Internal Hard Drive Vs External Hard Drive

[elgordo1960]

I need a new HDD to store approx 12000 mp3s. I will be accessing the files on a regular basis. Is there any difference between an internal drive or an external one?? Bearing in mind my PC is on for 16 hours a day.

 

[elgordo1960]

Everything has been working perfectly until the drive letter changed from H: to I: which is a major pain as now my media player can't find the tracks. Is there a way to change the drive letter back to H: again??

 

[garebo]

Not for sure, but I think you can change it in computer management. Right click\properties.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[elgordo1960]

Not for sure, but I think you can change it in computer management. Right click\properties.

garebo you are correct except that the letter "I" is not included in the choices!!
Darn!!

 

[elgordo1960]

This is nuts!! The drive letter has just changed to "J" and I can't change it back to "H" or "I" as neither are included in the choices to change drive letter!

 

[garebo]

But you have it working?
You cant right click on the drive and change it to another letter?


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[elgordo1960]

Yeah, I can change the drive letter, but I can't change it to a previous letter. The problem is, if my media player thinks that the library is on drive H: and the drive changes itself to drive I: then I have to delete the library and re-load it.
(11,000 tracks!!) which is a pain. If I could change the drive letter back to H: then I wouldn't have to delete and re-load the library. But windows won't let me change the letter BACK only FORWARD

 

[elgordo1960]

OK so I've just checked again and H:& I: have reappeared in the options to change the drive letter...but I can almost guarantee that if the drive J: decides to become K: then the option to change back to J: will not be available...will have to wait and see....Only wish I knew why it is doing this...and how I can stop it happening!!

 

[garebo]

One possible suggestion. Whatever you use for your tunes media, change that drive to, say, l or M. Then re-do the library and it should stay at l or M all the time?


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[elgordo1960]

I've reloaded the media player using drive J: hopefully it will stay like that now.

 

[cdogg]

This thread has changed from a discussion to a problem. I recommend you separate your issue and create a new thread. It will be more clear to others who don't bother catching up in long threads.


By the way, a USB 2.0 hard drive is a good deal slower than an ATA/100 or SATA drive. Even though hard drives rarely average much higher than 50MB/s, that average is calculated from bursts that easily exceed 70MB/s. USB 2.0 with overhead attached would be lucky to allow a drive to average faster than 30MB/s. So in some cases, you could expect to see as much as a 30% drop in potential performance. You've gone with firewire, which is restricted even more by the 50MB/s cap.

With that said, it appears that you don't need the extra speed more than you need the mobility. So this doesn't apply to you as much as it does to others who might stumble across this thread.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[garebo]

good point, cdogg

They both have their places. Portability is important for some,like me, and im willing to give up a bit of speed.
But if portability isnt an issue then ide,sata or scsi would be the way to go, that is, until one has used up all the ide and\or sata channels they have, not sure on scsi. Then they have the choice of getting either an external box in one of 3 flavors or a pci card that will give them more drive connections.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[elgordo1960]

I have switched the drive back to USB to see if it was the Firewire connection that was causing the problem. So far so good...Anyway I think USB is slightly quicker than firewire in this case, (USB up to 56MB/s Firewire up to 50MB/s) Only time will tell.

 

[elgordo1960]

PROBLEM EJECTING USB MASS STORAGE DEVICE
"The device "generic volume" cannot be stopped right now. Try stopping the device later"

The problem there was solved...it was a program called "mim.exe" this is installed by MusicMatch Jukebox and checks the drive for new media on something!! If this is running the device cannot be safely removed...I have to get rid of this program!!

 

[garebo]

Actually you may not have to. Just find the settings and change settings so that it doesnt do the job automatically, only when you decide to check manually.
Also, go to run and type in "msconfig" without the " ", then go to startup and uncheck that program and any others you dont need to start up right away. If you are new at this then there will be several you can uncheck. Then save and exit. Reboot and a message will come up, just check it of at left bottom and all is well.
Just remember, there are some things that must start up and must stay in that "startup" section. So you have to experiment or post the list here and i or someone else can help you.
But for sure you can uncheck the one for that prog!


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[elgordo1960]

Thanks garebo, I already have selective startup, this prog starts up when Musicmatch Jukebox is started. It is not a vital program, I'm just not sure how to delete it safely.

 

[elgordo1960]

OK the drive letter issue update!!
The next time I switched the ext drive it had changed from J: back to H:
Tried to change it back to J: in MY COMPUTER/manage/disc management but J: option not available!!
Restarted windows and tried again and J: option is there!!!
There's the solution!!!

Still don't know why it's doing it but at least I don't have to reload the jukebox every time it does.


Hope this will be of use!!!

Will start new thread solely for this problem for future use!!