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External drive crashes the computer

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Hi,

My operating system is Windows Vista 64 bit, with all of the latest updates installed.

The problem i am having is that everytime i try to close down my USB external 500GB hard drive, after making a backup of my C:\ drive. I cannot use the Safely Remove Hardware feature to stop the drive, because i keep getting a warning about it still being used so i have to try later.

If i take out the USB lead from the drive, wait and then replace it. And then try again to shut the drive down by the Safely Remove Hardware feature, the computer crashes and goes to a Blue Screen saying about IRQ Not Equal (I am not sure if this title is correct).

I have updated my Acronis True Home Image 2010 software to the latest version 7,046, and i have aslo downloaded and updated the software SnapAPI503 software package as well. But i am still getting the same problems, where i cannot switch off the drive. I am not using the constant backup feature of Acronis, and the backup's that i make are just once a week to update the original one.

Edit.

I can remove the drive ok if i am in Safe Mode via the Safely Remove Hardware feature

Can anyone help?

Thanks.

Gary

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Hello Gary,

Thank you for posting your question, I will be happy to help. 
How long do you wait to remove the hard drive after the backup? Please wait for not less than 1-2 minutes. 
Try to switch your external hard drive to another than the current mode (Optimize for performance, write caching, etc).
a. Right-click the My Computer icon and then click Manage.
b. Click the Device Manager icon.
c. Click the plus (+) sign next to Disk Drives.
d. Double-click the USB hard drive string.
e. Click the Policies button.

Try to vary the values and see if the issue remains. 

Also, I see that you have installed SnapAPI of build #503. Please note that Acronis True Image Home 2010 build #7046 has its own built-in SnapAPI module of build # 517, therefore, please uninstall the separate instance available in Add or Remove programs.     
If the issue remains, please obtain AcronisInfo file and attach to your  Private Message with the reference to this thread. 
We are looking forward to hearing back from you. If the provided information is not clear or if you have any other questions do not hesitate to post them and we will be glad to answer.

Thank you.

Gary, there are several common causes that prevent safe removal of USB devices, typically these are where the drive is still being accessed by other software on the system.

System Restore can cause this but am not sure that you can turn it off when using Windows Vista - if you can, do so only for the removable device!

Any smart defrag type utilities can also cause this.

The simplest method of safely disconnecting the removable drive in these circumstances is to either stop the program that is accessing the drive, if possible, or else do a full shutdown via the Start button (not a Hibernate) which will flush any data to the drive if needed, then power everything off.

I would also turn off Disk Indexing for any external drive that will hold backup images. The indexing can cause lots of unnecessary disk access, which results in performance and possible eject problems.

Hi,

Many thanks for the help as it is much appreciated, but i don't think the problem is related to Acronis itself.
Because i have removed the Acronis program and i am still getting the same problems. In fact i have followed the advice from Torsen Hoff, along with the following setting changes, and now everytime i try to switch off the drive via Safely Remove Device, i sometimes get a blue screen saying IRQL NOT EQUAL. Or a grey screen saying about the drive cannot be stopped.

Setting Changes:

Unticked Index this drive on all three partitions of it. (L:\, S:\ , T:\)
ReadyBoost - Ticked stop testing this device when i plug in.
System Restore - This is only working and set on C:\
Autoplay - Pictures - Take no action, Video files - Take no action, Audio files - Take no action,

And if i may be allowed to show you, i have posted on another forum about this.

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/showthread.php?s=acefc1a9ff6b19d874482…

Many thanks for your time.

Gary

Hi Gary,
From looking at the updates in your other forum, it looks to me that you have configured your USB drive as a potential boot device in your BIOS, i.e. it shows as your 5th drive after your 2 SATA and 2 IDE drives.

I would suggest setting that 5th drive as "None" or equivalent - you shouldn't need it to be configured in the BIOS to be able to use it as a Plug & Play device, and this may be why Windows cannot release it too.

You could also try leaving the drive unplugged while Windows boots, then plug it in and try doing a safe remove then.

Steve

Hi,

Many thanks for your time and help with this matter, as it is very much appreciated.

With regards to the information that you have supplied, i have now disabled the 5th drive in my BIOS settings. But i still cannot get the drive to Safely Remove Device, as i still get the Grey screen about how it cannot be switched off. I have also as advised on the other forum run a SFC /scannow, and it has come back with a result about some corrupt drivers.

POQ 119 ends.
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002db [SR] Verify complete
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002dc [SR] Repairing 1 components
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002dd [SR] Beginning Verify and Repair transaction
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002de Hashes for file member \SystemRoot\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-p..lprinting.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6000.16386_en-us_c9d4245a2a075d13\usbmon.dll.mui do not match actual file [l:28{14}]"usbmon.dll.mui" :
Found: {l:32 b:47DEQpj8HBSa+/TImW+5JCeuQeRkm5NMpJWZG3hSuFU=} Expected: {l:32 b:7CpWIOLBpJOR0fQrwvWkduOi31kX1E9D2t3wS+GA0Wo=}
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002df [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:28{14}]"usbmon.dll.mui" of Microsoft-Windows-Printing-LocalPrinting.Resources, Version = 6.0.6000.16386, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64 (9), Culture = [l:10{5}]"en-US", VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002e0 Hashes for file member \SystemRoot\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-p..lprinting.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6000.16386_en-us_c9d4245a2a075d13\usbmon.dll.mui do not match actual file [l:28{14}]"usbmon.dll.mui" :
Found: {l:32 b:47DEQpj8HBSa+/TImW+5JCeuQeRkm5NMpJWZG3hSuFU=} Expected: {l:32 b:7CpWIOLBpJOR0fQrwvWkduOi31kX1E9D2t3wS+GA0Wo=}
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002e1 [SR] Cannot repair member file [l:28{14}]"usbmon.dll.mui" of Microsoft-Windows-Printing-LocalPrinting.Resources, Version = 6.0.6000.16386, pA = PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE_AMD64 (9), Culture = [l:10{5}]"en-US", VersionScope = 1 nonSxS, PublicKeyToken = {l:8 b:31bf3856ad364e35}, Type neutral, TypeName neutral, PublicKey neutral in the store, hash mismatch
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002e2 [SR] This component was referenced by [l:266{133}]"Microsoft-Windows-WindowsFoundation-LanguagePack-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~6.0.6000.16386.Windows Foundation Language Pack"
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002e3 Hashes for file member \??\C:\Windows\System32\en-US\usbmon.dll.mui do not match actual file [l:28{14}]"usbmon.dll.mui" :
Found: {l:32 b:47DEQpj8HBSa+/TImW+5JCeuQeRkm5NMpJWZG3hSuFU=} Expected: {l:32 b:7CpWIOLBpJOR0fQrwvWkduOi31kX1E9D2t3wS+GA0Wo=}
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002e4 Hashes for file member \SystemRoot\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-p..lprinting.resources_31bf3856ad364e35_6.0.6000.16386_en-us_c9d4245a2a075d13\usbmon.dll.mui do not match actual file [l:28{14}]"usbmon.dll.mui" :
Found: {l:32 b:47DEQpj8HBSa+/TImW+5JCeuQeRkm5NMpJWZG3hSuFU=} Expected: {l:32 b:7CpWIOLBpJOR0fQrwvWkduOi31kX1E9D2t3wS+GA0Wo=}
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002e5 [SR] Could not reproject corrupted file [ml:520{260},l:58{29}]"\??\C:\Windows\System32\en-US"\[l:28{14}]"usbmon.dll.mui"; source file in store is also corrupted
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002e6 Repair results created:
POQ 120 starts:

POQ 120 ends.
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002e7 [SR] Repair complete
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002e8 [SR] Committing transaction
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002e9 Creating NT transaction (seq 1), objectname [6]"(null)"
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002ea Created NT transaction (seq 1) result 0x00000000, handle @0xa18
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002eb@2010/4/11:21:47:15.525 CSI perf trace:
CSIPERF:TXCOMMIT;3
2010-04-11 22:47:15, Info CSI 000002ec [SR] Verify and Repair Transaction completed. All files and registry keys listed in this transaction have been successfully repaired
2010-04-11 22:54:13, Info CBS Scavenge: Package store indicates there is no component to scavenge, skipping.

Thanks.

Gary

Hi Gary,

From the information provided here and in the other forum, it seems to me that you may need to consider doing a repair install of your Windows Vista 64 bit OS. To summarise the facts as I understand them from your various postings:

  1. The Hitachi USB external drive works fine with Windows Vista 32 bit on your wife's laptop, i.e. can be safely removed without issue.
  2. You get either a gray or blue screen when attempting to remove the device on your 64 bit machine, with a system crash when doing so.
  3. SFC log output suggests that some corrupt files were encountered which could not be recovered, i.e. were corrupt also in the backup store folders.
  4. You have indicated that you also cannot Hibernate the 64 bit machine without hitting a further blue screen crash.
  5. You have removed the Acronis True Image programs and AVG anti-virus but the problem remains.
  6. You can safely remove the USB drive when booted into Windows Safe Mode - indicating that this problem is related to drivers or code being loaded in normal operation.
  7. There is the possibility that the Hitachi USB drive is not compatible with 64 bit Vista but this would seem very unusual - the compatibility document you found on the Hitachi site only deals with the embedded disk drive and not the USB controller to which the drive is attached within the external drive package.

Did you try booting Vista without the USB drive attached, then plugging it in and attempting to do a safe remove (without using the drive)?

Do you have the capability of building a test Vista 64 bit partition on the same hardware, i.e. install a clean copy of Vista in either a multi-boot arrangement or using a spare replacement drive to test the USB drive without anything else being loaded?

Regards, Steve

Hi,

In reply to your questions, i have answered them as this.

1. Yes it works fine on my wife's laptop

2. Yes i sometimes get one or the other grey text boxes or blue screens

3. Yes i saw the words about the corrupt drivers, but i was unsure if this could be the problem.

4. Yes the computer has not been able to go into Hibernate for some time now.

5. Yes i have removed both programs and tried again, but the problem still remains although i have re-installed AVG.

6. Yes the drive seems to work ok in Safe Mode

7. Many thanks for helping and explaining this.

Regarding loading Windows first without the drive attached, I have tried that and I still have the same problem. Even if I connect the USB cable after Windows has been running for 10 minutes. In fact when i last tried it after re-connecting the USB lead, and leaving it for almost 10 minutes. When i tried to Safely Remove Device, i got a blue screen crash with IRQL NOT EQUAL error.

With the option that you mention, i am afraid that i don't have that choice with my computer as the hard drives are all almost full, and i cannot move any files about. I looked at a Install Repair of Vista, but apparently it is not like XP, as it does not have the feature to repair files as i want to try.

So i am going to have to look at how i can do a clean install and maybe start again.

Gary

Hi Gary,

There are some useful tutorials on repairing Vista at:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial148.html

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88236-repair-install-vista.html

Regards, Steve

Hi,

Many thanks for the reply and the help, and so far i have formatted and re-installed Vista 64.
And i am still having some problems with the external USB drive, and a horrible thought occured to me yesterday.
In that is the Akasa Integral 3.5" IDE hard drive enclosure, capable of handling a 500GB IDE drive?
As that would answer a lot of my questions regarding the USB device, because my other USB devices seem to work ok.

Thanks.

Gary

Hi Gary,

You would probably be best in contacting Akasa and checking the maximum capacity of their drive enclosure:

http://www.akasa.co.uk/update.php?tpl=product/product.list.tpl&type=Enclosures&type_sub=3.5 Enclosure

http://www.akasa.co.uk/update.php?tpl=contactus.tpl  is their contact link.

I found an advert for an Akasa Integral P2USB enclosure at the link below where it said "Integral P2 designed for 3.5 IDE HDD with interface for all PATA drives upto 400Gb."

http://www.saverstore.com/product/20039948/Akasa-Integral-P2USB-Black-External-35-IDE-Hard-Drive-Enclosure-USB-20

So there is a possibility that your 500Gb drive may be larger than the enclosure supports. 

Regards, Steve

Hi,

Many thanks for all of the help and your patience in this matter, and i must say that it has been proved that the fault is mine and nothing to do with Acronis. Because with the help from the other forum, it has been proved that i had the wrong Chipset drivers installed for my computer, which helped to cause virtually all of the problems that i was having.

Also, i will send an e-mail to Akasa, to ask about the maximum drive sizes the enclosure can handle, as that could be interesting to find out.

So i must say a very big thank you to everyone for the help in this matter.

Gary