Hi All,
Recently I have been experiencing complete (random?) disconnects of my portable HDD.
My setup:
After dropping/destroying my drive once as a result of moving my notebook, I now use valcro to stick my 2.5" HDD case (Vantec NextStar 3) to the back of my notebook monitor. Then run a short usb cable to my usb port on the side.
I'm using PAM 2.0 Beta 3 on a HP nc6220 running XP Pro SP3.
In the six months that I've had this setup, I have not experienced any problems. In the last week or so I'm finding that when working in bed the drive would momentarily disconnect completely as if the cable was pulled and pushed back in.
As you can imagine this is quite nerve racking and irritating when doing development as you have to restart everything. Not to mention having to reload 20 FFP tabs on a 64K internet connection!
As my sound is almost always muted, the first sign that something has happened is that Explorer tries to connect to the next mapped drive which gives an error as it is not connected. The fact that PAM is gone from the system tray confirms a disconnect.
The usb cable is short but can still be pushed around when moving the notebook around. I'm generally quite careful not to make the cable move around too much and past experience indicate that the usb cable connection is quite robust, unless your talking cell phones of course as they only last 18-24 months. I wonder why 
My immediate conclusion is that the usb cable connection is the cause of the problem.
My questions are:
1) How do I verify that this is in fact the problem i.s.o. perhaps a suspect usb port, power dip on port, etc. (I now run both ends of the Y-cable connected to see if this might help.)
2) Is there a way to check for any damage/data corruption other than checkdsk? So far I have not picked up any problems. TBP sometimes has to rebuild its indexes/views, but I think I've just been lucky, unless the portable app specification covers special methods i.t.o. resilience against catastrophe, which is then proof that it is paying off.
3) Do these cables simply wear out with time or is it more likely the problem on the case which in itself is only about a year old?
4) Is the something that can be done to secure the connection? I'm considering going to memory cards as it would become part of the notebook, but will probably not survive the startup times In the past I did look at notebook that support removable HDD drives but the one I found only supported 50 inserts!?
Some advice guidance would be appreciated.
Thanks
Paul
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but much more likely this is problem of the connectors which are not very sophisticated items. In general once such connectors start making problems, they have to be considered as dead. Many peopel tend to try to 'repair' them by the use of some contact sprays etc, but technically this is nonsense except in the case where one of the connectors is very, very dirty the some cleaning can help temporary.
Most likely the defective connector is the one inside your laptop. Note that it is soldered to some printed board there and the solder points do not last for ever too.
And BTW: the original specs for usb connectors are 500 insertion cycles....!! only
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
Thanks for the info...
> And BTW: the original specs for usb connectors are 500 insertion cycles....!! only
Considering that I do 1.5 inserts per day on average and that my notebook is already 3.5 years old I've exceeded their spec a long time ago... It's a good thing my new notebook arrives tomorrow, but this still means I need new cables
It's not that easy finding short USB cables (15-20cm).
I hope they've seen the error of their ways and improve on it for USB 3.0.
Regards
Paul
directly, since all has to be compatible. But the connectors are different slightly so will have improved quality sure.
But also today, one can make connectors lasting few thousands of insertions, but this is what people do not want pay for. PC has to cost max 500$ the usb stick 5$ , there is no way to produce any kind of connector capable of any reasonable insertion cycles for that money. The kind of surface material and hardening can not be done at this price level.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
Headphone plugs and jacks and RCA plugs say hello. (RCA plugs are known to wear out though.) Only problem is, those headphone plugs/jacks only have two analog channels. Not sure if the same thing can be done for the reliability and speed something like USB needs. And while headphones and stereos can get very expensive, it's never because of the jacks and plugs. Cheap headphones and stereos almost never have their plugs or headphones jack go out.
Flimsy technology is often favorable to companies because they know you'll be back for more. GE famously discovered how to make a light bulb that never burns out more than 50 years ago, but something like that just wouldn't be marketable. In almost every industry that makes consumable and disposable devices, there's always a way to make it better, and while cost might be one factor in why they don't do it, the fact that they can keep you coming back for more is usually a bigger one.