(Solved, sort off) steam crashes anytime it trys to access my external hard drive.

[killer32160]

i dont know why this is happening. but every time i try using my external hard drive to update games or download games steam either crashes, freezes with a white border around it, or just crashes my whole computer. with out doing these my external works fine while playing for hours on end, but within seconds crashes when downloading or updating, and if steam dosnt crash the hard drive disconnects completely for no reason. I don't understand this as until a month ago I was doing perfectly fine with my external and for some reason now due to all this it is almost unusable.

[King_BR0K]

Run a drive check

[killer32160]

i tried running a disk check, and i tried running the disk scans that come up when i plug it in. they both start, then say they cant access my hard drive, i check and yeah its not connected for some reason. even though it was fine a moment before. and i cant even interact with the drives files without file explorer crashing and the drive again disconnecting

[killer32160]

im on a laptop, and pluging it into another usb port does nothing. ill try a virus scan, but i doubt it cause the only things i download on the drive are steam games and my youtube gear.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Install every well-known anti-virus / anti-malware you can, onto another working system, then connect this drive to that machine and fully scan it. Also check it with CHKDSK.

I have a good list of software here if you need:
http://steamcommunity.com/groups/TheDivisonUSA/discussions/0/133258593407426465

[killer32160]

i havent been able to do a full scan because i left it for 2 hours and it didnt get half way, but a quick scan after that says all clear. and i dunno if this helps, but steam has removed arma 3, planetside 2, and space engineers from my active library, although the files for the games themselves are still there. and this only happened when i tried to update these games.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Then either you have not set a Steam Library Folder on that External drive, or the drive letter has changed.

[killer32160]

no thats definetly not the issue as all other games in this folder are fine.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Verify all the games that are having issues then; have u even tried this yet?

Disable any USB sleep/suspend modes; don't use any WinOS Sleep Mode, period.
And don't let the external drive to go to sleep via the embedded power profile timeout, since you use this drive for actively installed apps. This is why folks should never use an External for actively installed apps, because of the very issues you are having.

[killer32160]

of course i verified the games. payday and rust, having download issues, came up fine. space engineers had an issue, needed to download files, and the disappeard from my active library and requires redownloading. ill look into the power things, although i think i tweaked some already, and i know and external sux, but with only a 120gb ssd drive on this computer i simply needed more room

[Bad 💀 Motha]

They not disappear from Library, they are grayed out because for some reason Steam doesn't see the external drive; it's as simple as that.

What kind of Laptop are we talking? Anything decent should have room for at least 2 internal drives.

[killer32160]

yeah its good, but its does have a second hard drive slot, i just dont have enough money to buy a drive. and yeah but there not in my active library, which i thought meant that they were greyed out. and it definetly sees the drive cause i have 40 out of 50 of my games on it and i can play all other except those i meantioned, and none others are greyed out

[Bad 💀 Motha]

If the external is 2.5 inch drive; just install that inside the laptop; it's just sata

[killer32160]

ill have to look into that. thanks

[killer32160]

okay, after much testing. im coming back with a sound "i believe my drive is beyond ♥♥♥♥♥♥". i dunno why, but now simply accessing the drive in any way causes the drive to dissconnect, and whatever program was trying access it failing and crashing as well. this happened to my computers windows as i used file explorer to access the drive. im starting to think that my drive is just plain boned, so im going to see if i can get the drive looked at and maybe buy an internal drive for my laptop. dunno if i can disasemble the external and install it with my lack of expirience, and am worried that with it as ♥♥♥♥♥♥ as it is it might break my computer. if anyone has anymore ideas i could definetly use the help.

[Seven7]

We can not help you until you make a cpu-z validation and do not attach a link here + check the discs with Cristall Disk Info (make a screenshot of Disk's Passport)
Also open the disk manager and move the disk cable in two places: first the USB A connector, then the USB B mini (or cable near the disk container, if it is non-removable - If the disc disappears, then this is the problem of the connector \ cable