Network Drive Losing Connection During Large File Transfer...

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Network Drive Losing Connection During Large File Transfer...

Hey, everyone.

Recently bought an Airport Extreme and LaCie USB HDD/Hub for my hybrid Windows/Mac home network. I formatted the drive with FAT32 as instructed, and hooked it up.

My first order of business was to back up all of my media on my Windows desktop machine, but it hasn't been working out so well. A short while after starting the 35+ gig transfer (a few minutes at most), I get an error message saying the the destination folder is no longer there. Sure enough, checking 'My Computer' shows that the drive is now a 'Disconnted Network Drive'.

Cycling power on everything and rebooting Windows restores the network drive, but the core problem remains.

Anyone else seen this and have any idea how to deal with it?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Windows XP Desktop, Windows XP Pro

Posted on Aug 5, 2007 8:18 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 5, 2007 2:13 PM in response to Ravidrath

Doing a 35GB backup using a wireless connection is asking for trouble. All backup software highly discourages doing backups from anything than a wired connection.

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Answer 2

Ravidrath Author

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Aug 6, 2007 10:29 AM in response to neptune2000

OK, some more info...

1. I should've mentioned that the transfer I was talking about (the 35+ gig one) WAS through a wired connection to the router.

2. Tried some smaller transfers, which also had problems, so it's not related to the size of the transfer. I did one around 400 megs (over wireless), which didn't work.

Strangely, the two times I tried it, it seemed to stop at the same completion percentage. Could it be that the router doesn't like something in the files I'm transferring, or mistaking them as malicious or something?

3. When this happens, it seems to take down the network, to a certain extent. Existing connections usually work after it happens, but the Airport Utility can't contact the base station after it happens.

Thinking about just returning it and seeing if that helps, because there isn't really anything unusual about my setup.

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Answer 3

Ravidrath Author

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Aug 9, 2007 8:56 AM in response to Ravidrath

Well, at the recommendation of work's IT guy, I returned the previous router and got one of the new Gigabit ones.

...Unfortunately, my problem is still occurring, so I guess it's not the Airport Extreme, after all. That leaves the HDD hooked up to the router or just my PC/network card, I suppose.

Gonna see if I can borrow another HDD from someone to see if that works.

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Answer 4

jvanus

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Aug 26, 2007 7:06 PM in response to Ravidrath

Hi,

I'm having the same problem. Here's the relevant parts of my setup:

Airport Extreme
HP printer and Western Digital "My Book" 500 G USB drive connected by 4/1 usb splitter
MacBookPro connected via Gigabit
Windows XP PC connected via Gigabit

My media I loaded on the usb drive by directly connecting the usb to my PC, I've also loaded other iTunes media to the usb drive from the mac book. If I point iTunes on the PC at the usb drive I can play the media just fine. When I try to copy large files (700 MB) from my PC to the usb drive (via the airport) I'm told the destination folder isn't there. I've also noticed the windows tooltips telling me that it lost the internet connection, and if I have the airport utility open on my mac it also looses the airport for a few seconds. I am able to copy small files (largest that's worked so far is 1.6 MB) the usb drive via the airport.

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