Official Curmudgeon
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Kansas
Posts: 4,706
Thanks: 2
Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts
OT Need computer help please [UPDATE]
I bought a new Dell Dimension 2400 computer about a month and a half ago. It came with a Western Digital 80 Gig harddrive. I added a Western Digital 160 Gig internal harddrive about 3 weeks ago. The new harddrive seemed real slow when copying to or from it. I then added a Western Digital 120 Gig USB harddrive.
When I added the USB drive, I copied a block of about 7 Gig from C: (the original 80 Gig drive) to the USB in about 6 minutes. I copied the same 7 Gig block from C: to D: (the new 160 Gig drive) and it took over 60 minutes.
I called Western Digital and they thought the 160 Gig drive was bad, so they sent me a new one. I installed it tonight and it made no change, took 1 hr. 20 min. to format.
I had originally installed the software that came with the drive, something called Data Lifeguard. It claimed that there was a 137 Gig barrier and needed 32 bit addressing to access the 160 Gig drive. I have since uninstalled the Data Lifeguard software but nothing changes.
When I was clearing off the 160 before I replaced it, I found that I could not copy a large file to the USB drive. I haven't found the true limit yet. I can copy a 2.5 Gig file to the USB drive but if I try to copy a 4 Gig file to the USB drive, it tells me the drive is full and suggests I use disc clean-up. There was over 100 Gig of space left on the drive. I then copied a 6 Gig block of smaller files and it copied them fine. I then copied a 6 Gig block containing a 4 Gig file. It started copying but when it got to the 4 Gig file, it again said there wasn't enough free space.
I'm running XP, SP1. I found that when I am copying from the 80 Gig to the USB, Task Manager says that it is using about 30% of the CPU resources. When I copy to or from the 160 Gig, it says I am at 95% CPU usage.
One other thing, not that I think it's important, when I install or uninstall the software that came with the 160 Gig drive, it mutes the wav section on my volume control.
I'm calling Western Digital tomorrow and I wondered if anyone had ever heard of these problems before. I think maybe they are selling stuff that doesn't work.