Windows Explorer (Vista) Green Loading Bar Crash

Hey guys,

I know this has probably happened to many of you. This has happened to me before when I was deleting/transferring files with "Show hidden files/folders" turned on.

However, this has only been happening more frequently to me recently.

I'm trying to transfer music files from my External HDD (Maxtor 160GB, around 80GB of free space left) to my C: drive on my Dell XPS M1530 (T9300 Processor, 3GB RAM, alot of space left).

Most of the time, when I click a particular folder to view its contents, the green loading bar on the top loads really slow, then eventually stops and freezes.

I have no option but to open Task Manager and restart Windows Explorer.

Is there any fix you anyone can recommend? I'm doing a Disk Defragmetation of my Exernal HDD now. I haven't really done any Disk Defrag or Disk Cleanup before (I let Vista do it automatically), but I'm just wondering too if Disk Defrag and Disk Cleanup deletes files?

I'd appreciate any comments/solutions. Thanks...

 

Does this only happen when accessing your external hard drive? If so, I would not defragment that drive just yet..

 

It has happened to me before when accessing my local C: drive when I turned "Show hidden files/holders" On in Folder Options. But I could easily fix that with restarting Windows Explorer or restarting my laptop.

However, more recently yes, it's been happening when accesing my Exernal HDD. Particularly with certain folders containing Bittorrent music files I downloaded before.

 

A question and a comment:

Q: Your external drive is USB 2.0, not the older USB 1.x, right?

You might be able to speed it up a bit by choosing to always show icons, never thumbnails.

I finally got fed up with Vista's Explorer being slow, not remembering my folder settings, not allowing multiple panes/tabs open easily, so I went with xplorer² Pro and never looked back.

 

^

Yes, my External HDD is USB 2.0.

I already tried Disk Defragmenting my External HDD but it worked to no effect.

Another thing to note is that the problem and crash only occurs when I access a group of specific folders, and not when I access other folders containing Word Documents and work files. The folder that it crashes on contains downloaded Bittorrent music files (I'm wondering if that could be a culprit).

Also, I tried file browsing another 80GB External HDD I have and it works fine. I think there is a problem with my Maxtor 160GB External HDD or the folders in it.

I would prefer if my last resort would be to choose to "always show icons, never thumbnails" because I wouldn't want to enable that featue forever, but if I have to, then I will.

Thanks too for the recommenation for the xplorer2pro program, but I think I'll pass on that because I have to pay for it (and Windows should fix this problem with an update or something).

What do you guys think? Do you have any other recommendations/solutions?

 

try to use hdtune to check if the External HDD got bad sector?

 

well, quite a similar problem i had on my XPS1530, though not the c drive, happened in d-drive.

i reset my folder option to show icon, never thumbnails.. cos especially in movies/media folder windows tried to generate the thumbnail and it slows down the process.

and this happens only in vista..not in XP..

 

Thanks for the tip. What kind of software is HD tune and what does it do? Also, what does a "bad sector" on an External HDD mean, exactly?

Well, even if we have the same notebook, I think it's not Dell's fault. Something with Vista. Kinda weird though that it happened to your Recovery D: drive. Until now, do you still have the setting enabled in Folder Options? So you're gonna keep that setting forever?

 

There is a free version of the xplorer2 program, albeit with fewer features.