Problem:
External Drive Drops Offline During Streaming
Cause:
During video or other data streaming, the system may unexpectedly disconnect from the external drive, halting the data stream and requiring a reconnect, power cycle or a system restart to allow the drive to be available for use again.
Solution:
Disable System Restore (XP) and Indexing Service (2000 and XP) for the external drive.
Procedure(s)
Disabling System Restore (XP Only):
WARNING: ALL System Restore Points will be deleted when disabling this feature!
- Right-click on My Computer and left-click on Properties.
- Click the System Restore Tab
- Check the box that says, “Turn off System Restore on all drives”
- Click “Okay”
- It will warn you and ask if you really want to do this, Click “Yes”
Disabling the Indexing Service (XP and 2000):
- Open My Computer
- Right-click on the External Drive (whatever letter is assigned) and left-click on Properties.
- Choose the ‘General’ tab.
- Uncheck the Box that says: “Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching.”
Additional Information:
Disk Indexing is a feature in Windows 2000 and XP that enables faster and more comprehensive file search functions. By default, Indexing occurs when the system is idle. After a period of inactivity the Indexing Service will resume the cataloguing of files on attached internal and external drives. A streaming operation (such as video) without user input is interpreted as such a period of inactivity and the Indexing Service will resume and begin accessing drives, sometimes causing the external unit to be unexpectedly disconnected from the system.
Other Links:
- Microsoft’s System Restore Overview
- Microsoft’s Overview of the Disk Indexing Service