected all my folders and files, but most of them. I have mp3z that look like 01_john~1.mp3 and documents like start~1.doc. All these files work fine -- I can open them in say iTunes or Word -- but the HDD is write protected, so I can't save them.

What do you think happened to corrupt the folders and files like that?

Is there a way to restore them to their full names?

I'm copying all the files to my new NAS drive (230GB, it's been running almost two days) and plan to format the WD HDD when it's done. I'm hoping that will help the write protection. What do you think?

Many thanks,

Mike

[sqmaster1234]

X(

[censored]~~~DARN~~~, I had an issue pretty similar to this one with an external 500GB Seagate FreeAgentgo...
It wasn't recognized by my computers very often, and when it was, it was intermittant. Eventually, I got the spin-up then CLIC of death, but all of a sudden, one day, It decided to work.

The wierd file names usually acompany a mac-Pc file transfer or vice versa, and usually don't pose a problem, but the connection errors and write-protection....
In Mac Properties, try setting the permissions to undo write protection. If you need more details, ask. I'll try to explain better.

Unless the connection on the HD end is flimsy, like on my SG, then I have no clue why some comps don't see it.

I'd try WD's site, and see if they can get a qualified technician to help you from a shack in India. Maybe they an help.

Sorry I don't know how to help with the connection errors, but I hope my input on the file names helps.

[emeraldgirl08]

I had those weird file names happen to me also but on an Flash Card.

This happened after I scandisked and defragmented the Flash Card.

Yeah. I didn't think it was necessary to do it and never had problems doing it but no more!

I had to reformat the card and luckily have all my files on my lappy anyway. The files with the weird names were placed in a folder called "Found."

[miketoro]

The wierd file names usually acompany a mac-Pc file transfer or vice versa, and usually don't pose a problem, but the connection errors and write-protection....
In Mac Properties, try setting the permissions to undo write protection. If you need more details, ask. I'll try to explain better.

Thanks

This Mac stuff is all new to me. I'll give it a whirl -- if the Mac can see the drive -- and report back.

Thanks again,

[sqmaster1234]

Glad I could help at all. I'm not really a mac person myself, but schools and friends are, and inevitably, I end up learning something about them by the end of the day

[miketoro]

Worked like a charm

After a long slow wait connected to my Mac the drive came online, file names intact. With the write-protect turned off, I plugged the drive into my T43 and again, it file names were intact.

Thanks again, sq.

Mike

[sqmaster1234]

No problem, mike!
Like I said, I'm not any sort of Mac guru, but there are SOME things I know!
XD