Problem with External HD

So, here's the problem: I have a 1.83 macbook running on a wireless network. The other computer on this network is running XP and has a ComStar 300gb (FAT32) external HD hooked to it via USB. I have no issue running any kind of file wirelessly from the macbook.

However, when I take the macbook and harddrive on the road, I plug in the HD, the icon shows up, and when I try to open almost any kind of file (mp3s in iTunes are the exception), the system freezes and I get the spinning rainbow thingy.


Any ideas or solutions?

From my read of your post, you could pretty much eliminate the whole first paragraph and still have an accurate problem description? It seems that your problem is most easily stated as whenever you connect this 300 GB hard drive directly to your MacBook, vs. accessing it over your home network through an XP box, the disk does mount and shows up on your desktop, but except for MP3s on that disk, you get the spinning beachball if you try to access anything else. Is that it?

All of this suggests that the disk itself is OK, so how about a few followup questions. Are you running 10.4.x Tiger? Can you double click the disk's desktop icon and successfully create a Finder window showing you the disk's contents? Can you double click a folder from the Finder window and descend into another folder on the disk? Can you create a new blank folder on the disk by right clicking in the Finder window and selecting "New Folder"? Finally, can you manually double click one of the MP3s on that disk and have iTunes start up and play it?

One last question. What other file types have you tried to run from that disk that cause the spinning beachball.

Sorry for the "20 questions" routine, but the answers may help us pinpoint what the problem is.

The answer to all those questions is yes, and as for the file types, I believe I've tried jpg,pdf,avi,mov and bmp. For the videos, I've tried a couple different programs as well, so its not just Quicktime or anything. All have the issues. Clicking an mp3, however, will open up iTunes and start playing with no problem.

EDIT: On a side note, it takes a of a long time after i plug in the HD until the icon appears on the desktop (~20 seconds)

20 s is not too bad - I wouldn't worry about that. Clearly the disk itself is just fine. I'm afraid I'm stumped. The only thing I can guess at this point is that the program Mac OS X has registered against the file types that don't work is normally on a networked drive. While you are "standalone" that drive is not accessible and the Mac is doing some form of network timeout. Is this possible?