Files corrupt after copy to usb hard disk

[miloman]

Lately I had problems playing video-files (hd content, mkv container) on my WD HD TV. Turned out that the files were corrupted when after copying to the usb disk. First I was afraid my Intel X25-m was the culprit, but windiff proved that the error occurred after copying, and there was a difference between the file on my SSD and the copy on the usb disk.
After trying all the USB ports on my laptop (MSI pr200, T7700, 4GB, Win7 HP 64), the CABLE proved to be the culprit. I use different cables, the one causing problems was an old motorola razr....
After trying the cable that came with the 500GB Verbatim USB disk the problem is gone, and windiff says the files are equal.
Just to let you searchers know (fingers crossed!): issue seems to be resolved by using a good cable.

 

[miloman]

Unfortunately problem not solved.... today again a copied mkv of 4.36 GB got corrupted when moved to the verbatim 500GB USB HD.... The files are different after copying, according to windiff, and my WD HD TV stops when getting to corrupted parts (more than 1).....
The quest will continue to find the culprit.... Next I will use a different HD in a different enclosure.

 

[Nexers]

Sorry to bring up and old post but did you ever solve your corruption problem? I'm facing the exact same thing for some time now and I can't seem to solve it.

Writing to every USB HDD I got causes random corruption detectable by hash check. I recently got a new motherboard so I know the USB controller itself is not to blame. USB cables have been replaced a few times.

Reading from the USB drive to internal disk is fine only writing to USB drives from any of the internal disks cases problems.

 

[miloman]

Unfortunately my problems were never resolved. Still get corrupted files on my HD (confirmed with Windiff). Until now whenever I copy and overwrite the file to the USB drive for the 2nd time, it's ok. Very annoying issue this.
I even got a USB 3.0 drive, but still the same issue. I scored a pc-express USB 3.0 card for my laptop (MSI PR200), but it seems this laptop has issues with the pcexpress port, so I cannot use this slot (even USB 2.0 expresscard doesn't work).

 

[Nexers]

No problems copying from USB to internal drive? Only copying to USB drives?

I was wondering if it could be somehow related to memory issues but as I don't have any problems copying from USB drives I kinda doubt it

 

[miloman]

No problems with copying files from the external USB disk to the internal one (SSD, Intel x25-m). Tried 2 files (11.6 GB and 1 over 6 GB), both ok according to Windiff.

 

[karlsnooks]

I've never encountered this problem specifically, but my general suggestion when data transfer problems occur is:
1. Disable your AV/spyware/firewall etc software for the duration of the transfer.
2. Exit from all other programs before doing the transfer.

If step 1 solves you problem, then I recommend using, and only using, the anti-viurs/security software that the majority of us use:
http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

 

[miloman]

I'm running security essentials for a long time already (more than 1 year).
I'm going to swap the HD with an old fashioned one, and install XP this winter, and see if this issue still occurs in that setup.
Memory was tested with memtest86 some time ago. No issues. Will do a retest one of these days.

 

[thehappyman]

Lately I had problems playing video-files (hd content, mkv container) on my WD HD TV. Turned out that the files were corrupted when after copying to the usb disk. First I was afraid my Intel X25-m was the culprit, but windiff proved that the error occurred after copying, and there was a difference between the file on my SSD and the copy on the usb disk.
After trying all the USB ports on my laptop (MSI pr200, T7700, 4GB, Win7 HP 64), the CABLE proved to be the culprit. I use different cables, the one causing problems was an old motorola razr....
After trying the cable that came with the 500GB Verbatim USB disk the problem is gone, and windiff says the files are equal.
Just to let you searchers know (fingers crossed!): issue seems to be resolved by using a good cable.

Sounds like a nasty problem - I know this dosent happen with Win XP 32 bit. Is your USB drive formatted FAT or FAT16 (they usually come this way) Try reformatting NTFS
If you still have the problem can you find a "memory dump" utility to display the data in hex ??? Then you could see if particular bits in the data words were being mutilated or whether the beginning or end of the transfered files had become corrupt - Just a few ideas here - good luck

 

[miloman]

Thanx for your tips. The usb hd was reformatted to ntfs at first use (because of the large files).

I'll have a look as to how I can get an idea as of where in the file the mutilation occurs. Because these are big (video) files I hope I have enough disk space for hex dumps....

 

[neilq5]

i had a problem similiar to this last week
After i copied a 700mb file to a 2gb usb stick it said there was no space left,
it also denied me any access to the properties of the stick and when i tried deleting the file it would reappear in the window after a few seconds
the only way i could fix it was to format it, it gave me a few errors the first couple of times i tried this but it eventually worked and now its back in good working order

 

[miloman]

I doubt if there's anything wrong with the drive, as I used it on my desktop without any problems. This evening copied a 8GB file to the disk, and it was spot on the first time....

 

[gregrocker]

Install Avast 5 to run it's Boot Scan of all drives. Viruses have no place to hide in a boot scan.

Run http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/433-disk-check.html on all HD's.

Then unplug other HD's and boot maker's diag/repair CD to run full scan: Hard Drive Diagnostics Tools and Utilities (Storage) - TACKtech Corp.URL

 

[miloman]

Checkdisk gave no errors. Intel SSD Toolbox does not find any issues with the drive.
In the meantime I got a 640GB Dane-elec external 2.5" hd: same issues....

Funny thing is that after the second time I copy the (large) file (copy & replace) it is always good so far....

 

[tongks]

Just to share my experience...
I always copy big file from pc to external 2.5" hard drive and vice versa, up to 40GB single mkv file. Yes, occasionally USB connection will give error especially continuous copying multiple big files, causing file corrupted and the need of chkdisk to repair disk.

Finally, I switch to eSATA instead of USB2, no problem since then on both XP and Win 7, successful rate 100% after >100 transfers. The external hard drive enclosure i use is VANTEC 2.5" eSATA+USB enclosure pair with WD 320GB SATAII 7200rpm. My desktop is XP Pro SP3 32bit upgraded to AHCI mode which made eSATA hot-swappable, while my notebook is Win 7 Pro 32bit. Both PC have motherboard built-in eSATA port. The major plus point is eSATA gave much faster (2-3x) transfer time over USB2, now i can safely cut and paste thru eSATA, instead of copy and paste thru USB2 and double check file for error.