Question about Drive Indexing and Windows Explorer Crash

I have a 1TB Usb External drive that I use for backup storage with one partition and many large folder/directories containing my backups, music collection, pictures and movies. I have been using it with several different computers along with my main Windows7/32 box. I have the drive indexing option turned off on this drive because I have never felt the need to do so and have never had any problems using it with the Win7 box or my older(less powerful) Xp pro box until a few days ago. Recently when I tried to open any of larger folders, there is a progress bar that runs across the address bar at the top and this seems to take an awfully long time(several minutes) to complete and windows explorer has started crashing if I do not let this progress bar finish completely before trying to open any files.... the XP box has never done this (progress bar or crash) and opens the files immediately. It is very frustrating that my less powerful XP computer(with indexing off) handles the files from this external drive better than my Win7 box.

My question is...... could windows explorer be crashing because drive indexing is not enabled on the Windows7 box for this drive. If so, why did it just recently start doing it and why not on the XP box. Could something else be causing the problem? If indexing IS causing the problem, where are those indexing files stored...... on the system drive or on the external usb drive and how much additional space does this take up? What information is stored in these files. Also, if I want to use this external drive on another computer will I need to re-enable indexing on that computer also?

Thanks alot for any help or advice!!!
C~~~

chasoscar said:

I have a 1TB Usb External drive that I use for backup storage with one partition and many large folder/directories containing my backups, music collection, pictures and movies. I have been using it with several different computers along with my main Windows7/32 box. I have the drive indexing option turned off on this drive because I have never felt the need to do so and have never had any problems using it with the Win7 box or my older(less powerful) Xp pro box until a few days ago. Recently when I tried to open any of larger folders, there is a progress bar that runs across the address bar at the top and this seems to take an awfully long time(several minutes) to complete and windows explorer has started crashing if I do not let this progress bar finish completely before trying to open any files.... the XP box has never done this (progress bar or crash) and opens the files immediately. It is very frustrating that my less powerful XP computer(with indexing off) handles the files from this external drive better than my Win7 box.

My question is...... could windows explorer be crashing because drive indexing is not enabled on the Windows7 box for this drive. If so, why did it just recently start doing it and why not on the XP box. Could something else be causing the problem? If indexing IS causing the problem, where are those indexing files stored...... on the system drive or on the external usb drive and how much additional space does this take up? What information is stored in these files. Also, if I want to use this external drive on another computer will I need to re-enable indexing on that computer also?

Thanks alot for any help or advice!!!
C~~~

Indexing is probably not the cause but you can check here

There are several ways to find what the problem is. The best is to go into event viewer (type eventvwr in search). Go to the windows log>application tab.

You want to look for critical errors (they have red in the left column ).

When you find them you want to look for critical errors that say app hang, app crash, or anything that relates to the problem.

When you find them please note the event ID, and the source codes and tell us what they are.

Let us know if you need help with any of this.

Ken

Thanks ZigZag~~
The only Errors I see around that time are 4 different ones with the Source listed as Application Error, the Event as 1000 and Task Category (100)......... I also see a few more down the log that dont seem to match the timeline as "sidebyside/63/none"

When it happens there is a onscreen error report but I couldnt make much sense of it, except that it said that Windows Explorer had stopped working and needed to be closed/restarted. I will try to get more info the next time it happens and report back.
Thanks again,
C~~~

Here is the info from the Event Viewer...... hopes this helps!

Log Name: Application
Source: Application Error
Date: 11/9/2010 2:05:51 PM
Event ID: 1000
Task Category: (100)
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Grey-Windows7
Description:
Faulting application name: explorer.exe, version: 6.1.7600.16450, time stamp: 0x4aeba271
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 6.1.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5bdadb
Exception code: 0xc0000374
Fault offset: 0x000c283b
Faulting process id: 0x1528
Faulting application start time: 0x01cb803d827a7642
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\explorer.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report Id: bfb01ff2-ec3c-11df-b991-00112f5454fa
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Application Error" />
<EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>100</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2010-11-09T20:05:51.000000000Z" />
<EventRecordID>35920</EventRecordID>
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>Grey-Windows7</Computer>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>explorer.exe</Data>
<Data>6.1.7600.16450</Data>
<Data>4aeba271</Data>
<Data>ntdll.dll</Data>
<Data>6.1.7600.16385</Data>
<Data>4a5bdadb</Data>
<Data>c0000374</Data>
<Data>000c283b</Data>
<Data>1528</Data>
<Data>01cb803d827a7642</Data>
<Data>C:\Windows\explorer.exe</Data>
<Data>C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll</Data>
<Data>bfb01ff2-ec3c-11df-b991-00112f5454fa</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Bump........... Anyone???

I had hoped that the logs would help provide the info needed to figure out what is causing these Explorer crashes........ Is it the ntdll.dll file that is causing the problem or does anyone see anything else in the Log that would cause them or know anything I can try? ........ Ken, you there?

Bump......... Anyone ???

zigzag3143 said:

Let us know if you need help with any of this.
Ken

Im letting you know........ I could use some suggestions! I’ve tried everything I can think of over the past several days trying to find the problem(including most everything in Capt Sparrow’s explorer.exe crash guide). I felt this was the best forum to find a solution but havent had ANY input so far. I would try another forum but I don’t want to double post. At this point, the only thing I know to do is keep bumping this thread till someone has a suggestion.