Problem with external disk Windows 8

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Level 1

110 points

Problem with external disk Windows 8

I finally managed to get a working copy of Windows 8 installed through boot camp, now I am having a problem where whenever I attach a particular Maxtor brand USB Hard Drive I get a BSOD mentioning a "CACHE_ERROR" and an automatic reboot. What does that even mean in this context?

The drive was formatted with HFS+ previously, as I was using it as my secondary disk in OS X. With Windows 8 now installed, I thought it a good idea to backup the disk and reformat it as ExFAT for cross compatibility.

However, the drive is unusable in Windows as a result of this error. The error even dropped the system into a reboot cycle where at one point it stopped recognising the Apple Keyboard and made me think my system was stuck in an endless cycle.

If the drive is not attached, there is no issue. Could this be a Boot Camp specific problem? I hope that it isn't a Windows problem, because I'd rather not deal with Microsoft support.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), 21.5", 2.9GHz i5, Late 2012

Posted on Jul 13, 2013 6:50 AM

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Answer 1

BeebarbX Author

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110 points

Jul 13, 2013 7:11 AM in response to BeebarbX

The error may have been "CACHE_MANAGER".

Boot Camp is starting to seem like more trouble than it's worth just to get a fraction of additional performance over a high quality VM.

If this can't be easily resolved I may be forced to return to using a VM. It may perform a little worse, but at least it's reliable.

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Answer 2

Jul 13, 2013 7:23 AM in response to BeebarbX

Given that the error only occurs for a "particular" external drive, I suspect it is a drive issue. Windows works fine with external drives.

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Answer 3

BeebarbX Author

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110 points

Jul 13, 2013 7:29 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

The problem is I need to use this external drive, it's the only one I have and the space allocation for Windows is small because I require a lot of space in OS X.

If this can't be resolved the Boot Camp partition will be purged and Windows installed in a VM after some time (as it was only recently activated in Boot Camp).

So much for Boot Camp being a good thing. It's too much trouble.

I had no problems with the drive whatsoever when it was formatted as HFS+. So it can't be a drive issue.

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Answer 4

Jul 13, 2013 7:35 AM in response to BeebarbX

OK, use a VM.

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Answer 5

BeebarbX Author

Level 1

110 points

Jul 13, 2013 7:42 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

I'm hoping it doesn't come to that, as Windows itself is performing well not counting this error, and going through the install and the activation process is annoying (why can't they just let me use the CD-Key like Windows 95?).

So before I make my ultimate decision, I will see if anyone else posts a reasonable solution.

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Answer 6

Jul 13, 2013 7:47 AM in response to BeebarbX

It is not clear why you think you can not use the Windows activation key for your VM installation of Windows. Windows, unless you have an OEM version, can be removed from one installation then installed again using the same activation key. There is no issue with this.

But, if your drive is not working correctly, it also will not work with a VM. I doubt that Bootcamp is causing your issue.

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Answer 7

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

Jul 13, 2013 7:47 AM in response to BeebarbX

A new external drive is $60 or so, why not just get one and format it properly (not exFat) for Windows useage.

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Answer 8

BeebarbX Author

Level 1

110 points

Jul 13, 2013 8:04 AM in response to Csound1

@Csound1

A. The drive works properly so there is no hardware reason for the fault.

B. ExFAT or FAT32 is irrelevant both are cross compatible.

C. I need to use the disk in both Operating Systems and would rather leave the drive attached at all times.

Getting a second drive just because Windows is glitching is idiotic reasoning. Especially for someone with a limited budget.

@BobTheFisherman

Not once did I say I thought I couldn't use the activation key on another system. Heck, I've moved from a Laptop, to a VM, to Boot Camp. It's just Microsoft Support might find it a bit suspicious me activating a "different system" mere days after the earlier activation.

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Answer 9

Jul 13, 2013 8:10 AM in response to BeebarbX

They will not find it suspicious. Their licensing allows it, and most times the automated activation system works. And even if it does not, there will be no issue activating. There will be an issue if you try to activate the same Windows on two or more computers at the same time.

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Answer 10

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

Jul 13, 2013 8:21 AM in response to BeebarbX

BeebarbX wrote:

@Csound1

A. The drive works properly so there is no hardware reason for the fault.

B. ExFAT or FAT32 is irrelevant both are cross compatible.

ExFat is a less reliable (no secondary FAT) file system originally designed for SD cards, it's a clunker.

Windows works best using its native system, NTFS.

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Answer 11

BeebarbX Author

Level 1

110 points

Jul 13, 2013 9:01 AM in response to Csound1

Your post was helpful in one way, it got me thinking if ExFAT has no secondary FAT as you said, then perhaps the issue was just the File System.

So I reformatted the disk as FAT32, although less desirable as I have some larger files that FAT32 might not be able to handle, at least the drive completely works in both Operating Systems.

I was worried that it was a Boot Camp problem, but it turns out to be a problem with the File System I selected.

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Answer 12

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

Jul 13, 2013 9:24 AM in response to BeebarbX

There are some utilities (for Windows at least) that can split large files and combine them again, let me see if there are any that can do it from one filesystem to another.

Why not use NTFS and an NTFS read/write utility on your Mac, then you have no size limit to concern you?

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Answer 13

Aug 6, 2013 4:09 PM in response to BeebarbX

exFAT was the issue I had with this. I had an extermal with exFAT on one partition and HFS on the other. It worked perfectly on Windows 7 VM and Bootcamp but not on Windows 8 etc. I formatted them both as HFS, NTFS and FAT, that cleared the issue. Go figure huh? I guess Windows 8 bootcamp does not know how to handle these two different formats on one drive?

Anyway I am not on NTFS only and using a utility to r/w on the Mac side, ***** if you have to move a lot of data before testing it this though.

Hope it helps.

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Answer 14

Feb 23, 2016 5:28 AM in response to BeebarbX

Don't format the disk as exFAT in OS X, try to format it in Windows.

I don't know why, but if you formatted in OS X, such error turns up.

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