EHD Back Up Woes

JillW

Sweet Shoppe SugarBabe
I've been using two older external hard drives for years and backing them up to iDrive without too many problems. Recently, though, something changed. Whenever iDrive starts backing up a large amount of data, my PC goes into chaos.

At first, I was convinced it was an internet issue because my PC would suddenly lose its internet connection. However, every other device in the house stays connected, and my Comcast modem never shows a loss of service (the status light remains normal). I've since realized that it only happens when iDrive hangs or crashes, so now I'm wondering if it's actually a PC or hardware issue rather than an internet problem.

A few years ago, I bought a SanDisk 2TB Extreme SSD with the intention of replacing my older drives. Unfortunately, I could never get it to work reliably. It was painfully slow, everything would lock up, and I eventually shelved the project.

A few weeks ago, I decided to give it another try. I plugged it into a rear USB port, where it worked for a minute or two before disconnecting. I then moved it to one of the front USB ports, and it has been rock solid ever since.

Over the course of a few days, I copied everything from my two older external drives onto the SSD. Now I'm backing up the new SSD to iDrive. Unfortunately, the same instability shows up whenever I try to back up a large amount of data. Rather than risk another crash, I've been backing up just 10–12 GB at a time.

It's working, but it's incredibly slow. I've spent the last five days running one small backup after another, and I still have a long way to go before everything is fully backed up.

At this point, I'm not looking to troubleshoot every possible cause because I honestly don't have the energy right now. My main goal is just to get one good, complete backup of this new SSD. Once that's finished, I'll dig deeper into whether the root cause is my PC, USB controller, network adapter, iDrive itself, or something else.

Has anyone experienced anything similar? Does this sound more like a Windows/USB hardware issue than an actual internet problem?

And PS - thank goodness for online backups!! LOL.
 
I'm so sorry you are having computer issues. I really don't know anything about computers so I am no help really, LOL. I use Windows 10 still, and since May, I've been running my computer in Safe mode because it's the only way to keep it from freezing. I wonder if it's a Windows update that messed everything up because they want everyone to update to Windows 11. I also have an EHD that has most of my newer photos and scrap supplies on and I also back up with Backblaze, but again, that hasn't worked since my computer has been in safe mode since May.

I really have a love/hate relationship with my computer. I would love to just buy another one, but again, not knowing much about computers, what do I even buy? I have never had a laptop, and not sure I would want one. Prices of desktops are insane right now, too.

Wishing you the best of luck, Jill and hoping you can figure it all out!
 
Not sure if this applies; however, I had a modem/router combo from Spectrum, and I had so many internet issues. I bought my own router (and I get a discount for having my own equipment), and it's been good to go ever since. Let's face it. . .internet providers aren't giving us top notch equipment and probably not brand new on top of that.
I hope you get things sorted out soon!
 
I'm so sorry you are having computer issues. I really don't know anything about computers so I am no help really, LOL. I use Windows 10 still, and since May, I've been running my computer in Safe mode because it's the only way to keep it from freezing. I wonder if it's a Windows update that messed everything up because they want everyone to update to Windows 11. I also have an EHD that has most of my newer photos and scrap supplies on and I also back up with Backblaze, but again, that hasn't worked since my computer has been in safe mode since May.

I really have a love/hate relationship with my computer. I would love to just buy another one, but again, not knowing much about computers, what do I even buy? I have never had a laptop, and not sure I would want one. Prices of desktops are insane right now, too.

Wishing you the best of luck, Jill and hoping you can figure it all out!
How frustrating for you! I do wonder if they want everyone to upgrade to Windows 11 --- !!

I purchased a Dell "workhorse" (lol) in 2023 thinking it would be my next almost-forever PC ... a few weeks ago something funky happened when it was doing a bios update and froze. I was really worried because everything I read said not to unplug or shut off the system, but I had no choice since it sat there for hours. Thankfully (!!) it shutdown and restarted okay without issue.

I am like you about the love/hate relationship with computers!!
 
Not sure if this applies; however, I had a modem/router combo from Spectrum, and I had so many internet issues. I bought my own router (and I get a discount for having my own equipment), and it's been good to go ever since. Let's face it. . .internet providers aren't giving us top notch equipment and probably not brand new on top of that.
I hope you get things sorted out soon!
I 100% agree Lynn! When I did the initial backup years ago, there were zero issues and that was with my own equipment. We've had Comcast here SO many times I've lost count - they always tell us it is "our" problem - our wiring or something else. Ugh!!
 
I'm sorry to hear that you're having issue with your ehd.
I'm on my third ehd and it was 4T and it's already showing issues. When I searched for something specific like a template or a kit, nothing is showing up so I need to manually look for it. Such a pain. I hope you find all the root cause of it.
 
I had a problem with Backblaze not backing up and my internet would get disconnected. Then we had a tornado in the area, lost power and the next day the computer wouldn't even turn on. It was an older computer so I just bought a new one. When I got it set up and went to run the Backblaze backup, it wouldn't back up and again disconnected my internet. A brand new computer! So I ditched Backblaze and have had no issues with internet connections since.

I did take advantage of being able to upgrade to fiber internet when it became available 2.5 years ago from my local ISP (none of those big companies for me!) then chose to try out iDrive. It has worked flawlessly for me and my initial backup took less than 12 hours. But I do not have my external hard drives backing up to it. I have several EHD's as other backups since that is what I used for 4 years between having backup services. And, I still make sure to backup new items from my desktop to those EHD's every couple of months. So I actually have a minimum of 3 backups of everything

Hope you get it all backed up with no more issues.
 
I'm sorry to hear that you're having issue with your ehd.
I'm on my third ehd and it was 4T and it's already showing issues. When I searched for something specific like a template or a kit, nothing is showing up so I need to manually look for it. Such a pain. I hope you find all the root cause of it.
I'm sorry you are also going thru EHD troubles!! So frustrating! Hope you get yours figured out too!!
 
I had a problem with Backblaze not backing up and my internet would get disconnected. Then we had a tornado in the area, lost power and the next day the computer wouldn't even turn on. It was an older computer so I just bought a new one. When I got it set up and went to run the Backblaze backup, it wouldn't back up and again disconnected my internet. A brand new computer! So I ditched Backblaze and have had no issues with internet connections since.

I did take advantage of being able to upgrade to fiber internet when it became available 2.5 years ago from my local ISP (none of those big companies for me!) then chose to try out iDrive. It has worked flawlessly for me and my initial backup took less than 12 hours. But I do not have my external hard drives backing up to it. I have several EHD's as other backups since that is what I used for 4 years between having backup services. And, I still make sure to backup new items from my desktop to those EHD's every couple of months. So I actually have a minimum of 3 backups of everything

Hope you get it all backed up with no more issues.
Almost need a scorecard to keep track! LOL!
Once this initial backup is done I will only backup new stuff, but man, getting to that point has been painful!
 
I am so sorry you are having problems getting your files backed up,Jill! I hope you are able to get the problem solved soon. Any type of computer/tech problems is so frustrating.
 
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