I have an HP8000E media computer running Vista Home Premium. I bought a
seagate external drive to use to store and backup all my jpg files which view
just fine on my internal hard drive regardless of which program I use (photo
gallery, photoshop, IE..whatever)

Whenever I backup or transfer image files to my external drive roughly 30%
of them are corrupted with assorted color bars, solid gray areas, OR
distorted images.
Thinking I had a problem with the seagate, I ordered a HP3000s pocket drive
which connects to a special bay in the desktop with the same end
result...maybe worse. I returned that drive at the advice of HP who said I
may have some bad sectors on it. Replaced it with the same model with again
the same end result.

I emphasize this only happens with external drives. I am using uncorrupted
(tested) original file sources. It doesn't matter if I download directly from
the camera to the external drive or from cd/dvd.

This all makes me believe this is a Vista problem EXCEPT why doesn't it
happen on the internal "C" drive?...only external drives. Also have tested on
my wifes xp laptop and the problem does not exist...mmm.

I know I am not alone with this problem of corruption in reading all the
comments in the forums and knowledge bases. Hopefully someone has come up
with some answers!!
--
Will Bowlin

I had a similar problem when copying files to an XP system across a small
network. After booting the XP system the pictures would be distorted. After
applying SP1 to Vista the problem disappeared. I have a 500g seagate external
drive that I will do a test from my Vista system to see if the pictures
become distorted and reply back here. Maybe SP1 fixed that problem tooo. I do
know you should stop the external drive on the Vista host before
disconnecting.

"Will Bowlin" wrote:

> I have an HP8000E media computer running Vista Home Premium. I bought a
> seagate external drive to use to store and backup all my jpg files which view
> just fine on my internal hard drive regardless of which program I use (photo
> gallery, photoshop, IE..whatever)
>
> Whenever I backup or transfer image files to my external drive roughly 30%
> of them are corrupted with assorted color bars, solid gray areas, OR
> distorted images.
> Thinking I had a problem with the seagate, I ordered a HP3000s pocket drive
> which connects to a special bay in the desktop with the same end
> result...maybe worse. I returned that drive at the advice of HP who said I
> may have some bad sectors on it. Replaced it with the same model with again
> the same end result.
>
> I emphasize this only happens with external drives. I am using uncorrupted
> (tested) original file sources. It doesn't matter if I download directly from
> the camera to the external drive or from cd/dvd.
>
> This all makes me believe this is a Vista problem EXCEPT why doesn't it
> happen on the internal "C" drive?...only external drives. Also have tested on
> my wifes xp laptop and the problem does not exist...mmm.
>
> I know I am not alone with this problem of corruption in reading all the
> comments in the forums and knowledge bases. Hopefully someone has come up
> with some answers!!
> --
> Will Bowlin

I copied several hundred pictures to an external Seagate HD and they are not
distorted. I checked 300 of them one at a time. Maybe SP1 fixed this problem.

"tink" wrote:

> I had a similar problem when copying files to an XP system across a small
> network. After booting the XP system the pictures would be distorted. After
> applying SP1 to Vista the problem disappeared. I have a 500g seagate external
> drive that I will do a test from my Vista system to see if the pictures
> become distorted and reply back here. Maybe SP1 fixed that problem tooo. I do
> know you should stop the external drive on the Vista host before
> disconnecting.
>
> "Will Bowlin" wrote:
>
> > I have an HP8000E media computer running Vista Home Premium. I bought a
> > seagate external drive to use to store and backup all my jpg files which view
> > just fine on my internal hard drive regardless of which program I use (photo
> > gallery, photoshop, IE..whatever)
> >
> > Whenever I backup or transfer image files to my external drive roughly 30%
> > of them are corrupted with assorted color bars, solid gray areas, OR
> > distorted images.
> > Thinking I had a problem with the seagate, I ordered a HP3000s pocket drive
> > which connects to a special bay in the desktop with the same end
> > result...maybe worse. I returned that drive at the advice of HP who said I
> > may have some bad sectors on it. Replaced it with the same model with again
> > the same end result.
> >
> > I emphasize this only happens with external drives. I am using uncorrupted
> > (tested) original file sources. It doesn't matter if I download directly from
> > the camera to the external drive or from cd/dvd.
> >
> > This all makes me believe this is a Vista problem EXCEPT why doesn't it
> > happen on the internal "C" drive?...only external drives. Also have tested on
> > my wifes xp laptop and the problem does not exist...mmm.
> >
> > I know I am not alone with this problem of corruption in reading all the
> > comments in the forums and knowledge bases. Hopefully someone has come up
> > with some answers!!
> > --
> > Will Bowlin

Thanks for going thru the trouble of checking the files with vista. I am
totally stumped if you are not having a problem with the same operating
system. I just know that in reading the different kb and forums I am not
alone with this problem. I have all the lastest updates and sp installed, so
that is not an issue.
--
Will Bowlin


"tink" wrote:

> I copied several hundred pictures to an external Seagate HD and they are not
> distorted. I checked 300 of them one at a time. Maybe SP1 fixed this problem.
>
> "tink" wrote:
>
> > I had a similar problem when copying files to an XP system across a small
> > network. After booting the XP system the pictures would be distorted. After
> > applying SP1 to Vista the problem disappeared. I have a 500g seagate external
> > drive that I will do a test from my Vista system to see if the pictures
> > become distorted and reply back here. Maybe SP1 fixed that problem tooo. I do
> > know you should stop the external drive on the Vista host before
> > disconnecting.
> >
> > "Will Bowlin" wrote:
> >
> > > I have an HP8000E media computer running Vista Home Premium. I bought a
> > > seagate external drive to use to store and backup all my jpg files which view
> > > just fine on my internal hard drive regardless of which program I use (photo
> > > gallery, photoshop, IE..whatever)
> > >
> > > Whenever I backup or transfer image files to my external drive roughly 30%
> > > of them are corrupted with assorted color bars, solid gray areas, OR
> > > distorted images.
> > > Thinking I had a problem with the seagate, I ordered a HP3000s pocket drive
> > > which connects to a special bay in the desktop with the same end
> > > result...maybe worse. I returned that drive at the advice of HP who said I
> > > may have some bad sectors on it. Replaced it with the same model with again
> > > the same end result.
> > >
> > > I emphasize this only happens with external drives. I am using uncorrupted
> > > (tested) original file sources. It doesn't matter if I download directly from
> > > the camera to the external drive or from cd/dvd.
> > >
> > > This all makes me believe this is a Vista problem EXCEPT why doesn't it
> > > happen on the internal "C" drive?...only external drives. Also have tested on
> > > my wifes xp laptop and the problem does not exist...mmm.
> > >
> > > I know I am not alone with this problem of corruption in reading all the
> > > comments in the forums and knowledge bases. Hopefully someone has come up
> > > with some answers!!
> > > --
> > > Will Bowlin

I had the same problem with my computer. I had already installed SP1, but still had the problem. I tried re-installing it after reading your comments and it seems to have eliminated the problem (no corrupted jpg files), but I will continue to watch it for awhile to be sure. I don't think the original installation of SP1 finished correctly. Thanks for your help.