Forum: USBoot

> - if the usboot configuration is set to - "pagefile support enabled"-
> after i click shut down button on start menu xp halts on the shutting down screen and mouse cursor freezes. Yet the hdd still spining and only way to shut it down completely is to pull the plug /press the hard shut down button ond comp. console.

This is a know issue that has been observed mainly in connection with DELL laptops. There seems to be some interference with the ACPI implementation which has obviously not been tested with USB boot of Windows XP in mind ...

> However pluging off the comp. leads to a big "click" sound comin from the hdd, i guess its coming from the head part of it.

I cannot give a diagnosis from the distance but in general i would doubt that this is to be considered harmful for your drive as most of the 2.5" external drives don't have a power switch any more and are simply unplugged from the host.

> -if i choose usboot - "pagefile support disabled"- from the activation steps,
> this time xp shuts down automatically BUT before the power lost to the hdd, it does not park its head as it should and leads to that quiet loud "click" sound mentioned above.

As stated above it will be not possible to have more than a good guess from here.

> This sound is not natural as it should shut itself down very quietly according to my observation of other hdds connected thorugh ata interface to this computer.

As USB drives are handled by a stack drivers that differs from the one of ATA drives they will not necessarily behave exactly in the same way. What kind of sound do you get on regular unplugging of the drive?

> And i should say, this usb hdd makes these clikcing sounds once in while whenn in use, i mean windows xp is still active and in use.

Well these are most certainly related to the intermittent recalibration of the disks heads which is nothing uncommon.

> So my question is this improper shutdown behaviour has anything to do with usboot or using hdd as a primary usb drive?
>
> Or is it related to a problem of the drives inner mechanism ?

The clicking is most likely to be 'blamed' on the drive while there may be no technical 'malfunction' at all.

However the hang on shutdown with USBoot DriveGuard enabled should be considered as a problem with the ACPI implementation.

Gerd