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Tony
Asked: 2010-05-11 06:34:01 +0800 CST

Which external USB drives are compatable with 2003 server?

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I have been using Seagate free agent GO drives on a windows 2003 server for backup. Sometimes I get a "Delayed Write Failed : Windows was unable to save all the data for the file F:\$Mft." error. I emailed Seagate technical support and the reply was "The product is not supported on Windows 2003 server."

The WD elements external USB does not list 2003 as a supported OS.

What is a good supported external USB drive to use with Windows 2003 server?

windows-server-2003

2 Answers

  1. I expect the issue arises from the drive being USB bus powered.

    Possible solutions:

    • Some USB ports don't deliver quite enough power for these devices. Try a different usb port on the server. Front/rear USB ports are sometimes hosted on different controllers.
    • Some USB powered drives have connectors for optional power adapters.
    • Often the USB cables supplied with these devices are very short. If you are using an extension or have replaced the original with a longer cable, try using the original.
    • Try using a 2xA to [mini] B USB cable which may be better at delivering the required power.
    • Use a mains powered 3.5 in USB drive

    Edit: There is a dock available for the Freeagent Go drives, which uses a 2xA USB calble like I mentioned above.

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  2. Sometimes this is just a licensing issue.

    External drives often come bundled with backup software intended mainly for consumer/home systems. The vendor of this software will also have an enterprise-grade product aimed at servers, and they don't want their enterprise customers using this cheaper option instead. Thus, the terms of the software will prohibit you from using it with a Windows Server operating system. Sometimes these terms are enforced better than others.

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