XP SP2 alters 1394 speed

James Emory · October 19th, 2005, 02:19 PM

I don't know if this is a coincidence but I have had some issues after upgrading to SP 2 last week and I think it may have contributed to corrupting a brand new external drive causing me to lose 70 gigs of data! It involves onboard ports as well as ports on PCMCIA cards. This seems to be a known issue with Microsoft because they have created a patch. If you have recently upgraded to SP 2 and have noticed decreased speeds in 1394a or 1394b, this could be the problem. Apparently the registry is altered and has to be recalibrated and this patch does this. Does anyone else know anything about this or experienced any symptoms after upgrading to SP 2?

Microsoft Patch
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885222

George Ellis · October 19th, 2005, 03:59 PM

I have not personnally seen it. There was a similar issue with both USB and 1394 during the beta of SP2, but I thought it was fixed. sigh.

Christopher Lefchik · October 22nd, 2005, 02:18 PM

Ouch! Sorry to hear about that. I did just learn about the IEEE 1394 speed issue a few days ago, but I didn't know it could involve corrupting data on external drives. Have you been able to retrieve your files? If not, I can recommend GetDataBack for NTFS (http://www.runtime.org/gdb.htm). If it is just the partition table that has been corrupted on the drive you should be able to use Active@ Partition Recovery (http://www.partition-recovery.com) to restore it.

James Emory · October 22nd, 2005, 06:15 PM

Well, I don't really know if that was the problem but since it is a known issue that SP2 affects 1394, that could have happened thereby either slowing the speed causing dropped frames or interrupting the data stream that can corrupt files. Maxtor told me that if a cable to a drive was removed during data transfer it could corrupt the file or cause other collateral issues. They also said this could possibly happen if the cable was removed when the drive is periodically caching. That's why it's important to always use the safe to remove feature before disconnecting any attached hardware even though there is an option in Windows not to use it.

When I click on properties for my external drive it now says RAW instead of NTFS, not good! Have a lost everything or do you think recovery software like you mentioned can retrieve it? Right, now I can't even access the drive. It says drive cannot be accessed, it has been corrupted.

Christopher Lefchik · October 23rd, 2005, 08:28 AM

I have been able to recover data from a corrupted external hard drive before. I'd recommend downloading the demo version of GetDataBack for NTFS and running it. It will show you if the files are still on the drive. If they are, once you purchase a serial number you can copy them off of the drive (make sure you have enough space to store them somewhere else).

You could also try the demo version of Active@ Partition Recovery to see if it would be able to recover the partition table (if that is what is corrupted), but the hard drive would have to be hooked up inside your computer to an ATA/IDE connection before the program could access it.

James Emory · October 23rd, 2005, 01:57 PM

So I don't need to be able to actually access the drive to use the Get Back recovery software?

Christopher Lefchik · October 23rd, 2005, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Emory

So I don't need to be able to actually access the drive to use the Get Back recovery software?

No, you don't need to be able to access the drive through Windows. As the Web site says,

Recover even when Windows doesn't recognize the drive-
GetDataBack can even recover your data when the drive is no longer recognized by Windows. It can likewise be used even if all directory information - not just the root directory- is missing.

_____________________________________

You can download and run the demo to check if it can actually see the drive and files.

James Emory · October 27th, 2005, 09:47 PM

Wow! The Get Back recovery software got back all 70 gigs!! It cost $79 but was worth every penny! One important note though. If anyone uses this software, be sure to use 1394 or USB 2.0 as your connection and NOT USB 1.1. Using USB 1.1 said it would take almost two days to recover the files!! When I cancelled that and switched to a 1394 connection, uhhh, it said 3 hours to complete the recovery. That thing was really moving as it recovered and displayed the files. It was like giving the software a laxative it moved so much faster. Thanks for the info!

George Ellis · October 28th, 2005, 05:17 AM

I am glad to hear it. Will need to mark that as a useful item.

Christopher Lefchik · October 28th, 2005, 09:17 AM

Glad to know that you got your data back! It is never fun to learn that a hard drive is corrupted/going bad, but at least you were able to retrieve your files.

Sean McHenry · November 1st, 2005, 11:00 AM

So you should now be able to apply the patch and put the media back on the external drive. Wow. I bet it's been a tough week on you with all the sweating and stress. Would have been on me.

Glad you're back to operational.

Sean McHenry

James Emory · November 1st, 2005, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean McHenry

So you should now be able to apply the patch and put the media back on the external drive.

I never experienced that issue with the slower speed. I just heard about it and thought I would post it because it was sort of a coincidence with my issue after I had upgraded to SP2. I have since reformatted that external drive and have been successfully loading video to it ever since. I still cannot load video to my internal laptop drive without dropping frames though which was my original issue.

Bill Ravens · November 1st, 2005, 12:20 PM

there's a few workarounds since the M$ fix doesn't work correctly. even after the fix, you'll find that the frame rate isn't what it used to be. if you're running 1394b spb2's get the 1394b drivers at www.unibrain.com. if your running video capture from cameras, replace the XPSP2 1394a drivers with the ones from XPSP1. They're a strait across copy/paste from an older XPSP1 installation. That's the only real way to fix things.

October 19th, 2005, 02:19 PM	#1
James Emory Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 1,892	XP SP2 alters 1394 speed - known issue!!!! I don't know if this is a coincidence but I have had some issues after upgrading to SP 2 last week and I think it may have contributed to corrupting a brand new external drive causing me to lose 70 gigs of data! It involves onboard ports as well as ports on PCMCIA cards. This seems to be a known issue with Microsoft because they have created a patch. If you have recently upgraded to SP 2 and have noticed decreased speeds in 1394a or 1394b, this could be the problem. Apparently the registry is altered and has to be recalibrated and this patch does this. Does anyone else know anything about this or experienced any symptoms after upgrading to SP 2? Microsoft Patch http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885222

October 22nd, 2005, 02:18 PM	#3
Christopher Lefchik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: US Posts: 1,152	Ouch! Sorry to hear about that. I did just learn about the IEEE 1394 speed issue a few days ago, but I didn't know it could involve corrupting data on external drives. Have you been able to retrieve your files? If not, I can recommend GetDataBack for NTFS (http://www.runtime.org/gdb.htm). If it is just the partition table that has been corrupted on the drive you should be able to use Active@ Partition Recovery (http://www.partition-recovery.com) to restore it. Last edited by Christopher Lefchik; October 23rd, 2005 at 08:19 AM.

October 27th, 2005, 09:47 PM	#8
James Emory Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 1,892	Get Back got it back!! Wow! The Get Back recovery software got back all 70 gigs!! It cost $79 but was worth every penny! One important note though. If anyone uses this software, be sure to use 1394 or USB 2.0 as your connection and NOT USB 1.1. Using USB 1.1 said it would take almost two days to recover the files!! When I cancelled that and switched to a 1394 connection, uhhh, it said 3 hours to complete the recovery. That thing was really moving as it recovered and displayed the files. It was like giving the software a laxative it moved so much faster. Thanks for the info!

November 1st, 2005, 11:00 AM	#11
Sean McHenry Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Hilliard, Ohio Posts: 1,193	So you should now be able to apply the patch and put the media back on the external drive. Wow. I bet it's been a tough week on you with all the sweating and stress. Would have been on me. Glad you're back to operational. Sean McHenry __________________ ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m shooting on D.V.’ - my hero - David Lynch http://www.DeepBlueEdit.com

October 19th, 2005, 03:59 PM	#2
George Ellis Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Suwanee, GA Posts: 1,241	I have not personnally seen it. There was a similar issue with both USB and 1394 during the beta of SP2, but I thought it was fixed. sigh.

October 22nd, 2005, 06:15 PM	#4
James Emory Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 1,892	Well, I don't really know if that was the problem but since it is a known issue that SP2 affects 1394, that could have happened thereby either slowing the speed causing dropped frames or interrupting the data stream that can corrupt files. Maxtor told me that if a cable to a drive was removed during data transfer it could corrupt the file or cause other collateral issues. They also said this could possibly happen if the cable was removed when the drive is periodically caching. That's why it's important to always use the safe to remove feature before disconnecting any attached hardware even though there is an option in Windows not to use it. When I click on properties for my external drive it now says RAW instead of NTFS, not good! Have a lost everything or do you think recovery software like you mentioned can retrieve it? Right, now I can't even access the drive. It says drive cannot be accessed, it has been corrupted.

October 23rd, 2005, 08:28 AM	#5
Christopher Lefchik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: US Posts: 1,152	I have been able to recover data from a corrupted external hard drive before. I'd recommend downloading the demo version of GetDataBack for NTFS and running it. It will show you if the files are still on the drive. If they are, once you purchase a serial number you can copy them off of the drive (make sure you have enough space to store them somewhere else). You could also try the demo version of Active@ Partition Recovery to see if it would be able to recover the partition table (if that is what is corrupted), but the hard drive would have to be hooked up inside your computer to an ATA/IDE connection before the program could access it.

October 23rd, 2005, 01:57 PM	#6
James Emory Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 1,892	So I don't need to be able to actually access the drive to use the Get Back recovery software?

October 28th, 2005, 05:17 AM	#9
George Ellis Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Suwanee, GA Posts: 1,241	I am glad to hear it. Will need to mark that as a useful item.

October 28th, 2005, 09:17 AM	#10
Christopher Lefchik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: US Posts: 1,152	Glad to know that you got your data back! It is never fun to learn that a hard drive is corrupted/going bad, but at least you were able to retrieve your files.

November 1st, 2005, 12:20 PM	#13
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	there's a few workarounds since the M$ fix doesn't work correctly. even after the fix, you'll find that the frame rate isn't what it used to be. if you're running 1394b spb2's get the 1394b drivers at www.unibrain.com. if your running video capture from cameras, replace the XPSP2 1394a drivers with the ones from XPSP1. They're a strait across copy/paste from an older XPSP1 installation. That's the only real way to fix things.