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Hello The 2T Western Digital usb external hard drive sometimes flashes a yellow triangle which says,"Windows was unable to save data for file G:\$Mft -lost. Failure of pc hardware or network communication could be the trouble. Try saving elsewhere.." The drive will disappear at times then reappear if I reboot. I have tried other usb ports. W.D. says to bypass the surge suppressor and go to the wall but that did not help. My 1TMy Book runs fine under the same ciircumstances. This 2T is the one givingme problems. W.D. says it is ok. Do you have any idea how i can get the drive to stabilize? Thank you

As these are pretty new out I haven't heard anything about them as such, but what you describe is a break down in the transfer, so it could be a failing drive, bad port (although unlikely here with what you've said), the unit\caddy if it has it's own power source, that may be faulty, or the actual USB lead itself, or the port on the caddy that it connects too, so gently move the lead watching the screen (open your My Computer and see if the drive disappears while doing this), try another lead if you can, but I must admit I have never heard of a surge protector causing such issues before. Should none of that show any clues, let us know what (if any) changes happen, and if you can give a breakdown of your system spec, list the hardware\age, eg ram PSU etc, also what operating system you are using ? older systems have history of accepting large® drives, so knowing what you have may help show something there, hope this helps a bit anyway.

Hello Windows xp, sp3, 2.66Ghz, 768 ram, 80 GB hard drive, pentium 4R 4 cpu, - Sorry but I don't know what PSU is?(power supply unit) This is for the desktop where I had both usb drives installed and was doing the imaging.The pc is 8 years old. The 1T works flawlessly with theis desktop but the 2T is the problem. I will try to both use it with the laptop and moving the wires on the drive while at the desktop. Oddly enough, even though I get the messgae that data is lost, I lookin Mt Comp and the backup is there and the info is still in Acronis. I wonder if Acronis is compatible ? I'll try these two and get back to you. I think you may have a point and this 2Tmay work well with a newer pc which is inevitable.. Thank you

Hi, Yes the PSU is the power supply unit, I only ask about this on the off chance it may be struggling to supply the needs of the system perhaps, but as I have no experience of these newer drives I can only make guesses as to what may be going on, and given the age of the system this is probably the major factor in this, older set up's may have limiting issues, a bit like the really old issue of not seeing partitions over 127gig.
But possibly the easiest way to check this is create a partition(s) on the drive, make it 2 x 1gig drives, see if it behaves then, if it does then there is come kind of hardware issue, but if it works OK when partitioned at least it will keep you going until you next upgrade, but in the mean time here is a link which may throw some light on this, hope it helps.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=330174

Thank you for the referral,although some was over my head. I had formated the drive from FAT to NTFS and am in the process of running disk check.@55%. If the disk reads ok I will use the same usb cable that I use for the 1T drive that works flawlessly. If that does not work I will seriously consider a new machine. I have trouble reconciling that I got two WD drives at the same time. One is the My Book Essentials 1T which works with this old pc like a charm. The other is the WD My Book home 2T which I have this warning issue with. I hope the disk check or switching cables does the job but if not I will have to conclude the age of the machine is strong candidate for the trouble. I cannot get into partitions altho I wish I could and I'd like to thank you very much for your help.

Yeah the first time seeing such things can be very overwhelming, even I sometimes need to look numerous times before I get it, but what I have found when in this situation, is to take it 1 step at a time, I concentrate on following each line of instruction in turn, I put trying to understand on the back burner, I simply start with step 1, then follow it nice and slow triple checking I do EXACTLY as described, once each step is complete I move to the next until complete, once done I have found it makes more sense, maybe not to the point of understanding, but you feel more relaxed about following the guide.

To that end try the following:-

Make sure that System Cache is not selected for memory usage
1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties to open the System Properties dialog box.
2. Click the Advanced tab, and then under Performance, click Settings to open the Performance Options dialog box.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. Under Memory Usage, click to select Programs, and then click OK.
5. Click OK to close the System Properties dialog box.

Now it may well be worth trying the latest drivers, although I don't think they will help, it can't hurt to try, so go to the motherboard makers site and download the latest drivers and install them, now the update that "May" make a difference carries risk, I've yet to have one go bad, BUT, you have to be aware of what can happen, so my thought is about a bios update, it may be possible this could address such issues, but there are no guarantees, and if the update goes bad it can kill the board.

Given you're close to going the upgrade route this may be an opportunity for you to try, given if it does go bad you will be replacing it anyway, but the essential thing with a bios update is make sure you do NOT turn it off or interrupt the process until it is complete, it is highly advised to be connected to a UPS device during such jobs, then if there is a power outage the PC can continue and complete, but if caught like this without a UPS device it could well kill the board, so it's important to understand this risk, but that said most seem to be fine.

Trying to partition the drive is possibly your safest route to getting a result, well at least one that allows you to use the drive without getting a new system, and it carries no risk unlike other options, and if it works it would allow you to choose the timing for getting a new system, so you can say wait until the timing is right for you, but a new system is very much going to benefit you, the jump in tech from what you have is well worth it.
So go to the WD site and follow the guide on how to do this, the thing to consider here is when you have a lot of data on the drive, this obviously needs to be moved during such operations as all data will be lost, so doing this on a drive with a lot of data, can mean it's impossible for the person to back up the data, at least without buying another drive of the same size, so going this route often means you wont have the space to revert it back to the original state, no biggie but it's something to be aware of, hope something here helps.

Hello I made sure the memory usage is not selected in the pc. I previously had moved the BIOS from A$ to A 12 on the pc in question. I tried to rollback the driver in the usb drive but it would not work. I keep referringto pc /usb drive as sometimes I am not sure which we are doing. Partitioning , is this with the pc or usb drive?

I just switched cables from the 1T which runs fine with this pc to the 2T which has the warning. I did an image and verifcation and the same warning came up. I am concluding the machines are the culprits at 8 years of age. It bothers me that the 1T works but not the 2T although I know there are many variables for this to happen. I am going back to study your notes regardless and thank you.

When it comes to partitioning the drive, we are talking about the external drive as that is the one you're having problems with, and if this problem is due to the size of the drive, partitioning it too 2 x 1TB partitions should hopefully make it play nice, at least going on the other drive working fine. The fact the 1TB drives cable did not help again points back to the age of the system not being able to handle such a large drive, I just wish I knew enough to prove this for sure for you, as a double check try the cable used on the 2TB drive on the 1TB one, if this drive still behaves (the 1TB one) then the leads are fine, hope you find a solution some how.

It seems to boil down to the 2T needing updated hardware so I put it aside. My machine is 8 years old and I'm pretty sure it will work with a new pc. Thank goodness the 1T works with it. I'll let you know if any changes occur.

Any excuse is a good excuse to buy a new computer Any chance you could try the 2TB drive on a newer computer (friend/relative) just to verify it works before spending the money on a new computer?

Trying it on a new computer is an excellent idea but understandably none wants me puttering with their machine. I am so inquisitve about the integrity of the 2T because the several hour dskchk did not rule out other problems. But for now it will remain in an airtight ziplock baggie and sooner than later we will test it on a new pc. At least we have the 1T which has earned its money twice. Good thought and thank you.

Sounds like your friends have no sense of adventure

At my age, most of my friends have no sense of anything.

It could be that your new 2TB hard drive is SATA2 and that your machine is not recognizing the newer system.for the full 2TB……. As I think has been previously mentioned you could try partititioning the new drive into 2 or more smaller partitions………also it would be worth checking if there are any jumpers readily accessible on your drive that you could alter (remember the position though!) Further thoughts are to buy , they are quite inexpensive but preferably borrow, a PCI Sata2 controller board and see if this does the job for you……..( make sure it has SATA2 on it, some also have eSATA2 Final last thought…… swop the 2TB drive for 2X 1TB drives and cross their palm with silver to make it worthwhile….. Regards paws