[MOVED]: USB hard drive issues

swarfendor437 wrote:Hi ralinux, and welcome to the Zorin forum! Not accessing or seeing hard drives can be a result of many different possibilities. I appreciate that you have only got Zorin on the drive but do you have any other OS's on any of the other drives? For example, my setup I have 3 SATA drives, 1 has windows, another a different LInux, the other 2 Linux distros, one of which is Zorin - if a 'shut down' of Windows for example has not been 'clean' - for example a 'freeze' in Windows Explorer and you have to hold in the power button, there is no way that drive will mount at next boot. Next time you get your drives up and running, provided they are not NTFS drives, try running 'fsck' (file system check - a bit like windows 'chkdsk') on them.

Hi swarfendor437, Thanks for that explanation re "now you see it now you don't" HDD in Windows. This is the main reason I am here to learn about the possibility of using Zorin on my new self build PC.
My previous PC was Vista Pentium dual with 4Gb memory and data 320Gb HDD I also have a Buffalo USB 2, 500Gb External HDD with four connection options, USB 2 with "Turbo USB' software, e-SATA, FireWire 400, and FireWire 800,
I had major problems using this drive as a back up for video and still image files with Photoshop Elements 7 & Studio etc. paranoia set in and I moved all files to a new internal HDD took forever as had to do batches of files as Windows fell over often due to the size of transfers. Needless to say that the Buffalo was pastured out until recently as I have had to revert to an XP PC as the Vista machine died following Vista unstable due to PSU? or MB short maybe resulting from a Cap falling of my Xonar sound card and getting under the MB!
Any way now trying to use the external drive for downloads to set up new PC etc. but the old problems are back with a hit and miss result every time its connected to PC. I know that I should do it methodically and in a standard way by using the "hardware removal" icon on the notification task bar. But this itself sometimes is displayed and sometimes not. In future I will only connect after WinXP is fully loaded and I have run the Buffalo Turbo USB program. The main issue is what to do if WinXP throws a wobbly and you cannot do a clean shut down?
regards JM

Hi swarfendor437

Thanks for your response and advice.
Just to clarify my situation I have two PC's one old Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo running XP to SP3 and which is slow and maybe unstable as I have been deleting all items that I can so as to get it to run as fast as possible and I am using it to just access the WEB and emails etc.

I am also building a new PC from scratch and plan to use it without Windows as I am fed up with constant updates and maintenance admin. E.G. Been away for 7 days and had 7 updates to download and install before MS Security Essentials was updated!!!!

The new PC has a Pentium i5 3570K processor, Gigabyte MB Z77-D3H revision 1.0 with 8 Gb Memory; a SATA III 1Tb HDD not partitioned yet, with a SanDisk 32Gb ReadyCache SSD to boost the HDD, no video card and a DVD read/writer optical drive. I also have a 500GB SATA II HDD and a couple of old IDE HDDs that I could use as extra storage with IDE to SATA converters

Plus my external Buffalo USB Drive, which has now settled down on the XP PC, as long as I remember to install it correctly with the TURBO USB software.
I have not yet tried to mount it in the new Zorin PC since I managed to dismount it properly from the XP PC.

So far I have built the new PC and accessed its BIOS. All hardware and memory recognized and fans running and CPU temperature satisfactory.

I have also downloaded and created a Zorin "Live run" USB 8Gb stick drive and used it to boot into Zorin 64 bit for a quick look see. So far so good.

I am hoping to use Zorin to run the PC without Windows as I would like it to be "uncontaminated". Have not yet connected the new PC to the Web safety first

The next things I have to do {and where I will welcome any advice / help} are as follows:-

1. Install Zorin ---- on the hard drive but what version? THEN

2. EITHER - Run the Motherboard "Driver" CD and update drivers [can this be done in Zorin? it seems to be biased to a Windows OS?] or how should I update the MB drivers?

3. OR - Down load the SanDisk ExpressCache software and set up the cache SSD what would be the best order to do this and can Zorin do the business?

4. OR load the Browser Programmes I wan to use such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome, plus suitable Antivirus and Firewall programs any suggestions? Then use the new Zorin PC to access the WEB

5. As recommended by the PC build experts carry out a PC stress test and check all Hardware Memory etc is all ok

6. Then load my MS Windows based software e.g. Photoshop Elements 10, Avid's Studio 12 video editor, MS Flight Simulator, I will give up on MS Office and use Office Libre. I am not a games fan just want to get my photos and videos edited and archived etc

I have been on Gigabytes site to see it there is any info/guidance about using Linux as an OS on their MB's but they are MS Windows reliant I believe and refer you to the Chip Manufacturer's WEB site.

Any advice and guidance would be gratefully received I am 65 been around PC's since the first Apples came to the UK but only as a novice user and not a techie.

Regards John

Hi swarfendor437

Hey Man you are a Good Egg, I'll now go off and digest your help and info thanks very much for your time and efforts.

You are a real expert since you say you don't know when you don't know. RESPECT!

Best Regards John