Topic: external HD problems

[gkatz]

I have an external that worked fine for a while, but now I cannot cut and paste anything on or from it, each time getting an error saying that the 'volume is dirty'
any suggestions? it is a pretty new western digital passport if that helps

[flipp]

According to a quick google, it could be several things, most having to do with the drive being busy when unmounted or improperly disconnected or powered down. "Drive is dirty" appears with both Windows and Mac OSes. Looks like MS has a hotfix* available if certain parameters are met and if there is something else wrong that fix won't do any good.

* Windows Vista or Server 2008 only - details @ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974729

If running XP, try running chkdsk - info @ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265

What format/file system is the drive? What OS and version are you using? Does the drive's properties show it to be "read only"?

[gkatz]

the file system is exFAT, and I run windows 7....I don't know if exFAT is different than FAT...would NTFS be a better choice?

Thanks

[Gordon]

would NTFS be a better choice?

unless you plan to also use the drive on a mac then yes ntfs would be better.

[gkatz]

would NTFS be a better choice?

unless you plan to also use the drive on a mac then yes ntfs would be better.

I think I'll try a reformat. thanks for you help!

[Shadow_7]

There should be a filesystem check program to clean your dirty drive.  fsck in linux.  chkdisk.exe? in windows (older versions anyway).  Probably some .exe in C:\windows\system\ (or system32 or whatever the latest moved things to)

Alternatively right mouse click on the drive/partition in windows explorer.  And it should offer some properties / tools there abouts.  Linux has been my primary since 2002, so a little rusty.  The issue will likely repeat for you, so you might as well acquaint yourself with recovery methods.  Tis the nature of external drives.  Although reformats are a quick way to optimize / defrag a filesystem if you've got the room to shuffle the data.

[gkatz]

reformat did the trick! thanks