Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Chuck in Indiana on April 16, 2015, 09:31:28 AM
-
Windows 7
New computer, well a few months old. When we came back from California and booted it up, it didn't recognize the keyboard or the backup drive. Everything is USB on this sucker. All ports except the two on the front are full. Shut it down, swapped the keyboard and mouse, and it didn't recognize the mouse. I'm assuming that USB port and another that the backup drive is hooked to are dead.
Hooked the mouse to one of the front ports so I could run the computer and looked at the USB controllers on Device manager. It says they are all working normally.
I'm officially in over my head now. ;D I'd rather not have someone mucking about in it, it has all our passwords and financial data on it, and isn't even hooked to the interweb thingy.
-
Once it is booted, did you try moving the mouse back to the old position on the back?
I know it is new, but anything obstructing the fans? Are they turning? Is the clock right at the BIOS? Perhaps the battery is bad?
-
Once it is booted, did you try moving the mouse back to the old position on the back?
I know it is new, but anything obstructing the fans? Are they turning? Is the clock right at the BIOS? Perhaps the battery is bad?
Yeah, I stuck a USB memory stick in it, Nada. No, the clock isn't right..
-
Make and model of computer?
desktop/laptop?
Are the usb ports adjacent to each other?
-
Surge protector? Maybe lightning or power surge.
micky
-
Make and model of computer?
desktop/laptop?
Are the usb ports adjacent to each other?
Acer Aspire desktop. There are 4, stacked two and two, plus the two on the front, a 2.0 and 3.0.
-
Surge protector? Maybe lightning or power surge.
micky
It's hooked to a pretty good sized Belkin uninterrupted power supply/surge protector.
-
I'll rephrase -- are the two failed usb ports adjacent? Are the failed ports in the front or in the back?
-
I'll rephrase -- are the two failed usb ports adjacent? Are the failed ports in the front or in the back?
Failed ports are on the back, adjacent.
-
Maybe it is trying to boot from one of the USB ports. I'd pull anything from USB other than your mouse and keyboard and try again. If you are shut down now, actually pull the power plug to deprive the machine of any electrons. Kick out the hairball. The communication to an external drive might be the culprit. Don't attach that until after the machine is up and running properly.
Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA
-
Shut down, and unplug from wall and wait for a minute or so. Sometimes the motherboard just needs to discharge and that may resolve your issue.
Edit: (oops, just saw the same suggestion on previous post)
-
It is new and under warranty. Call Acer tech support.
-
Failed ports are on the back, adjacent.
Failed connector. New computer.
See warranty.
Older computer, add a USB hub to the working ports.
-
Failed connector. New computer.
See warranty.
Older computer, add a USB hub to the working ports.
Oh crap, I was afraid of that. I absolutely hate installing/setting up a new computer..
-
[Wayne] beat me to it.
" add a USB hub to the working ports "
-
Oh crap, I was afraid of that. I absolutely hate installing/setting up a new computer..
What is there to set up?
Upgrade to Win 8, and it will do most of it for you BTW.
-
That's not encouraging. Typically the back ports are soldered directly to the motherboard -- if they fail physically, you can't unplug and replace them, you have to replace the motherboard. The front ones connect via cable and plug on to the motherboard. Having a cable fall off is not unheard of, but it's probably not your problem.
The ports are arranged in clusters. So if your two failed ones are together, that entire cluster has failed. Failures happen for two main reasons:
1) overloaded power circuit -- happens when you try to drive things like external hard drives or rock-the-casbah speakers from the usb's available power. There's not a lot of 'lectricity available at the port and the wires are tiny. The cluster gets overloaded and the smoke escapes.
2) plugging and unplugging devices incorrectly and/or with the device and/or the computer powered up. Just like a set of points, you throw a spark whenever you make or break a connection. Either one big hit or many small hits over time can burn up the port.
1 and 2 above are why many usb devices have their own power supplies and power switches. Some have octopus cables that let you 'borrow' power from more than one usb port. But all usb ASSUME they are the only device being connected to a port (and that they are the LAST device in the chain), even though the theoretical limit is 127 devices on one hole. If you run multiple, unpowered devices off an unpowered usb hub you are asking for trouble.
All that said, there is a chance that some driver or setting is causing the problem. You already know how to find the usb stuff in the device manager. Go to the device manager, open the usb port portion (near the bottom of the list). You have to look over the list and associate (in your mind) devices that are working with their usb root hubs and controllers. Remove the usb root hubs and controllers that do not have the keyboard and mouse connected. Reboot the computer. Upon restart it will automagically refind the functional usb ports and reinstall their drivers.
If this doesn't give you relief, then the hardware has failed. The only way to replace the rear clusters is to replace the motherboard. If this computer is a few months old, it is probably still on warranty and the failure will be covered. If you were a true guzzisti and bought a refurb, used, or home shopping network product, you might be SOL on warranty.
The workaround is to forget about the dead holes and add a POWERED usb hub to a good cluster. That will move the ports from the back of the computer to your desk surface where they are easier to get at, and also supply power from its power supply, not the ports.
Does this help?
I see others have touched some of this while I was typing. I'm not going to edit this.
-
What is there to set up?
Upgrade to Win 8, and it will do most of it for you BTW.
Basically to not forget to copy an important file. Some of the old software I was running before I got this new computer wouldn't run on Win 7. That was a PITA.
-
I see others have touched some of this while I was typing. I'm not going to edit this.
Yes, that helps, I'll give the uninstall/reinstall a try after a while. What I'd rather not do is return this computer and get another because of all the financial data on the hard drive. That's why we don't have it on the internet. Is there a safe way to nuke the hard drive?
-
Some warranties will allow them to ship you the parts and you do the swap -- pretty straightforward on an Acer desktop. Some warranties want to send a tech to your pllace to do the swap, and some want you to ship the computer to a depot repair site for the fix (this is my least favorite method). I have never heard of ACER replacing the computer due to a minor failure like this one.
My favorite way to 'security nuke' a hard drive is to use either a .44 or a drill press to punch a big hole in it. I do a big stack of "security erasures" every month (or more often if required). The .44 method is the more funner, but the drill press is just as effective. Short of that it's almost impossible to do a 3-pass security nuke without having either the system disks (not shipped with most ACERS) or a lab rat computer you can install the hard drive in and erase using the lab rat's operating system. This is because you lose your opsys on the first erasure pass and can't continue for the second and third.
-
Is there a safe way to nuke the hard drive?
My 12-ton shop press works wonders. The discs just can't handle that load.
Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA
-
If you have extra PCI-e slots, you can add a USB card and then use a USB external hub if you need more than the 4 ports on the card. That's the easy way out if you don't want to mess with anything else. Windows 7 should detect it on boot up.
You just need to find out what type of slot you have available on your motherboard and get a card that matches. I think you can get a 3.0 USB card and it should be backwards compatible with your USB 2.0 stuff, but someone correct me if I'm wrong.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=pci-e+usb+expansion+card&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Apci-e+usb+expansion+card (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=pci-e+usb+expansion+card&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Apci-e+usb+expansion+card)
Good luck, this is just a quick and dirty solution.
-
usb 3.0 is backwards compatible and way faster than 1.1 or 2.
PCI-e is a little short slot in the motherboard. PCI (no 'e') is a longer slot. The ACER should have both if this is the route you want to take. I have no problems with adding ports via card. Be careful where you buy one though. Most of these cards on ebay and similar sites are counterfeit. Go with a reputable store.
-
My normal "attention getter" for electronic stuff is a 44 Magnum. ~; ;D I'll get with the warranty people and see what they want to do. Thanks, all.
-
There should be a partition on the drive to reload the operating system. You should be able to get to it from the control panel backup/restore program, or the bios during boot. The NSA will still be able to retrieve the lost data, but it will scramble it well enough to hide from the normal repair lab.
-
I don't know if anyone mentioned it yet but...
BACKUP everything first, then tinker. Doing it in the reverse just creates anguish.
Now, BACKUP everything first.
Ok.
There are two ways to deal with this that generally get you where you need to be which is knowing what is going on:
The easy way:
1. Shutdown the computer.
2. Unplug all external USB devices.
3. Start the computer
4. Uninstall any drivers/software that may have been installed for eternal USB devices. Even though USB is supposed to be plug and play, often manufacturers will load special drivers or feature specific programs for their devices. Microsoft does it for their keyboards and so does Logitech.
5. Shutdown the computer, do not plug an external USB devices into the computer.
6. Start the computer.
7. Run Windows Update. If you are in need of many updates it might take a while. Do not pass over this step.
8. Shut down the computer.
9. Restart the computer then after you see your desktop, wait until there are no hovering circles or anything else that indicates whatever needs to be loaded hasn't finished.
10. One by one, starting with the mouse first, then keyboard, connect your external USB devices.
Important. Each time you connect a USB device, shutdown and then start the computer before adding the next one.
If you have a USB printer, add it last and before you do so make sure you followed step #4. If you try to re-install a printer over already installed printer drivers or software, you will just create a mess.
IMPORTANT:
Make sure you note which USB device you plug into which port and always use the same port. While USB devices should be able to plug into any USB port, that is wishful thinking. Keep it simple, same device, same port every time.
The harder way:
Any other way. Then go back to the first way.
NOTE: If you want to test a USB port for function, use an optical mouse, not a wireless one, not a lazer one, not one powered by diesel or propane, the simplest mouse you have that doesn't have all kinds of features. No speakerphones built-in, projection screens or attached solar panels, just a simple mouse with a usb connector.
-
If you end up wanting or needing to reinstall the operating system, instead of loading software and going through all that, do yourself a huge favor and get a spare drive. They are usually not expensive and eventually you will need it anyway.
Don't get a bare bones one, get one that comes with a cloning kit (a cable and software). Some companies will let you download the software.
Then all you do is follow the instructions and when you are done, what you have is a duplicate drive that you can swap out. If the laptop is under warranty, clone the drive and take any personal information off your PC. Send it in for repair or replacement if that is needed. When the replacement/repair is returned, simply put your cloned drive in it, start it up and let Windows go through updating itself (you need to be connected to your ISP (best way is a ethernet cable to your router instead of WiFi).
Once that is done, you're all set. Everything should work and it will have the same desktop and application and data that your PC had before the repair or replacement.
It takes longer to read this post than do it.
No matter what, the spare drive will come in handy. Once a quarter, re-clone your drive using the spare. If the drive gives up, you are literally minutes away from doing whatever it is you were doing.
-
The two posts above are great protocols for all computer issues. Thanks guys...
-
start it up and let Windows go through updating itself (you need to be connected to your ISP (best way is a ethernet cable to your router instead of WiFi).
Won't happen. If this computer even *thought* about going on the internet, Dorcia would never speak to me again. That would make my life quiter, but wouldn't enhance the "domestic tranquility". ;D
You're not paranoid if they *are* out to get you.. <shrug>
-
In that case you are going to have to go to the windows update catalog site with a computer that does have internet access, go starkers while figuring out which updates it needs, download the required updates and burn them and the updater executable to a CD and run the CD on your offline computer.
IMHO a much better solution would be to move all sensitive files and data to an external drive, disconnect that drive so that no sensitive data is reachable, connect the computer to the internet for just long enough to do the updates, disconnect the internet, reconnect the external drive and you are off and running.
I do understand your rational paranoia, but you need to be able to apply patches somehow.
-
These are all good procedures and thoughts for the situations they apply to. I think nuking the opsys and doing system rebuilds is overkill for what is probably a straight-ahead hardware failure of the usb cluster.
$0.02
-
Chuck, how long have you had this PC? Windows updates every Tuesday. I don't know what top secret stuff you have, but I know you have it P:) However, moving all of your "interesting files" on to a portable hard drive will allow you to get all of the many Windows updates you have missed as well as download current drivers.... Just sayin, that's what I would do, not knowing what files you are concerned about. If you go this route, be sure to don your tinfoil hat during all attempts! Good luck bud ;-T
-
Stupid computer luddite question. Is cloning a drive the same as imaging it?
-
Is cloning a drive the same as imaging it?
To me, cloning a drive is creating a new bootable drive to replace the original. Imaging a drive uses something like Macrium Reflect, or Ghost, and is basically creating a huge file that contains the entire contents of a hard drive that can be stored on a backup disk. So you can save numerous drive images on a backup drive and restore and image later.
So I can take drive A, make an image and store it on drive B. Then take the image from drive B and restore that to a new drive C. So drive C is a clone of A, with a backup on B.
That is MY meaning for the terms, which may not be accurate.
-
I'd use Wayne's definition, except that an image doesn't need to be compressed or written to a huge, single file. Backup images usually are for the reasons Wayne gave (+ security), but archive images might not be.
Imaging a drive makes a copy of the directory structure and the files on it according to 'flags' on the files. Those flags can hide files from the imaging process and/or deny access/scramble/exclude things like checkbits, license bits, encryption keys, etc. It can be thought of as a combine doing a more-or-less thorough harvest of a field -- certainly getting the good stuff and low hangers. -- and blowing them into the hopper with the wheat and chaff mixed together.
Cloning a drive takes everything in the directory structure and files as well as the boot state and 'format' of the disk in an ISO (bootable) manner. It preserves not only the files, but the exact arrangement and placement of the files with respect to their physical location on the original hard drive. It's like an orderly, OCD tornado that sucks up not only the crop in the field, but the field itself, the fences, and the access roads.
So you can image a drive, shove it into the computer and it won't boot. You can clone the same drive, boot it, and unless the computer knows the serial number of the original hard drive, it will continue on as though the original is installed.
It's possible to clone drives without using cloning software. If you make a mirror array of two hard drives and then break the mirror, you have cloned the drive.
-
Is there special software for cloning? I want to do that for our computers, as backups to the backups.
-
(http://s26.postimg.org/81hoi4tzt/red_apple.jpg)
-
BTDT. I'm back to PC's :D
-
Is there special software for cloning? I want to do that for our computers, as backups to the backups.
I've used Macrium Reflect.
-
These are all good procedures and thoughts for the situations they apply to. I think nuking the opsys and doing system rebuilds is overkill for what is probably a straight-ahead hardware failure of the usb cluster.
$0.02
His advice is worth more than 2 cents. Reinstalling Windows for a USB cluster failure is almost certainly going to be a huge waste of time. I've never seen a USB cluster fail, until this last year, where I've seen it on handful of new computers. Your options are: warranty repair - even if they ask you to send it to a depot they almost always have you pull the drive first, add a USB card - get a USB 3.0 card, or a get a USB hub - which is my least favorite just because I don't like an extra device with a bunch of cables getting tangled up.
The other great advice is to keep all your critical files on an external hard drive. You can probably get them all on a thumb drive (or two for a backup copy). If you have USB 3.0 ports get a good quality USB 3.0 thumb drive. Save the tin-hat for political pundits selling you their version of trouble in River City. You need to connect this computer to the internet from time to time to get security updates and in a convenient way so that it will get done.
If the data is that critical I think I still have a roll of "Top Secret SIOP/ESI" classification tape I stole from the underground at Stratcom 20 years ago. You can put it on the thumb drive with all your critical data. :)
-
The two apps I've used to wipe a drive booted from 1)Floppy, 2) Cd or 3)Flash drive. Killdisk was one, can't recall the second. Killdisk could do multiple passes as the OS remained in system memory (it did not boot off the HD) so no issues.
I don't worry about the NSA or anyone else trying to spend the money to recover something I wiped as I'm not a prime target for that sort of expense of time and money - it's not all that easy to attempt to recover a wiped drive so the motivation needs to be there. Naturally; if you are considered a prime person of interest then by all means melt that sucker down! :)
It's certainly worth calling Acer to see if they will replace the motherboard for you (either sending you the part or a tech on site to do it). If they want you to send it in, ask if you can keep the hard drive while doing so. If not, show them the finger and put in a card with USB expansion ports as advised earlier.
Typically for the Windows built in recovery system, you need to create a bootable CD (it's part of the script, all you have to do is supply the CD and a magic marker to ID it) and an external hard drive. Then do the backups. If you need to recover it offers up several levels of recovery if memory serves, boot off the CD, attach the external HD and keep the coffee fresh. :)
For your machine that won't see the Internet consider making an image of it (I find images faster to do that recovery - but then I've done a lot more images than recoveries so I'm probably biased) and have an external hard drive will all your info on it. This hard drive (hopefully two, one to use, one for back up) can move from machine to machine so it won't matter what happens to the computer (as long as the external HD is not attached when evil strikes), your data is never on it.
-
I am a hardware tech for the City where I live. Here is an idea, use a live version Linux to test all of your USB ports. If they all magically work, then Windows has a software problem. If this is the case, you can you the file manager in Linux to copy any of your files to an external on extra internal hard drive by drag and drop. Then do a system restore to put in fresh out of the box condition.
-
You need to connect this computer to the internet from time to time to get security updates
If it's not on the internet, why would it need to get security updates? <scratching head>
I have a clean install of XP that hasn't been on the internet for freakin ever that drives my cnc mill. Still solid, runs for weeks at at time without rebooting..
-
If it's not on the internet, why would it need to get security updates? <scratching head>
I have a clean install of XP that hasn't been on the internet for freakin ever that drives my cnc mill. Still solid, runs for weeks at at time without rebooting..
So long as you don't use it to access the Internet no biggie.
Here is the thing though, if that computer accesses your LAN (say, home network) even if it is only to print something, it becomes vulnerable because it is essentially available to access the Internet. The way it works is that your PC could access the Internet, you just choose not to. If that is the case, then what you can do is disable all traffic to your computer from/to the Internet. Most new routers allow this.
If there are no connections to the Internet from your computer, security updates aren't needed.
Just never put that computer on the Internet because it will take literally seconds for it to get jacked.
-
So long as you don't use it to access the Internet no biggie.
Here is the thing though, if that computer accesses your LAN (say, home network) even if it is only to print something, it becomes vulnerable because it is essentially available to access the Internet. The way it works is that your PC could access the Internet, you just choose not to. If that is the case, then what you can do is disable all traffic to your computer from/to the Internet. Most new routers allow this.
If there are no connections to the Internet from your computer, security updates aren't needed.
Just never put that computer on the Internet because it will take literally seconds for it to get jacked.
If you don't give your tcp/ip a gateway or dns server it can do local area but can't do internet.
-
Looking at some of the 'overkill' suggestions, I see a similarity with a job in the shop. The customer got a new version of some software. The instructions said to remove the old version before installing the new one. Instead of doing the straight-ahead uninstall of the program through control panel, he popped in the system disk and erased the hard drive on the premise that it was the most secure way to delete the old software. After a friend came in and did an unsuccessful system repair they called me to get the data back without telling me what had already been done, only that after trying to load the new program the computer wouldn't boot. When I put the puzzle together and asked specifically if they'd used the system disks to uninstall the program they 'fessed up to their mistake. No, they're not getting their Quicken data back. The computer will be returned 'as new from the factory.'
-
If you don't give your tcp/ip a gateway or dns server it can do local area but can't do internet.
True but other computers on the network that do access the Internet have access to the non-internet access computer. That is the vector for malware, infections and so on. The local machines won't need a gateway to do the dirty deed.
If one PC on the network accesses the Internet, all should be updated for security and have anti-virus protection or it is like having nothing at all.
A shared thumb drive can also become the vector, even if the computer never accesses the Internet and isn't on a LAN. There are plenty of attacks out there than are just malicious, they don't need to call home they just trash your PC.
-
I'll buy that logic.
-
Ok, got around to calling acer today and talked with the nice Indian guy that I couldn't understand. ~; Even with my hearing aids turned up on radar, it was tough, but we managed. Uninstalled/reinstalled the USB stuff, and both ports worked. Unless I plugged in the backup drive. Then, they were both dead again, so I'm assuming the backup drive is the issue.
I need a backup drive. Can I *asume* the one that I have is calling for too much power? Do I need to shoot it? ;D Should I get a powered hub?
Questions questions..
-
Ok, got around to calling acer today and talked with the nice Indian guy that I couldn't understand. ~; Even with my hearing aids turned up on radar, it was tough, but we managed. Uninstalled/reinstalled the USB stuff, and both ports worked. Unless I plugged in the backup drive. Then, they were both dead again, so I'm assuming the backup drive is the issue.
I need a backup drive. Can I *asume* the one that I have is calling for too much power? Do I need to shoot it? ;D Should I get a powered hub?
Questions questions..
Wow, you did good getting positive info from India. :bow
I normally need a hearing aid with a 'slow your voice down' feature to understand them. :D
Yes, I would assume you need an external POWERED hub, to get enough power to the drive. If you have a USB 3.0 port in the PC, try that. They are higher powered.
-
+1 -- you're frying the ports with the drive.
There are two styles of external backup drives -- laptop and desktop. Laptop style is powerd by usb -- generally with a 3-ended cable that allows you to tap power from two usb clusters. Desktop style has its own wall plug for power.
-
Ok, got around to calling acer today and talked with the nice Indian guy that I couldn't understand. ~; Even with my hearing aids turned up on radar, it was tough, but we managed. Uninstalled/reinstalled the USB stuff, and both ports worked. Unless I plugged in the backup drive. Then, they were both dead again, so I'm assuming the backup drive is the issue.
I need a backup drive. Can I *asume* the one that I have is calling for too much power? Do I need to shoot it? ;D Should I get a powered hub?
Questions questions..
There are many options besides a powered USB hub. First you need to determine what your data storage needs are. Without that info you could end up spending more money than you need.
Just because the backup drive you have isn't suitable doesn't mean you need a powered USB Hub. Many solid state drive backup devices are compatible with low power USB ports.
You said it was your backup drive causing the problems. Does it have a power port? Many do and if so, just get a compatible power adapter for it and you'll be good to go.
Even if that is a no-go, you can use many of the SSD based backup drives made that do have a power port or are designed to work off the low power USB ports in some laptops.
Another solution is a SD Card reader. Those use SD cards (very small) like those in your smartphone if you have one or commonly found in cameras. With a fast SD Card, they function extremely well as a backup solution and are very small and do not need an external power source or USB hub.
Good SD Cards are very reliable, faster than you'll need and very portable.
My recommendation is to keep it simple. Find something that works with your laptop, not yet another multi-wired device to kludge things together.
If you have a Costco nearby, they sell the SSD based backups right there. You will not need a powered USB hub. One thing for the entire solution.
http://www.costco.com/.product.100095388.html?cm_sp=RichRelevance-_-categorypageHorizontalTop-_-PersonalizedClickCPInCategory&cm_vc=categorypageHorizontalTop|PersonalizedClickCPInCategory
The above is a 1.5 Terabyte drive which would allow you to easily back up multiple computers or run many backup, keeping a schedule to reduce a single backup failure issue. Pay little attention to the reviews from MAC users, they're the same type who can't hold an iPhone properly. ::)
Or
http://www.costco.com/PNY-256-GB-Turbo-3.0-USB-Flash-Drive.product.100163213.html
As with any USB device, before removing it from the computer, make sure to "eject" it if you are using Windows.
You probably don't need 256GB of storage so you can downsize the product accordingly.
With either of those, you have a reliable backup solution that is very portable and can be used with multiple computers as well as for storing other data.
-
One more way, if you are feeling adventurous ( I can understand why you wouldn't):
If you have a smartphone and it can take a large capacity SD memory card, say a 128 gig, you can simply connect the phone to your laptop via USB cable and use that as your backup device. I've been doing that for my personal laptop for a number of years. The phone acts like a USB backup drive and doesn't need any additional power but even if it runs low on juice, you already have the power adapter so there is nothing to buy except a larger SD memory card if the one in your phone is too small.
If you use an iPhone though, that isn't going to work without a make work program.
I did forget to mention earlier than those thumbdrives can also be had as wireless devices. Now you don't plug anything into anywhere. Once the thumbdrive is charged, it connects to your laptop wirelessly and you can use it as if it were plugged into your laptop. They are available via Amazon and many other places, just buy a good name such as this one:
http://www.sandisk.com/products/wireless/flash-drive/
About $40-$80 depending on capacity. You can use it with any computer too.
-
Hey Norge pilot, Wayne, RK, thanks. It's not a laptop, though, it's a desktop if that matters. The drive I'm using is a Costco special, a My Passport Ultra. It says on the cord, USB 3.0, compatible with USB 2.0. It's not powered, and there's no way to power it.
I've had it plugged in to a 2.0 port for roughly 3 months before this issue. I'm a little afraid to plug it into the 3.0 port to see if it is ok there. Should I worry? I'd really like to shoot it.. ~; ;D
-
The part where the ports choke with the drive attached suggests that it's either a 3.0 drive on a 2.0 port or that it's sucking too much power. The lack of a power plug on the drive suggests that it's a laptop-type and should have had a 3-ended usb cable included. One "B" end in each of two SEPARATE usb clusters. Plugging them into two ports on the same cluster isn't going to distribute the power draw.
A lot of good alternatives to the on-board cluster, to backup strategies, and network security. Choose the one that makes the most sense to you and drive on!
-
The part where the ports choke with the drive attached suggests that it's either a 3.0 drive on a 2.0 port or that it's sucking too much power. The lack of a power plug on the drive suggests that it's a laptop-type and should have had a 3-ended usb cable included. One "B" end in each of two SEPARATE usb clusters. Plugging them into two ports on the same cluster isn't going to distribute the power draw.
A lot of good alternatives to the on-board cluster, to backup strategies, and network security. Choose the one that makes the most sense to you and drive on!
So, you're saying that if I had a powered hub, this drive might work? How about just plugging it into the 3.0 port and sticking my fingers into my ears? ;D
-
Yes, in a roundabout way I'm saying that. A powered hub is in the $20 range.
If the drive didn't immediately torch the 2.0 ports, and what was said above about 3.0 ports having better power is true (I had not heard that before), then you probably won't do any more damage to the 3.0 port than you did to the 2.0 stuff. And if you were paying attention, you remember how to do what the gentleman from India walked you though. So if the computer disavows the 3.0 port the way it did the other, you can recover from it. If it destroys the port than you still have the other options.
-
Is there special software for cloning? I want to do that for our computers, as backups to the backups.
A lot of drives have cloning software available from their manufacturers. Seagate and Western Digital have cloning software available as a download. It is painless to use, just takes some time depending on the capacity and stored data size on the original drive. You can also get cloning software from a bunch of sources, some free, some not.
The nice thing about a cloned drive is that if the in use drive fails, just swap it out for the cloned drive and fire it up. If you didn't back up the data though, it isn't going to help much though.
You can mirror drives and break the mirror but that is complexity added for most people. The problem with a mirror is that if the machine get infected, the mirror is as well. If you delete some critical file from the primary, it is deleted from the mirror too.
Once you go to a mirror, might as well go all in to Raid 5 or 10 and be done with it. For most people though, using laptops, cloning is a very simple way to have a ready bootable recovery solution that doesn't cost all that much, especially compared to the hassle of trying to recover without one.
-
Windows has a software problem.
Windows is a software problem
-
Pay little attention to the reviews from MAC users, they're the same type who can't hold an iPhone properly. Roll Eyes
;D
-
The nice thing about a cloned drive is that if the in use drive fails, just swap it out for the cloned drive and fire it up. If you didn't back up the data though, it isn't going to help much though.
Yep, this is my reason for a cloned drive to have for backup. The data is backed up in several ways.