One off glitch or potential hardware failure?

Im not sure which camp this falls into more, hardware or software.

This morning I was wanting to back up some files to my WD 2TB My Book ExtHDD. It has about 75 to 80% free, that's about 500GB of data. Without looking at the docket, it's about a year old. I only use it for backing up and unplug it when done. No WD software installed. Im on XP Pro.

Normally when I plug the drive in (USB 2), the problem is autorun does its thing and it takes about 3 minutes to finish. I can see all the files as it quickly "processes" them all. So for a while now I've just clicked cancel on the autorun box that comes up and all the top level folders show anyway and I can still access things as normal.

Anyway this a.m. to the best of my ability I'll recount the order of events. I plugged the drive in cancelled out autorun, and Windows explorer showed the file tree as normal, then it all just disappeared. I brought up a W Explorer view of My Computer, I could see the WD entry appearing and disappearing. SO something was throwing a hissy-fit. I got an error box about a single file that windows couldnt save. I didn't have time to screen capture the dialog box before it disappeared. Then autorun tried to run again without me activating anything....sort of like a loop. Then Windows Explorer either crashed or just disappeared again and a 2nd Error Dial bx came up (again, no time to capture) saying all the files on G drive might be lost.

I was able to safely eject the drive, reseat all the cords, plug back in and bring it up again. (this time I let autorun do its thing) All the top level FOlders showed and I checked in a folder and the files were there. I powered it off, not backing anything up.

A lot of the files on it are not backed up elsewhere and I'm in the process of getting a 2nd BU drive. I wont touch the drive again until I get something.

In the meantime what do you think, a one off computer glitch or an External Drive on the way out?.
Also....whats the point of autorun and why is this taking so long and why does it actually have to do this?

 

Reality,

I suggest you turn autorun/autoplay off. On all your computers. It's a pain. Then see if the drive behaves well.

 

Thanks, Brian K, but how do I do that without touching the registry?

 

Which OS? Win8 is easy. One click.

Edit... It's WinXP

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967715

How to use Group Policy settings to disable all Autorun features in Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Professional, and Windows 2000

1. Click Start, click Run, type Gpedit.msc in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Under Computer Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, and then click System.
3. In the Settings pane, right-click Turn off Autoplay, and then click Properties.
   
   Note In Windows 2000, the policy setting is named Disable Autoplay.
4. Click Enabled, and then select All drives in the Turn off Autoplay box to disable Autorun on all drives.
5. Click OK to close the Turn off Autoplay Properties dialog box.
6. Restart the computer.

 

Brian K Thankyou! its done. You're right this autorun IS a pain. Im still going to get a 2nd drive before a touch the other one though. We all know just 1 backup drive is not much better than no backup drive, whereas 2 backup drives make your odds of losing everything at once diminish considerably.