External Hard Drive & USB 3.0 problem

[rukawa1337]

Laptop - ASUS N76VZ-DS71
External Hard Drive - Hitachi Touro Desk Pro 2TB
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

Problem: When I transfer files from my laptop TO my external hard drive, the external hard drive disconnects and reconnects by itself. This happens within the first few seconds of transferring large files. When I transfer files FROM the hard drive to the laptop, it works fine.

Other Information and what I've done so far:

- The external hard drive is a USB 3.0 device, the USB cable is 3.0, and laptop ports (all 4) are 3.0
- When I use a USB 2.0 cable, the files transfer without disconnecting at USB 2.0 speeds
- When I boot the computer into safe mode, the files transfer at USB 3.0 speeds without disconnecting
- I restored the laptop to its factory settings
- I've updated the USB 3.0 drivers from Intel and flashed the motherboard with the latest BIOS
- The external hard drive manufacturer has no available firmware for updates
- I tested a USB 3.0 flash drive and it worked without disconnecting
- I've tested it with another USB 3.0 laptop (HP) and the external hard drive disconnects the same way.

Does anyone know what the problem might be?

 

[skyl4r_z0]

Laptop - ASUS N76VZ-DS71
External Hard Drive - Hitachi Touro Desk Pro 2TB
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

Problem: When I transfer files from my laptop TO my external hard drive, the external hard drive disconnects and reconnects by itself. This happens within the first few seconds of transferring large files. When I transfer files FROM the hard drive to the laptop, it works fine.

Other Information and what I've done so far:

- The external hard drive is a USB 3.0 device, the USB cable is 3.0, and laptop ports (all 4) are 3.0
- When I use a USB 2.0 cable, the files transfer without disconnecting at USB 2.0 speeds
- When I boot the computer into safe mode, the files transfer at USB 3.0 speeds without disconnecting
- I restored the laptop to its factory settings
- I've updated the USB 3.0 drivers from Intel and flashed the motherboard with the latest BIOS
- The external hard drive manufacturer has no available firmware for updates
- I tested a USB 3.0 flash drive and it worked without disconnecting
- I've tested it with another USB 3.0 laptop (HP) and the external hard drive disconnects the same way.

Does anyone know what the problem might be?

Does anyone have a solution? I have the same problem with my Asus U46E-BAL5 laptop

 

[muttalebm]

Hi guys, I had the exact same problem. I even posted a similar question here. But did not get any solution. I downloaded and installed this file http://downloadmirror.intel.com/19880/eng/USB3.0_allOS_2.1.28.1_PV.exe. Its a USB 3 driver. As you can see you will find it in the intel's webpage. Install it and then run the program. Check the "Disable USB 3.0 power management function" then hit ok. It is still working for me so hope will do the same for you!

 

[icepick314]

I have Asus U46E myself...I got it from an family acquittance where the laptop's screen was cracked from stepped on by accident...took awhile to get replacement screen from Hong Kong and still waiting for bluray burner (my older laptop's drive is 12.5mm and this is slim 9.5mm drive)...

I had problems with USB 3 HDD and tried few things like uninstall default drivers from Asus then reinstalling, tried Windows 7 driver and Windows 8 driver, and reinstalled using Window 8's automatic driver find...

None really helped with my WD My Passport USB 3.0 and WD My Passport Ultra USB 3.0 drive...

Then I've been using Centon USB 3.0 128GB flash drive and that works flawlessly without getting disconnected...

I figure the only difference is the power output on the USB 3.0 port on this laptop...for some reason, it's not outputting enough amp to run external drives with spinning platters but it's okay with flash ROMs...

I'm getting USB 3.0 hub with external power and try to use USB HDDs and see if it is power issue and not something else...

I will update this post after using external USB hub...

 

[icepick314]

Update: I bought iogear 4-port USB 3.0 minihub. Using that to connect WD My Passport USB 3.0 external drive, I can now watch movies stored on it. No dropouts and disconnects from external drive to PC.

As I suspected, USB 3.0 port on Asus U46E does not output enough amp to power spinning HDDs.

I wish I had USB 3.0 enclosure to test if SSD would work on it but I suspect it would work by itself because power requirement would be much lower than HDDs.

 

[sailor3rd]

Found the solution. I had that same problem. It was temporarily fixed by Windows 8.1 patch KB2911106 but the problem started again after the Windows 8.1 update 1. In my case I have a 2TB seagate external expansion drive.

The fix can be found in the link
http://www.registryrecycler.com/blog/2013/12/how-to-fix-usb-drive-issues-after-installing-windows-8-1/

It requires you to update your register, carefully follow the instructions that are well explained. It works.

 

[Nasirtech]

Issue: USB storage device is not working on my computer, be it a USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 it just doesn't install the driver for storage device and my USB mouse and webcam does work.Everytime I plug in a USB flash drive of USB 3.0 External hard drive it beeps and gives error message that the device driver could not be installed.
Here is the steps I took to troubleshoot this issue and it got fixed.

go to Run-> Type Regedit.
and Navigate to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000}

Highlight this key ({36FC9E60-C465-11CF-8056-444553540000} ), on the right pane, and then check if “Upperfilters” and “Lowerfilters” value are present. If so, please right click on the values and select "Delete" to remove them.


Restart the computer to check the issue.

Step 2. Now go to "C:\windows\inf" folder and check if these three files USBSTOR.SYS, usbstor.inf and usbstor.pnf are available.If it was renamed change the name as I wrote them or if they are not available copy them from "C:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\usbstor.inf_x86_neutral_83027f5d5b2468d3"
And then go to "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\Drivers" and make sure you have USBSTOR.SYS and usbd.sys available if not copy them again from
"C:\windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\usbstor.inf_x86_neutral_83027f5d5b2468d3"
and paste it to Drivers folder.


Open Registry editor by going to Run-> typing Regedit and Navigate to the following key:
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\USBSTOR" and ensure that the Start value is 3 on the right pane


For a detailed information on fixing this issue read this post http://bookingtohosting.blogspot.in/2014/05/usb-30-external-storage-device-driver.html

 

[XiSTNZ]

This fixed my issues. Was having the same thing but not on a laptop.
http://www.sevenforums.com/performance-maintenance/148749-external-hdd-keeps-disconnecting-itself.html

 

[Eric Bentsen]

Hi guys, I had the exact same problem. I even posted a similar question here. But did not get any solution. I downloaded and installed this file http://downloadmirror.intel.com/19880/eng/USB3.0_allOS_2.1.28.1_PV.exe. Its a USB 3 driver. As you can see you will find it in the intel's webpage. Install it and then run the program. Check the "Disable USB 3.0 power management function" then hit ok. It is still working for me so hope will do the same for you!

I have a Seagate 3 TB external HDD that won't respond much to anything, and I've considered it dead for a week now. I'd try to copy a folder from it and it would just crash Windows Explorer, or copy empty sub-folders then disconnect before copying what's in the folders. I'd get a USB device not recognized error. Even Ubuntu couldn't connect it from a Live CD! The Seagate Dashboard Test said the drive PASSED, lol! It seems to have a 1000+ms lag when reading, which has got to be amazingly slow!

I just put this USB driver in and I'm on my way copying my first folder. Crossing my fingers, it's the first break I've had trying to recover data off this failing drive! Thanks a lot.

Well, the drive crashed after copying about 2.0 GB of 55K files in 2K folders, or 2/3rds of the first folder being copied. Now I've gotta wait for the drive to disconnect itself to unhang the machine and try again.