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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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As I suspected my repeat try of the butterfly test on the USB drive showed no bad sectors. So it appears the drive is shutting down intermittently. Along the line of power, the power supply wears out over time. I had one computer not consistently power up and replacing the power supply resolved it. Maybe it could effect USB ports initially. I do hear an intermittent noise from this computer. I checked the two internal drives and they past the smart test. The solid state drive is a year old. The other internal drive is a terabyte drive where I have one backup of the UltraPak. It passes the smert test. I am thinking it is likely a fan making the noise. Maybe I should run the "temperature monitor" which I noticed is available in this HDDscan program found at http://hddscan.com/ with the ctrl+f search. Not sure how I would use it :-) I tried it on the terabyte drive and it shows 26 degrees on both readings???? The temperature monitor is not available for the USB drive. For now I am unplugging it when not in use. After completing the test on the external USB drive successfully (no bad sectors) I tried to use the "remove hardware safely" process and it could not find it. So the USB drive appears to have turned off just after the test.
Last edited by bowlesj; 01/22/19 12:25 PM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Yes a power supply affects USB power. It *may* be the cause.
If the drive is turning itself off intermittently:
One thing to check is the drive's 'auto ability' to sense power.
It may be shutting off during use because it senses it isn't getting enough power.
It could be a power supply issue -
Some PGMusic hard drives come with a USB cable that has one drive side connection and two computer USB connections.
This boosts the power to the external drive.
Did you get one of these with your hard drive?
If not this may not be applicable, but if you did -
Have you tried connecting both USB connections on the supply side?
One connection handles power and data like a normal USB cable, the second connection supplies only power, from what I understand.
As mentioned, sometimes system settings actually tell a USB port to shut down after X amount of time too.
Intermittent (unexpected) shut downs aren't often mentioned here, so I suspect something other than the drive itself as the root cause. Course I been wrong many times before.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Some PGMusic hard drives come with a USB cable that has one drive side connection and two computer USB connections.
This boosts the power to the external drive.
Did you get one of these with your hard drive?
If not this may not be applicable, but if you did -
Have you tried connecting both USB connections on the supply side?
One connection handles power and data like a normal USB cable, the second connection supplies only power, from what I understand.
Thanks rharv. I do have two USB plugs on one end (the computer end). I have never used the 2nd one. I have two free USB ports on the front of the computer. So I should plug both of these in rather than just the one. I will give that a try and see if it solves it. I guess I will leave it plugged in a while to give it a bigger test so I can find out. Tomorrow morning I am going to dig into an web page I found regarding noisy fans. First thing is a dust cleaning with a blower. If that does not solve it I am a bit reluctant to stop the fan while the noise is occurring to determine which one it is. Maybe there is a trick here. Maybe just blowing on it will change the dynamic and tell me.
Last edited by bowlesj; 01/22/19 03:34 PM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I have one of those 'Y" Cables that you can have. It came with my PG Drive but, in my case, the drive ran fine with the one connection as stated in the instructions.
Apparently, they had a batch of hard-starting drives. Current drives start fine.
PM me with your address and I'll drop it in the mail.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I have one of those 'Y" Cables that you can have. It came with my PG Drive but, in my case, the drive ran fine with the one connection as stated in the instructions.
Apparently, they had a batch of hard-starting drives. Current drives start fine.
PM me with your address and I'll drop it in the mail. Thanks Don. I actually have one too. Testing it now. I like your dancing - chicken I guess it is :-) I should start doing exercises like that...lol. Actually later it reminded me of this video you might find amusing. Great song behind it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q04x83EAe-oJohn
Last edited by bowlesj; 01/22/19 06:06 PM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I always try to run audio-related USB devices off the ports built into the motherboard (on the back panel of a desktop PC). Other stuff can share the hub.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I always try to run audio-related USB devices off the ports built into the motherboard (on the back panel of a desktop PC). Other stuff can share the hub. I actually was running it off the back ports and only moved it to the front after the problem started so I could more easily unplug and plug it back in to get it working.
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Another tip if using USB ports on a laptop. Try to use a port that is located as close as possible to the power entry chord. The circuit board is likely to have the minimum track length between the power supply and the USB port (for powering the USB port), and therefore minimum voltage drop.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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In my case I use the internal hard drive on the notebook. I suppose I could use the 2nd hard drive inside the desktop (my backup) rather than the external USB drive (a bit of work however to set it up again and I would loose an install count I suspect). Unplugging the external USB drive when not in use might be just as effective.
Last edited by bowlesj; 01/23/19 02:55 AM.
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Some more info. Having the y chord with both computer ends plugged into the computer does not help as the USB drive just vanished from Windows explorer and windows gave a message saying either the drive has malfunctioned or can not be recognized. There is a light on the drive at the back which is on. So as usual I unplugged it and plugged it back in and it now recognizes it.
For now I have decided to continue with my strategy of having it unplugged when not in use. If the drive completely dies and can not be recognized in other computers I will replace the drive. I suppose I could put the drive in another computer and leave it there all day to see if it eventually fails to recognize it in that computer as well. In that case it is the drive for sure.
Last edited by bowlesj; 01/23/19 08:56 AM.
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Might want to take a look at this link for more information.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 12TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 12TB SATA BB2026/UMC204HD&404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/Notion/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com (under rehosting/construction)
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Might want to take a look at this link for more information. Thanks John, that is the exact message. I will dig into it. John
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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PG Music Staff
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At this point I would suggest replacing the hard drive enclosure, as that seems to be the most likely culprit. If you have another drive that we shipped you at some point, just swap it into that one. Otherwise you could pick one up (just the enclosure I'm talking about, not a new hard disk) from your local electronics store.
Andrew
PG Music Inc.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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At this point I would suggest replacing the hard drive enclosure, as that seems to be the most likely culprit. If you have another drive that we shipped you at some point, just swap it into that one. Otherwise you could pick one up (just the enclosure I'm talking about, not a new hard disk) from your local electronics store. Thanks Andrew, you sent me off on some very interesting Google and YouTube searches/watches I never would have thought of looking for. I even stumbled on a data recovery video which was quite interesting. I will dig farther into this. John. String search "How to install a 2.5" Hard Drive into an Enclosure". Stuff I found that others might want to watch.How to transfer your hard drive to a new enclosure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLNv8RMzfjoHow to transfer your hard drive to a new enclosure (Ebay purchase). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=716NQAdN0bEHow to recover data from a 2.5 inch hard drive. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Y7BniaRXgCanada Computers hard drive enclosure. A lot cheaper than a new drive :-) Same screw positions. https://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=14_202&item_id=059147
Last edited by bowlesj; 01/23/19 01:11 PM.
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