WARNING - USB Drives may not work when Drive Monitor is installed
Today I wanted to sync some data with a USB disk, this had never been an issue before, just plug it in sync the items eject it, job done.
However today when I plugged the drive in it appeared in explorer and when I tried to sync it disconnected (stopped working). Given I had installed several items over the last few days with timely backups taken I have restored several to try an isolate the issue.
After a time I began to realise that the drive stopped always in the first minute - it worked for a period then went AWOL. From conversations elsewhere I then thought Drive Monitor, - it tries to grab S.M.A.R.T. data every minute from the drive.
After this I uninstalled drive monitor an lo and behold normal service was resumed.
I then restore my latest backup taken this morning with all the other items that had happened over the last few days, uninstalled Drive Monitor and tried the sync and it worked just fine.
I therefore believe that Drive Monitor is the guilty party in this case.
FYI I also tried several different USB disks some USB powered and some with an external supply all had the same issues within 1 minute they stopped working. When this happens the system becomes unusable until you unplug the drive then everything springs back into life.
I am using Windows 7 64 bit as the OS.
Hi Ilya,
I have a problem,
With ADM installed when I connect the drive the system stops responding to anything I want to do, so screen shots and running USBView cannot be done when the situation happens.
There is also no option in my copy of ADM to disable USB devices
When I say stopped working I mean just that - if you happen to pick just the right moment and double click the drive on a "My Computer" display it will start listing directories and stop at some point.
If you get to copy a file it will start and then just stop.
The light on the front of the drive which is a Freecom HD Classic 500GB device will sometime be on and sometimes be off but nothing can be done on the system until you unplug the USB cable. You cannot even shut the system down is says there are running operations and to wait until they are complete - which never happens. If as I said you unplug the device everything carries on OK.
What do you want me to try next?
Without ADM Installed this is what USBView shows:
Device Descriptor:
bcdUSB: 0x0200
bDeviceClass: 0x00
bDeviceSubClass: 0x00
bDeviceProtocol: 0x00
bMaxPacketSize0: 0x40 (64)
idVendor: 0x07AB
idProduct: 0xFCD6
bcdDevice: 0x0000
iManufacturer: 0x0A
iProduct: 0x0B
iSerialNumber: 0x05
bNumConfigurations: 0x01
ConnectionStatus: DeviceConnected
Current Config Value: 0x01
Device Bus Speed: Full
Device Address: 0x01
Open Pipes: 2
Endpoint Descriptor:
bEndpointAddress: 0x81
Transfer Type: Bulk
wMaxPacketSize: 0x0200 (512)
bInterval: 0x00
Endpoint Descriptor:
bEndpointAddress: 0x02
Transfer Type: Bulk
wMaxPacketSize: 0x0200 (512)
bInterval: 0x00
The USB Hub is an: Intel(R) ICH8 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 2836
The attached USB Report may also be useful to you is shows what has been connected etc. etc. it was created with usbdeview which I also attach.
Hello RayG,
Thank you for the provided information, but we still need zipped C:\ProgramData\Acronis\DriveMonitor and Windows System Information file (in .nfo format).
We are looking forward to hearing back from you at your earliest convenience.
Thank you.
Hi Ilya,
I have installed ADM again and plugged in the USB device and attached are the results.
When I plug in the USB drive all is OK until I try to access it and then the system freezes I have included the files you requested and some screen shots in the attached zip file.
The only way to recover is to unplug the drive as it cannot be disconnected by using the "eject" option from the USB Connection Manager in the task bar. That is when the high risk event happens.
I have included a before and after Drive Monitor data zip files
I will now be uninstalling ADM as I cannot use USB connected disks while ADM is installed.
Hello RayG,
Thank you very much for your cooperation, I've forwarded the information to the responsible person who will assist you further.
Please accept my apologies for any delays you might experience.
Thank you.
Hi Ilya
Any ideas on when we may see a fix?
Hello RayG,
Unfortunately, I can't provide you with any time frame, I'm really sorry for the inconvenience.
Once I have any information about the issue, I'll let you know.
Thank you.
Build 507 does not fix this issue so ADM is still unusable for me.
Another USB drive which crashes with DM installed: LaCie 1TB. (Hitachi HDT721010SLA360)
Almost immdiately after installing DM, disk (50) and ftdisk (57) events occur in the Windows System Event log. Eventually Ntfs (50) occurs, data lost.
The disk disapears from Windows Disk Management and cannot be found in Disk Director. It remains accessible from Explorer and the Command prompt, until the first reboot, after that, it disapears there, too. In Device Management, it's reported it cannot start.
In my case, uninstalling DM wasn't even enough. The drive had to be manually switched off and on to start normal operations.
This is reproduceable.
If I hadn't figured this out, I might have spent money on repairs or replacement of a drive that's fine. Uncool.
It would be preferable if there were some clear warning (not buried in small print) about potential problems with USB drives.
Oh, XP SP3.
Hello, I've had the same "reaction" on both Win7 32 & Win7 64! What I did see, was that the amount of messages to the windows log almost explodes: evenbt ID 51 occured 52011 times in not even 3 min! This caused a slow-down and errors of non-responding. Once Drive Monitor uninstalled this behaviour disappears AND none of these warnings are appearing in the windows log neither.
Perhaps this helps to find-out what's happening... Of course I would like to see a solution too, because apart from this issue I found this tool quit interesting!
In attachment the event copies of the events related to this on my Win7-32bit machine...
In my case this was caused by USB drives that did not support SMART. Acronis have a solution but as yet it is, as far as I am aware, not a released version. I tested the fix and have it running with no apparent problems at this time (V1.0 Build 553).
I am sorry I don't know what it is not released - perhaps someone from Acronis can enlighten us?
I am also having this problem, and am troubled that Acronis have not bothered to rectify it in over a year. Consequently, I have uninstalled Drive Monitor and will probably not purchase any Acronis paid-for products.
Is it possible to change the behaviour of Acronis Drive Monitor looking for new devices?
It would be much better if the service monitors my system hard disk only instead of walking over all new removable devices that I plug in as well...