# Backup to 500GB WD Passport is taking a very long time.



## oshchcd84 (Nov 26, 2007)

Happy New Year to all!

I just bought a 500GB WD Passport Essential external drive. It installed OK and my computer recognizes it but I am currently trying to backup my 250GB internal drive into the external drive using the supplied Smartware program. The problem is that I've started at around 3PM yesterday (31 December 2009) and as of now (5:25PM 01 January 2010), it's only about 70% done. Does it really take this long?

I've earlier tried to transfer selected folders from the 250GB internal drive into the Passport, but for some reason, I kept on getting the message that there was difficulty in reading data from the source drive.

Which brings me to another problem I've been having recently: I can no longer burn DVDs on my computer. I have a Lite-On DH-20A4 Burner. I regularly burn photos and other files to DVD-Rs to make room in my HD but recently, there has also been trouble reading data from the source drive (that's what the error messages say). I've tried removing and reinstalling Nero 7 (supplied with the burner) and checking the cables (everything OK here) but still cannot burn. The drive can read and is recognized by my PC so I am stumped

I've had power supply problems in Aug so I've bought a new 660W PSU. I've also read the threads about power issues with the USB 2.0 ports and external drives like the WD Passport so I'd like to know if this could be one of those problems and what can I do about it.

My System has 2 Optical drives - A Pioneer DVD-ROM and the Lite-on burner; and 2 Hard drives (both Seagate IDE ones) - one 80 GB with the system files and the 250 GB one with my files on it. I have an nVidia GeoForce 7300GT vidoecard with 256MB on it. My processor is an Intel E4500 2.2 GHz with an MSI P4M900M2 Motherboard with 2GB of RAM and running Windows Vista Home Premium.

Many thanks for you help.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Verify none of the drives (CD/DVD or HDD's) are running in PIO mode. Goto Device Manager / IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers / right click on the Primary/Secondary IDE Channel / choose properties / Advanced Settings / under Current Transfer Mode you should see anything but PIO mode. If they are PIO mode, simply remove/delete the IDE controllers in Device Manager and reboot. When Windows reboots it will automatically reinstall the drivers and setup the drives. You can then check the settings again.

You can also test the HDD's using the disk manufacturers tools to verify you don't have a failing drive. http://www.techsupportforum.com/f234/hard-drive-diagnostic-utilities-302602.html

Now would also be a good time to ensure you have the latest drivers for your motherboard.


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