Windows 7: External esata backup drive causing my PC to freeze

I do a backup of my PC onto an external Seagate hard drive every six months.


Today when I turned on my external backup drive it froze up my PC.
I restarted and the PC could not complete the bootup sequence.

I turned off the external HD and the problem did not re occur.

I then removed the esata cable from the back of the external backup HD and connected it to my PC using its optional USB2 port. I turned on the external HD and my PC worked fine.
Any ideas what could be causing the freezeup when the HD is turned on while connected with the esata cable???

I suppose it's possible the esata port on either the external HD or on the computer might have gone bad. Or the esata cable itself. Or if the HD was turned on while you were booting the computer there may have been too much of a power requirement that caused the PC to freeze.

I'd try booting your computer without the external drive connected. Once booted, connect the esata cable to the computer first, make sure the external HD is turned off, connect the esata cable to the HD, then power on the HD. If the PC feezes again I'd say it's definitely the esata port or cable.

Coworker of mine has same problem at work. We have a Thermaltake BlacX dock, with an eSATA and USB 2.0 port. When he plugs "his" laptop in via eSATA the laptop crashes. It doesn't happen over USB 2.0 to him and it doesn't happer to any other laptop we have at the office (and they are all the same make/model).