Windows 10: explorer.exe crashing when searching in external hard drive

Hello,

Lately I have noticed that when I perform a search in my external hard drive, explorer.exe crashes. I read that it may be because some file has a long path. How can I be sure about what is causing the problem? The hard drive is new so I could return it but I would like to rule out if this is a hardware problem or a windows problem.

Faulting application name: explorer.exe, version: 10.0.16299.492, time stamp: 0x721b1ba3
Faulting module name: ntdll.dll, version: 10.0.16299.611, time stamp: 0xa29d2306
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0000000000039cb0
Faulting process id: 0x582c
Faulting application start time: 0x01d44765991454a7
Faulting application path: C:\Windows\explorer.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\ntdll.dll
Report Id: 64eee1bd-35f4-4880-9d81-320a5dc431f1
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:


Application: explorer.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: exception code c0000005, exception address 00007FFD8EB29CB0

Thanks *cry

:)

 

External Hard Drive

Hi John,

We suggest that you try the troubleshooting steps below:

• Open your External Hard Drive file in File Explorer.
• Type the name of the file you want to search on the search box and click Enter.

The file will show up in Search Results and you will be able to move it to the correct folder.

Let us know if you need further help.

 

External Hard Drive Crashes Window Explorer

Hi,

A hard drive may crash due to a faulty sector or at times it could also be an issue that is something related to the hardware. That being said, we would need the answers to the following questions for us to identify what troubleshooting steps to apply:

• Aside from performing a test if the external drives are working on other computers, what are the other troubleshooting steps you've performed?
• Is the issue happening on a different user profile?
• Have you tried checking if a USB storage device with small memory capacity has the same issue?

In the meantime, you can perform these steps for initial troubleshooting:

Method 1: Running the Hardware troubleshooter

You can run the hardware troubleshooter by clicking on this
link. For future reference, you can keep this
article as this also include a list of troubleshooters that you can use.

Method 2: Performing Clean Boot

Perform a clean boot on your computer to ensure that there are no possible conflicting
programs that may run in the background that could cause the halt when using your external drive.

After performing clean boot, we advise that you enable each services after each restart on your computer while your external drive is connected. This is for us to see if what program might be running on the background
that may trigger the crash specially when accessing your external drive. If all services are already enabled and still the issue persists, best to perform the next methods.

Method 3: Running the Disk Defrag

You can also do a Disk Defragmentation on your Windows to ensure
that sectors (Memory on your drive) are organized and would be easy for the system to be read. Doing this won't be affecting your files though it is still a best practice to have all your
personal files backed up.

Method 4: Updating your USB Drivers

There is still a possibility why your computer crashes when accessing your external drive as the USB drivers might be having a hard time reading your external drive due to possible outdated drivers. We suggest ensuring that all your
USB drivers are up-to-date by manually downloading the drivers from your computer's manufacturer before uninstalling and reinstalling your drivers and firmware. You can also do these steps to update your
USB Universal Bus Drivers:

• On your keyboard, press Windows + X and click on Device Manager.
• Search and expand Universal Serial Bus (USB) host controller.
• Next, right click on All the drivers and click Update.

Please don't hesitate to get back to us with an update.

 

External hard drive not recognised

Thanks for this. I've done what you suggested and been through all the steps mentioned in the article. The hard drive works fine on a Mac computer, and I've managed to copy the information on it. It must be a Surface issue so I'll try to get a chat line tomorrow.