Odd External HD behaviour

Ok system restore has worked a treat.

This is of course great news however, what would you have done if you found you were unable to boot into Windows?
In other words, what kind of backup solutions have you put in place to exercise a fast rescue when such an event happens?

Sorry if I'm a little off-topic guys. It's just that what happened to Starmage is a classic situation that I come across quite often. In fact, the most recent similar occurrence was a Windows update that, following installation, informed me that my Dell Inspiron 1720 which came with Vista Ultimate OEM had a non-genuine copy of Windows. Googling revealed that several others had been bitten by the same update and while they were in serious hot water I simply used Rollback RX to undo the Windows update responsible. Then I added it to the hide list and have never been affected by it since.

I don't know if the way you have your drives set up would allow you to implement snapshot imaging software but as they protect the primary drive only I see no reason why you can't use one. Of course, it's your choice Starmage. Just consider that if Windows wouldn't boot you would still have been able to restore the system in under a minute.

Hi 7 Leagues...
I don't have a system in place on this machine as it's my old one and I used to backup my files to external storage manually.  Mostly because I had limited files that were entirely important to me. (essentially the My Docs folder, email, address book, calendar and some project folders).

My Calendar,addresses and email are now synched with an iPad and my HTC HD2 so I'm not too worried about these anymore (this was how I originally setup my AW).

Really Important Data I have on a MyBook World Edition which is mirrored.

I doubt this is fail safe though and I've been looking at better ways to ensure I have good data security and backup.

Purhcase of the Drobo was the first step.

Oh BTW I have a copy of WinPE for those wonderful moments when the computer will not boot which I have used a couple of times.

The worst thing I've had happen to me was that a friend asked me to fix their computer and I advised I would have to "format the hard drive" and just bring everything back to scratch because there was s much software on the system (including multiple reg cleaners etc) and so many conflicts.  Unfortunately they didn't realise that "format" equated to wiping the HD.  Luckily I had taken a backup but I did end up having to use proper recovery software to recover files from the formatted drive.... Ooooops.

*Sigh*
Seems my rejoicing was premature.
Now things are even weirder.  I plugged in my Seagate first and it was recognised and I got the auto pop up window asking me what I wanted to do with it and iI selected "Open".  Have cut and paste it all successfully to the Drobo...

But it just won't show up in "My Computer".......

Well it sounds as though you have all your bases covered Starmage. My only concern was that while Drobo appears to be much better than a classic RAID solution I did not see how it could save you in a failed-to-boot situation.

As it happens, my wife just came home for lunch. She brought her Inspiron laptop with her explaining "When I started it all I got was a black screen with a cursor flashing at the top. I tried to restart but the same thing happened." Her machine is also equipped with Rollback RX so I just launched that and asked it to restore last night's image. The machine booted immediately. She's a happy bunny now. :)

btw I assume that our imaging software has its images locally?

I was wondering what happens in the event of a HD failure?

Actually I don't think I have all the bases covered.  In the event of a full crash and inability to boot I would most likely have to start afresh although I do have ways of getting into the ssytem via other means (ie WinPE).

Anyway I wil look properly into imagingprograms when the Precision arrives.  They sound like they may help in terms of saving time... :)

Besides the Precision should have enough power to run them without issue..

Besides the Precision should have enough power to run them without issue..   btw I assume that our imaging software has its images locally?   I was wondering what happens in the event of a HD failure?

If you are talking about imaging software as in backup and instant recovery, then no power is required at all. It's for all machines not just powerhouses.

As for the other 2 questions, yes the images are stored locally and all would be lost in the event of HD failure. This is why a drive clone is also necessary but, as the drive image will contain the system as it is at the time of backup and snapshots are made at least once daily, it is good practice to schedule a drive clone at least weekly.

... I would tend to agree with your suspicions on a Windows Update. Have you tried a Windows Restore or maybe your machine is protected with snapshot imaging software or a full Acronis/Ghost backup?   ... I take it you have Windows Update set to notify you when updates are available (without downloading them) and not on the default setting of download and install all updates? I ask because it seems to me that if it were on auto-update that could explain why the machine rebooted without any input from you.

@7Leagues

Good calls on your part.

So, go back in the thread to the original trouble-shooting I described ... what DOES work?

Be sure you are powering up the external hard-drives before connecting the USB cable to the computer.

Do all the USB HDDs work on another machine?

Do the Dimension USB ports work with a simple USB flash drive?

Is the problem limited to only certain USB HDDs?

As long as you can get the data files off the drives (and then you are done with them) is it really worth fixing further?

If you are talking about imaging software as in backup and instant recovery, then no power is required at all. It's for all machines not just powerhouses. As for the other 2 questions, yes the images are stored locally and all would be lost in the event of HD failure. This is why a drive clone is also necessary but, as the drive image will contain the system as it is at the time of backup and snapshots are made at least once daily, it is good practice to schedule a drive clone at least weekly.

Makes me wonder a little at what point does one become Paranoid about it though?  Reminds me of an article I read not so long ago from an archivist at the Power House Museum here in Sydney.  He'd been asked to assist a large corporation to bury a time capsule (the older ones, not an Apple one).  They wanted to put a DVD in it but the guy was saying something like, well in 40 years or so when its retrieved will people have DVD players?  Tech evolves so quickly you would have to put a DVD player in,plus instructions etc.... (ever tried getting a current teenager to do mental arithmetic?  It really is a lost art and no, doing 7 x 5 on your calculator is not quicker than doing it in your head (or at least it shouldn't be)).

We live in such a discardable age these days.

Actually I have now ruled out Win Update....
This issue is getting very weird and I've tried and found various mentions of similar issues but no fixes that apply to me as yet.

I have now manually updated and there is no change.  The reason the drive was "recognised" when I originally plugged it in after Restore was because I had taken it out and put it away while the computer booted.

I'm still having the same issue but there's more info now that I've done some digging...

1. Upon originally plugging in the external HD it is recognised and you get the standard "What would you like to do with this drive...." dialog.
2. I can copy, cut and paste to and from the drive if I select "Open Folder".
3. The drive does not appear in My Computer.
4. It does appear in Device Manager.
5. It also appears in Disk Management where I can open it, format it etc.

Makes me wonder a little at what point does one become Paranoid about it though?

The fact is that all hard-drives die eventually. So, you keep your data files backed up in a second, separate location (USB HDD, offsite, cloud storage, server, whatever).

I look at my Acronis images as extra insurance. They are also a major time saver for me ... and time is money for me. Is takes considerable time to install an OS, install OS updates, install drivers, install and config apps, work out any incompatibilities, and integrate data stores.

It's not paranoia ... it's being smart.

It's an interesting story but I can still read my floppies from 20 years ago. Optical media (lets say an archive quality DVD-R) will likely be able to be read for another 40 years (if the media holds up). Well, of course no-one really knows the future, but my point is that optical media will have a longer life than magnetic media like floppies. This is partly because the replacement media (Blu-Ray) also reads the old DVD media.

It's not paranoia ... it's being smart.

I agree but yous tate that all HD's die eventually.  Theoretically then your data is never really "truly safe".  Even Cloud Storage can't solve this underlying draw back (of course they try their best and its unlikely all their multiple back up drives would die simultaneously but still).....

It's an interesting story but I can still read my floppies from 20 years ago. Optical media (lets say an archive quality DVD-R) will likely be able to be read for another 40 years (if the media holds up). Well, of course no-one really knows the future, but my point is that optical media will have a longer life than magnetic media like floppies. This is partly because the replacement media (Blu-Ray) also reads the old DVD media.

I can still read my floppies as well.
But drives are becoming more and more rare and besides, I also copied most of mine over to a CD so there's no further point anymore.Most people growing upnow probably don't even know what a "Floppy" is, especially the 5 1/4 ones, let alone a tape drive....:)

Then again historians have uncovered manuscripts thousands of years old which can still be read.  The data we generate now I doubt will last that long.

Various USB sticks work (up to 32GB) as do SD MMC cards (also up to 32GB).  These appear to work in any of the USB ports front and rear so the ports themselves are working fine.

The Drobo too, works in all ports and is 8TB.

2 x 500GB Seagate FreeAgent Desks are not working on this machine but are fine on another.
1 x 1TB and 1 x 2TB WD MyBook Essentials not working either but are fine on another machine.

1 x 2TB WD MyBook Essential works (the one that was in the middle fo a format).

2 x 1TB WD Elements also work too which were ones I had formatted and finished with before the reboot occurred.

It's not particularly important these drives work per se on this machine in the appropriate way but I am planning to sell them shortly (once all data has been removed and they have all been fully formatted).  I just want to be certain they are not faulty and that whomever I sell them to will not come back screaming at me that they don't work.