Hi all - Hope someone can help

Here is the info about my PC before I give the problem
Running a Dual core 3.2Ghz Processor - 2GB RAM Windows Vista Home Premium - Norton 360

The Problem is with my FreeCom 400gb External Hard Disk Drive (USB 2)

Since a couple of days ago all was fine, I use this HDD to back up my DVD's. Then yesterday when I tried to access one of them, I noticed the transfer rate had suddenly plummeted to 2MB per second. This completely screwed any burning of DVD's using Nero 8 from this External HDD drive. I have uninstalled and re-installed all Nero etc still no luck.

After various processes of elimination I have narrowed it down to this external HDD, and now tonight I have narrowed it down even further to the problem being the transfer rate FROM the External HDD to my C Drive (or any other drive)

The transfer rate from my C Drive TO the external HDD is 12MB per second, however the transfer FROM my External HDD to my PC Hard Drive is only 2MB per second.

It is all USB 2 including the cables - All worked fine up until yesterday
The only change has been a few windows vista updates.

I transferred all of the files from the HDD to my C drive (this took 14 hours -125GB) and then formatted the problem External HDD (That took 12 hours) - Still no luck

So basically I have narrowed the problem down to the transfer rate FROM the external USB HDD to my PC.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards
Hans

I think you might have some USB 1.1 component like a cable or hub in the path to the external drive. The transfer rate of 12 mbs is the USB 1.1 transfer rate. It should be over 400 mbs on USB 2.0. Fixing this will help narrow down the very slow transfer rate problem. Hope this helps.

Make sure you plug the USB cable at the motherboard USB board, this ports are connected straight to the motherboard. Also make sure that your USB driver is for 2.0...

Hi there - Thanks for that benn11 and ComputerCoot - I have check all that and change the USB cable to one that I know is USB 2 - The External HD is now connected directly to the Main USB ports on the back of the PC (all USB2)

However the only problem now is that when I re-boot the PC I just get the initial HP Blue screen and this hangs indefinitely - When I turn the power off to the External HD windows then boots up normally. I then turn the power on to the External HD and windows recognizes it and all is well - It can't be that I have to turn the power off to the HD every time I re-boot?

Any ideas

Congratulations! You are now a step ahead of me (question just before yours). Not only can I not boot when the USB disk is connected, the drive seems to be invisible to Windows.