External drive freezes Finder

[iCode]

Hi, I've got a problem with an external drive (IcyBox IB-350UE USB/FW enclosure and a Seagate 7200.8 200 GB drive) I got a couple of weeks ago. I'm running an iBook with OS X 10.4.2. The drive is connected with firewire and is formatted as HFS+.

The problem is that if the computer has gone sleeping, when I wake it and try to access the external drive, it spins up, but then Finder freezes totally, I can't even force it to restart, and the only way to get out of it is to disconnect the drive. Finder then announces that the drive wasn't properly disconnected.

Even though Finder freezes, other apps work as usual (except if I tried to open a file on the external drive with some application, that app would freeze, too).

I've tried to disallow sleeping of hard drives from System Preferences, but it doesn't seem to have any effect.

Does anyone have a solution for this, please?

 

[yenko]

Hi, I've got a problem with an external drive (IcyBox IB-350UE USB/FW enclosure and a Seagate 7200.8 200 GB drive) I got a couple of weeks ago. I'm running an iBook with OS X 10.4.2. The drive is connected with firewire and is formatted as HFS+.

The problem is that if the computer has gone sleeping, when I wake it and try to access the external drive, it spins up, but then Finder freezes totally, I can't even force it to restart, and the only way to get out of it is to disconnect the drive. Finder then announces that the drive wasn't properly disconnected.

Even though Finder freezes, other apps work as usual (except if I tried to open a file on the external drive with some application, that app would freeze, too).

I've tried to disallow sleeping of hard drives from System Preferences, but it doesn't seem to have any effect.

Does anyone have a solution for this, please?

Sounds like either your firewire cable is defective or the directory is screwed up on that drive. Try Disk Utility to repair the drive.

 

[iCode]

Sounds like either your firewire cable is defective or the directory is screwed up on that drive. Try Disk Utility to repair the drive.

Disk Utility says that the drive is all right. I tried using another fw cable, which didn't help, and connecting the drive by USB, which solved the problem.

Could the fault be the enclosure's firewire chip (or something like that)? I think it was Prolific something.

 

[iCode]

Well, it seems the problem WAS in the enclosure's firewire controller (Prolific PL3507), after a firmware update the drive's working properly.

 

[Ronny.de]

similar problem

hi - i read your post and was very relieved. finally someone had the same problem.
i have a seagate 160gb sata-II hdd in an enclosure connected to my powerbook via usb. now if i copy some data or sometimes simply try to mount the disk it kind of freezes. i cant use the finder anymore or any program that tries to access a file on the drive. now my problem. the same thing happened when i tried to copy a sd-card with a usb card reader.

firmware upgrade is quite out of the question since i dont know what kind of chip or which vendor or whatever. its a "Fantec ZX-5" enclosure.

could someone help?

thanks
Ronny

 

[iCode]

hi - i read your post and was very relieved. finally someone had the same problem.
i have a seagate 160gb sata-II hdd in an enclosure connected to my powerbook via usb. now if i copy some data or sometimes simply try to mount the disk it kind of freezes. i cant use the finder anymore or any program that tries to access a file on the drive. now my problem. the same thing happened when i tried to copy a sd-card with a usb card reader.

firmware upgrade is quite out of the question since i dont know what kind of chip or which vendor or whatever. its a "Fantec ZX-5" enclosure.

could someone help?

thanks
Ronny

Well, I found out about the chip when I looked at Disk Utility, my disk shows as "Prolific PL3507 Combo Device"