I have a niggling problem that I'd like to fix if anyone can help.
I have an external Lacie 200GB USB2 drive on my system - most of the time permanently attached, but ocasionally removed in order to transfer projects between office and home etc.
Lately, however its become more attached to my home system than it should. If I boot-up without the Lacie turned on Windows complains that there is 'no disk in the drive' - after a few hits of the 'cancel' button it stops worrying about it and carries on OK.
It seems that there are some files that windows uses for boot-up that it expects to find on the removeable drive, but I cant figure out how it got into that state.
It's not a big deal at the moment, but if anyone has any idea how this might have come about and how I can return the Lacie to being treated as removeable drive again I'd be grateful.
Thanks in advance
Dear Mathew,
Not trying to teach you how to suck eggs, but have you recently changed boot options in your bios?
i am wondering if 'first boot option' has been changed in the bios settings?
Kind Regards
Stuart
Or maybe it believes that it's an internal drive and not a removable one? Right-click "My Computer", select "Manage"/"Device Manager" and see if it's there, and so on.
Thanks both for suggestions - but I had checked both before I posted. The Lacie drive does appear as a USB drive in device manager, along with the main HDD's card readers, so I assume its in the right place.
Its only in the final stages of WindowsXP boot-up that XP appears to look for the drive (or some files on it) - and even then, once youve convinced it that its not there (by clicking Cancel a few times) it carries on undaunted.
It's difficult to determine exactly when this all started because the drive has been attached and left spinning for much of the past few months - turning the PC on when the Lacie is already running an it doesnt show any errors.
The one thing that has occurred to me is that I installed SP2 only a few weeks ago - I dont see how it could, but do you think that may have made a difference?
yours puzzled
Sounds likely. Have you had a look on the drive for hidden and system files?
There are two system folders:- Recycler & System Volume Information. The former is the recycle bin and the latter wont let me in. Any help?
XP service Pack 2 definitely creates all sorts of files and tracking stuff
to get into these files you can look at
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309531
John
Then that's your problem. I guess the most sensible solution would be to back track, uninstall SP2, then "safely remove" the drive, then reinstall SP2. That ought to fix it.
Thanks all - It will take me a couple of days to get round to it, but I'll follow John's lead from the MS knowlege base and report back in due course.
OK so I can fiddle with the System Volume Information folder but to no avail - in fact if I delete it, my system (though still able to see and access the drive) still initially reports "No disk in Drive" as if it were a floppy, and takes a number of hits of the cancel key before it stops worrying about it.
Can it be to do with some entry in the registry? I have (very carefully) made edits in the registry before, so am not frightened to do so, but only with guidance from someone who knows where to look and what to do. Otherwise it remains a bit of a mystery to me.
Still looking for advice
yours