Iomega HDD Hard Disk won't Switch Off!

[Sumgood]

Hi,

Any advice/info would be appreciated.

Got an old-ish Iomega 160gb HDD usb external hard disk running on
Windows 7 64bit.

It behaves itself and does what it should, however the probelem (or
perhaps I should say annoyance) is that I'm not able to switch it off
when the pc is on.

When I power down the pc I can switch if off no prob. But when pc is on,
Iomega's blue light is always there. I got other hard drives (seagate,
wd) and choose when they're on. But not with Iomega!

Any ideas?

Thanks for your time - Chris

 

[Ed Cryer]

Hi,

Any advice/info would be appreciated.

Got an old-ish Iomega 160gb HDD usb external hard disk running on
Windows 7 64bit.

It behaves itself and does what it should, however the probelem (or
perhaps I should say annoyance) is that I'm not able to switch it off
when the pc is on.

When I power down the pc I can switch if off no prob. But when pc is on,
Iomega's blue light is always there. I got other hard drives (seagate,
wd) and choose when they're on. But not with Iomega!

Any ideas?

Thanks for your time - Chris

I have an Iomega 1TB external drive.
I just tried offlining it with the Safely Remove Hardware icon; and it
went offline to Windows, but the light on the housing stayed on. I could
then switch it off and unplug it.

Where does yours differ from this?

Ed

 

[James Silverton]

I have an Iomega 1TB external drive.
I just tried offlining it with the Safely Remove Hardware icon; and it
went offline to Windows, but the light on the housing stayed on. I could
then switch it off and unplug it.

Where does yours differ from this?

I've been using external USB hard discs since 1992 and Windows XP and
I've always used the "Safely Remove Harware" method without any
problems, including my present Windows 7. The disc is reconnected when I
reboot.
--


James Silverton, Potomac

I'm *not* (e-mail address removed)

 

[Sumgood]

I have an Iomega 1TB external drive.
I just tried offlining it with the Safely Remove Hardware icon; and it
went offline to Windows, but the light on the housing stayed on. I could
then switch it off and unplug it.

Where does yours differ from this?

Ed

Hi Ed,

Thanks for the input.

If I Safely Remove Hardware sure enough the Iomega disk disappears from
Windows Explorer and yet......the on off button on the back of the
Iomega disk is non-responsive.

It's as if, with the pc on, it's drawing power from somewhere no matter
what.

Thanks again. Chris

 

[Ed Cryer]

Hi Ed,

Thanks for the input.

If I Safely Remove Hardware sure enough the Iomega disk disappears from
Windows Explorer and yet......the on off button on the back of the
Iomega disk is non-responsive.

It's as if, with the pc on, it's drawing power from somewhere no matter
what.

Thanks again. Chris

Everything is fine. It's drawing power from the USB plug. But it can be
safely pulled out.

You can get all kinds of contraptions to plug into a USB port; including
a cup warmer;
http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/gifts-for-men/work-gift/usb-cup-warmer.html

You can even charge an iPad from one; much, much slower than through a
mains adaptor, but it does work.

Ed

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

You can get all kinds of contraptions to plug into a USB port

One of my favorites (I must be a masochist) is an LED on a gooseneck,
sold as a keyboard light. Its beam is wide enough to cover three keys of
your choice, as long as they're in a triangular pattern, such as 'fgv'.

Luckily it was very cheap

 

[Sumgood]

Everything is fine. It's drawing power from the USB plug. But it can be
safely pulled out.

You can get all kinds of contraptions to plug into a USB port; including
a cup warmer;
http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/gifts-for-men/work-gift/usb-cup-warmer.html

You can even charge an iPad from one; much, much slower than through a
mains adaptor, but it does work.

Ed

So............essentially when the pc is on, the on/off switch at the
back of the hard disk is useless! Only option is hands and knees under
desk and unplug usb cable?

Weird innit, having an off/switch that is somehow overridden? Question
is, overridden by what and how?

 

[Ed Cryer]

So............essentially when the pc is on, the on/off switch at the
back of the hard disk is useless! Only option is hands and knees under
desk and unplug usb cable?

Weird innit, having an off/switch that is somehow overridden? Question
is, overridden by what and how?

Overridden by being plugged into your PC when it's on!

I used to have major issues with external USB HDs under XP. The ones I
particularly remember were;
1. Boot-up would hang if a 1TB drive was plugged in.
2. Even a 250GB drive could cause problems if it was switched off but
left plugged in at reboot.

Those don't happen uner Win7!?!? Those punctuation marks mean I'm not
too sure, but afraid to test it because I'm very busy. It would be
simple enough, I guess, but I learned my lesson under XP.

Ed

 

[Sumgood]

Overridden by being plugged into your PC when it's on!

I used to have major issues with external USB HDs under XP. The ones I
particularly remember were;
1. Boot-up would hang if a 1TB drive was plugged in.
2. Even a 250GB drive could cause problems if it was switched off but
left plugged in at reboot.

Those don't happen uner Win7!?!? Those punctuation marks mean I'm not
too sure, but afraid to test it because I'm very busy. It would be
simple enough, I guess, but I learned my lesson under XP.

Ed

Thanks Ed!

 

[GlowingBlueMist]

Thanks Ed!

On some systems I have found that the USB drive LED will stay on if I
use the "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" option but if I click
on My Computer, then right click on the USB device in question, and
finally choose "Disconnect" that the LED on the device may shut off.

I believe the Disconnect option only shows up if the Windows 7 is
configured to show the device is removable. Just to let you know, I
have had some devices formatted by other operating systems and
"Disconnect" option does not always appear with some of them.

I don't have one of your Imoega drives to try this with but it may be
worth a few minutes of your time to give it a try.

 

[BillW50]

On some systems I have found that the USB drive LED will stay on if I
use the "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" option but if I click
on My Computer, then right click on the USB device in question, and
finally choose "Disconnect" that the LED on the device may shut off.

I believe the Disconnect option only shows up if the Windows 7 is
configured to show the device is removable. Just to let you know, I have
had some devices formatted by other operating systems and "Disconnect"
option does not always appear with some of them.

I don't have one of your Imoega drives to try this with but it may be
worth a few minutes of your time to give it a try.

I use "USB Safety Remove" which is far better than Windows version on
both XP and Windows 7. And under Windows 7, you can set it to kill power
on remove.

Safely Remove Hardware better alternative
http://safelyremove.com/index.html

 

[Sumgood]

I use "USB Safety Remove" which is far better than Windows version on
both XP and Windows 7. And under Windows 7, you can set it to kill power
on remove.

Safely Remove Hardware better alternative
http://safelyremove.com/index.html

That sounds just the ticket Bill! Many thanks for the info. I'll have a
look at Safely Remove right now. Thanks again.

 

[Sumgood]

On some systems I have found that the USB drive LED will stay on if I
use the "Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media" option but if I click
on My Computer, then right click on the USB device in question, and
finally choose "Disconnect" that the LED on the device may shut off.

I believe the Disconnect option only shows up if the Windows 7 is
configured to show the device is removable. Just to let you know, I have
had some devices formatted by other operating systems and "Disconnect"
option does not always appear with some of them.

I don't have one of your Imoega drives to try this with but it may be
worth a few minutes of your time to give it a try.

Thanks GBM! I feel a delve and a tinker coming on.

 

[Sumgood]

I use "USB Safety Remove" which is far better than Windows version on
both XP and Windows 7. And under Windows 7, you can set it to kill power
on remove.

Safely Remove Hardware better alternative
http://safelyremove.com/index.html

Hi Bill,

Tried Safely Remove. Strangely when I Stop the Imogea disk in SR it
doesn't kill the power supply to the disk despite this being the setting
in the options. Strange eh?

 

[Sumgood]

Hi,

Any advice/info would be appreciated.

Got an old-ish Iomega 160gb HDD usb external hard disk running on
Windows 7 64bit.

It behaves itself and does what it should, however the probelem (or
perhaps I should say annoyance) is that I'm not able to switch it off
when the pc is on.

When I power down the pc I can switch if off no prob. But when pc is on,
Iomega's blue light is always there. I got other hard drives (seagate,
wd) and choose when they're on. But not with Iomega!

Any ideas?

Thanks for your time - Chris

Found this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2401954

Seems to be what's afflicting this Iomega.

However the change to the registry if flummoxing me since I don't know
the USB Device Descriptor of the Iomega disk. I need it to identify the
disk in the registry and modify a dword value.

 

[Ed Cryer]

Found this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2401954

Seems to be what's afflicting this Iomega.

However the change to the registry if flummoxing me since I don't know
the USB Device Descriptor of the Iomega disk. I need it to identify the
disk in the registry and modify a dword value.

Try this;
http://www.onlinehowto.net/how-to-get-vendor-id-and-device-id-of-your-hardware/1470

P.S. There's always the Global Settings option.

Ed

 

[Sumgood]

Try this;
http://www.onlinehowto.net/how-to-get-vendor-id-and-device-id-of-your-hardware/1470


P.S. There's always the Global Settings option.

Ed

Ed, thanks again. Unfortunately when looking in device
manager/Iomega/properties there was no entry for device instance id.
Computers eh? So I looked around and found usbview.zip which enabled me
to id the Iomega. Got usbview.exe from here:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/335A90747734097886257070006415B9

 

[Sumgood]

Try this;
http://www.onlinehowto.net/how-to-get-vendor-id-and-device-id-of-your-hardware/1470


P.S. There's always the Global Settings option.

Ed

Update.

Just tried this so called hotfix, Ed. Modified the registry, restarted,
did safely remove hardware and then tried the on/off switch on the back
of the Iomega. No joy! I give up! Think the only answer is to put a
hammer through it.

That said, thanks for your time and input.

 

[choro]

Haven't you lot anything else "hard" enough to talk about?
-- choro --

 

[Ed Cryer]

Update.

Just tried this so called hotfix, Ed. Modified the registry, restarted,
did safely remove hardware and then tried the on/off switch on the back
of the Iomega. No joy! I give up! Think the only answer is to put a
hammer through it.

That said, thanks for your time and input.

I feel for you, pal. I've been on similar journeys. Some of the older
people in this NG will probably give you this same advice;
"Know when to cut your losses and get out!".


Ed