Hard drive disconnecting and reconnecting

[gxavier38]

Hi

I'm having a bit of a problem here
My external hard drive (a Hitachi 500GB 2.5" drive) which is connected to a Silverstone RVS02 keeps disconnecting
When I plug my hard drive in (With both USB cables), Windows detects it, but after 5 seconds or so it starts disconnecting and reconnecting every second or so
Once a while I get prompts to format the drive

The disconnects do not stop until I unplug the drive, or at least the data one
I've checked my power options and tried almost everything

This is the only USB device that this happens to, and it only happens on this PC so I don't think it's the enclosure
I've tried other USB ports and this also happens


Any help would be amazing
Thanks

 

[mrslapstick]

I bet your USB3 cable is too long

try a shorter one

Wow... after trying everything above this is what worked. How come? Thanks a lot!

USB was originally conceptualised to only be used with short cables (i think 120 cm was the limit). If i am not mistaken, the reason was data throughput couldn't be guaranteed one there was more cable to get through. Over time, manufacturers began ignoring this limitation resulting in issues like the one described here.

The power saving feature recommended as the first solution did the trick for me, so a thank you from my side. After years of using Tom's as a silent viewer only, i finally created an account to say just this: thank you!

shorter USB cable worked for me. Thank you jackjackffm

Yep worked here also. Was using a USB3.0 extension to save reaching round the back. Used just the HDD lead and worked a treat. Many thanks

 

[UncleDark]

Thanks to you guys my external is no longer driving me insane. Thumbs up!

 

[dezign]

Part of the problem could be this Intel flaw ...
http://www.techpowerup.com/181269/lynx-point-usb-3-0-controller-issue-correction-needs-new-hardware.html

The problem ''went away'' on my Asus G750 when I disabled XHCI in the bios (... also referred to as the USB 3.0 Host Controller specification). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Host_Controller_Interface as the Asus G750 has the ''Lynx Point controller'' mentioned in the article. XHCI also handles power to USB devices.

However, the transfer speed on USB 3 went from 54MB/sec to approx. 9MB/sec -- unacceptable.

Thanks Intel ~ for knowingly and deliberately shipping flawed hardware -- engineering vs marketing a classic Dilbert focus -- class action lawsuit against Intel anyone??? !!

 

[Benjamin_9]

In addition to the solution posted above, you should install the latest USB 3.0 drivers.

Also go into Device Manage and locate the USB Root Hubs, go to their properties, then the power management tab, and uncheck the settings in there.

Thank you! This did the job. It was the USB 3.0 controller, specifically. That saved me much bother.

 

[Ahmedivx]

I recently discovered this problem too.
What is happening is that usb3.0 has some power saving mode that lets the hard drive power down.
Here is the fix.
control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/USB settings /USB selective suspend setting
The set the plugged in option to disabled.

Thanks a million for your solution. life saver

 

[UnTroll]

My motherboard is an Asus P8Z77-M Pro and my USB 3.0 ports were working well before 2016. Since 2016, they became useless even with the USB 2.0 Flash Drives (using no USB cable extender). They were disconnecting and reconnecting my flash drive endlessly. I suspected that a Windows 7 x64 update had something to do with this problem.

To fix the bug, I tried to update all my USB 3.0 chipset drivers but it didn't help. I also tried not using a USB 3.0 extender (this can be a cause for this bug).The only solution were to update the BIOS of my motherboard (Asus released a patch on January 21th, 5 days ago). Since the update, my USB 3.0 are now stable and fast (copying a 4 Gb file is around 95Mb/s)!

I hope this will help you.

 

[KuraX]

I know I am late. But turning on High performance mode in power plan fixed it for me.

 

[Oldsaltoz]

Hi

I'm having a bit of a problem here
My external hard drive (a Hitachi 500GB 2.5" drive) which is connected to a Silverstone RVS02 keeps disconnecting
When I plug my hard drive in (With both USB cables), Windows detects it, but after 5 seconds or so it starts disconnecting and reconnecting every second or so
Once a while I get prompts to format the drive

The disconnects do not stop until I unplug the drive, or at least the data one
I've checked my power options and tried almost everything

This is the only USB device that this happens to, and it only happens on this PC so I don't think it's the enclosure
I've tried other USB ports and this also happens


Any help would be amazing
Thanks

 

[Oldsaltoz]

Like many others I have spent hours trying to resolve this problem. The fix for me was to replace a missing a missing program. try downloading C + + from Microsoft. this replaces missing DLL files.

Good luck.

 

[Swail7]

I see many different USB problems and associated solutions here. One that hasn't been mentioned is ground loops. I discovered that my back panel USB 3.0 ports worked fine, but the front ones would often disconnect every few seconds when I tried to use a flash drive, for example. Both were run off the same controller and had the same drivers. That’s an important clue.

This post gave me the idea: https://community.newegg.com/archive_2007-2013/product_support/f/18231/t/43755.aspx

I took the front panel of my Antec Three Hundred Two apart and found that the metal shroud for the USB ports was grounded both through the cable back to the controller (like it should be), but also to the case. You might think that more is better, but that is not the case. You need exactly one good, solid path to ground. Multiple competing paths to ground cause noise (Google “ground loop”.)

All I had to do was to carefully cut the extra wires, leaving the one ground wire per USB port back to the controller, and all the ports work reliably now!

 

[mydaan1]

I recently discovered this problem too.
What is happening is that usb3.0 has some power saving mode that lets the hard drive power down.
Here is the fix.
control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/USB settings /USB selective suspend setting
The set the plugged in option to disabled.

ty for the answer man struggled with the isseu for a long time now almost bought new sata cable so much <3 for the answer

 

[Jason_420]

Every option listed above is an excellent option-there are many causes for drives behaving like this. For most, cases, un-checking the box in Properties/Power Management for EVERY USB Root Hub in your Device Manager can fix the issue (again, for most but not all).
I'm going to mention some info I didn't see (or missed) through these answers,any one of which could be the solution to someone's problem. I too had the same problem of my 5TB Seagate disconnecting, and I run a daily image of my system @ 4 a.m. everyday which started failing every morning when I woke up. Here's a few other things I've learned along my troubleshooting....

• Make sure you have a big enough power supply (PC obviously, laptops you have no control). Multiple hard drives with a high end Processor and lots of RAM plus your added video cards/PCIe devices/Raid Controllers can eat quite a bit of the power available. This means less power running down your USB Bus.Devices requiring power like a hard drive may dip just below their minimum required threshold, and then quickly return to an acceptable power amount - the end user just sees their drive disappear then reappear. From what I've read, there is honestly no software that can accurately measure power information about your system correctly. Many are advertised to do so, but reading through threads you start to realize the marketing is a bunch of crap. You need a physical tester to truly know the power levels. Don't cheap out with the 400W power supply and expect to run a lot of things. My 600W is right at the brink now, and I've moved most of my studio equipment to a powerful hub with an a/c adapter. I run 8 SSD's and 2 7200rpm Sata drives and a video card. If I plug two USB devices into my boards ports, things will stop working. It actually caused 1 of my raid arrays shown as failed on boot up, and those drives weren't accessible. When I unplugged the two USB devices, everything started working fine again. So I know my 600W cant handle anymore lol. So Powered Hubs are how I had to go.

dezign August 17, 2015 7:01:39 PM
Part of the problem could be this Intel flaw ...
http://www.techpowerup.com/181269/lynx-point-usb-3-0-co...

The problem ''went away'' on my Asus G750 when I disabled XHCI in the bios (... also referred to as the USB 3.0 Host Controller specification). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extensible_Host_Controller... as the Asus G750 has the ''Lynx Point controller'' mentioned in the article. XHCI also handles power to USB device

This is a rare one, and you can see it tanked his xfer rate, but there can be other power settings in your BIOS depending on manufacturer that might be the cause. Check with your motherboards specs, and see if you have the ability to change any power management options. ***DISCLAIMER-Don't mess with your BIOS if you're unsure what you're doing. If you see a setting you suspect might have an impact, google it and see what that setting does. Not every BIOS is the same obviously, make sure you have the most up to date version of BIOS and Chipset drivers. The Intel Controller mentioned quite a few times here might be the issue.

• • 
    Disable things you never use and any associated controllers that go with it. If you use WiFi, and always WiFi, disable your LAN network card. In my case, I have an external soundcard so I've disabled all the Nvidia Hi Def Audio controllers (from having HDMI) and my onboard sound because I'm never going to use it. Some folks may have an older computer with a 56k modem-disable it if you have hi speed internet and use WiFi or an Ethernet (NIC) card. I always disable them in device manager AND the BIOS. Just because Windows has it disabled in Device Manager doesn't mean it's fully disabled. It's only disabled in Windows. (For example if you ran a dual boot system, say Windows and Linux or whatever) disabling it in Windows will have no effect on the Linux OS.) So to be safe, I disable what I'm positive I'm not going to use within my BIOS. I have a PCIe video card I use and don't use the on board VGA/DVI/HDMI ports-disabled in BIOS so they're powered off per the hardware-not the OS.

CABLES MATTER, but not just length! Just as someone mentioned earlier in this thread (which I cant seem to quote here unfortunately :/ but they said the "Cable was tooo loooong" I laughed but they are correct! The length DOES matter, especially with devices sending lots of data and that require power. It's not just length, but the gauge also - On all of my USB "B" cables (I believe its the "B" one-with the square end we use for printers) the gauges are listed on the wire, either 28awg or 24awg/2c. I have 9 large USB devices (3 midi keyboards, 2 controllers, 1 audio interface plus my drive, Razer gaming mouse, back-lit Logitech Keyboard, etc) for my recording studio. Since they all require power, and some quite a bit of power, its obviously causing a bigger load on my PC. My Audio Interface kept failing, and after hours of research I found I had simply used the wrong cable to connect it. My Native Instruments Audio Interface's FAQ's gives an explanation of the different gauges and I learned then that the 24AWG/2C carries more power and was needed. I had one of my 28awg cables hooked to it. Quick swap to a 24AWG/2C, problem solved. Strangely, on all my USB 3.0 cables, there's no listing printed - but I can see obvious differences in the gauge size of my many different cables. I haven't gotten to the bottom of that yet, but my personal rule of thumb now is I always use the shortest/fattest one I can find.

• 
  USB 3.0 Hubs-don't go super cheap when purchasing one, and they come in a variety of ports #'s and wattages. If you HAVE to use a hub like I do, get one that's going to have a lot of power to supply your devices. If you fail to use the ac adapter, the hub still works, but you're back to drawing power from the PC to power your stuff, which defeats the point of buying the hub.
  • 
    Finally, a rare possibility these days, but there may be an IRQ conflict between two of your devices. Highly doubtful and it's been probably 10 years since I've had to work around an IRQ conflict, but it is Windows, so who knows.
  
  This was a nice thread without any really bad advice to try. In the end, my issue was the Power Management in Device Manager turning off my root hubs. I do have issues with my two front USB ports on my case, so I'm going to look into the grounding issue someone mentioned.
  
  Thanks to everybody for good advice for others to try.

 

[brianbarone]

9:04 AM 8/9/2017 - I have an Intel NUC that has been dropping the external hard drive with no logging data indicating why. I have a Windows 10 OS. I found a new reason for this. I am using Oracle VM on the NUC. These VMs are configured for the USB controller so I can see the external drive. This was more of a convenience than and necessity. AS soon as I started a VM the hard drive would drop from the Windows Explorer and unavailable. Removing the USB configuration from the VM is what resolved this problem. Windows 10 comes with the Hyper V and I assume that this may happen with that as well. Please remember that if you are going to use the Oracle VM application that you have to disable the Hyper V as there is a conflict. Hopes this helps others with the problem.

 

[coffeedrinkinglinguist]

I tried several of the solutions in this thread with no success. My computer only has USB 3.0 ports so I wasn't sure how to try it on USB 2.0. I ended up grabbing a USB 2.0 hub with no external power. I just plugged that between my SSD enclosure and my computer and was able to clone my 500gb hard drive on the first try.

 

[GuccizBud]

>> I bet your USB3 cable is
>> too long... try a shorter one

> i mean.. WTF.. i was sure he
> was trolling, i even laughed
> at him, until i tried it xD

Just as general fyi-type info then, it is a recognized fact in most every electronics related industry that shorter cables are always preferable to longer ones when you have the choice. True with computers, true with audio equipment, video equipment . . . pretty well everything electronics related as I said. There's nothing magical about it . . . think about it this way : a cable carries a signal, right? Does it make sense that the longer that signal has to travel, the greater the possibility of a degradation of that signal? Can be caused by signal attenuation, interference, heck even little physical imperfections in the physical cable itself. Obviously, the higher the cable quality, the more you'll be protected against all of that . . . but still, it's not hard to see that if you increase the length, you're increasing the possibility of problems, even if the overall probability is still very low. General rule though, when it comes to cables, always use the shortest one that gets the job done.

 

[dom.bernard027]

I recently discovered this problem too.
What is happening is that usb3.0 has some power saving mode that lets the hard drive power down.
Here is the fix.
control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/USB settings /USB selective suspend setting
The set the plugged in option to disabled.

I recently discovered this problem too.
What is happening is that usb3.0 has some power saving mode that lets the hard drive power down.
Here is the fix.
control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/USB settings /USB selective suspend setting
The set the plugged in option to disabled.

I created an account only to thank you.

dude thanks so much your the MVP

 

[thatdutchguy]

I recently discovered this problem too.
What is happening is that usb3.0 has some power saving mode that lets the hard drive power down.
Here is the fix.
control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/USB settings /USB selective suspend setting
The set the plugged in option to disabled.

I can't thank you enough, you're a lifesaver

 

[hellot1m]

I recently discovered this problem too.
What is happening is that usb3.0 has some power saving mode that lets the hard drive power down.
Here is the fix.
control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/USB settings /USB selective suspend setting
The set the plugged in option to disabled.

This seems to be the suggestion on every site i go to about this issue but this does not solve my problem. I have 2 external Drives both 3.0 and only one of them does this. i thought maybe a bad drive (i am hoping that is not the case) or a bad cable. it just started to happen after i reset my computer. I am aware of the setting you have mentioned and always keep that disabled. But its so inconsistent.. i have set up a monitor to track when it disconnects and it only happens about once or twice a day. so im not sure how a bad cable could cause that. im at a loss lol

 

[daaboss]

--- My Hardware / OS ---
Alienware i7, W-10 Creator's v1709 fully patched, reasonably up to date firmware / drivers.
TOSHIBA 3 TB external.

--- Problem --- Disconnects for ONLY 1-2 seconds, reconnects, and reopens an Explorer window for the drive (set as default). Seems like it re-occurs about every 5-10 minutes.

--- Why I care --- Concerned this is first indication of drive failure, and I WANT to DIAGNOSE the drive's health to MAKE SURE the drive is not failing. Although it is slightly irritating to hear the beep and see a window pop up when not expecting it, this is a NEW problem, and this has NEVER done this before. Nothing whatsoever, including positioning has changed.

--- I've tried / ruled out: ---

• Tried turning off the USB power management trick on ALL USB devices, (but haven't rebooted yet since changing this setting).
  Creator's was installed in January, and hasn't occurred until the last few days.
  I rebooted over 8 days ago, and it just started a few days ago, so don't think it could be any updates.

--- Haven't tried, but will ---

• Haven't rebooted yet, but plan to do so and retest
  Try different USB drive.
  Ensured that ALL cables, including power supplies and extension cords aren't loose.
  Run Diags from Toshiba (?? where ?? Anyone with a link?? )

Previous fix, but includes my edits: ---

• Usb-3.0 has some power saving mode that lets the hard drive power down. FIX: ....
  Control panel/
  /COMPUTER MANAGEMENT/
  /DEVICE MANAGEMENT/
  /UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS CONTROLLERS/ --- [ of EVERY SINGLE USB device under "controllers" ]
  /PROPERTIES/ --- [Right-click to choose]
  /Power Options/ --- [UN-check the power savings, which might be forcing a disconnect / reconnect upon detecting an idle USB *, and hit ENTER/accept/apply. ]

* NOTE: This WILL or may tend to add significant wear/run time on that drive, use a lot more power and generate more heat. So DON'T leave all the USB settings this way unless you must -- There was a reason they added this feature -- If leaving it set this way, practice UNPLUGGING the device, if you can conveniently do so.

 

[aran.campbell9]

Found the answer. Needed a powered usb hub. Fixed the problem. The device was not getting enough power. I'm using a toshiba 2tb external hd and a asus transformer t100ta.
Picked up a belkin desktop hub.

Seems to fail when I have multiple hd's connected tho.

Hope this helps.

thank you this worked for me.

 

[kstern1212]

Same problem with my WD Elemnts 10B8. Worked fine on my older Dell on USB 3 Got an HP Pavilion, and now it keeps disconnecting/connecting. Sometimes it refreshes the icons on my taskbar. I have 4 back USB 3.1 and it happens on them all. Not on the 2 USB 2 back ports. Not on the 2 front USB 3.1 ports. Only the 4 in back. Tried turning off ability to put to sleep. Tried changing Power Options. My cord is not too long. It's rather short (Not sure if I cna go shorter and still be bale to plug it in.). Tried disabling my HDD under Device Manager Portable Drives. Same nothing. Tried installing AMD USB 3.0 Host Controller & AMD USB Filter Driver. No change. Windows 10 says I'm using the latest drivers. I even tried uninstalling USB Roots. Still disconnects & reconnects.
When configured, Events says:
Device USBSTOR\Disk&Ven_WD&Prod_Elements_10B8&Rev_1012\57584B314543344633393945&0 was configured.

Driver Name: disk.inf
Class Guid: {4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Driver Date: 06/21/2006
Driver Version: 10.0.17134.1
Driver Provider: Microsoft
Driver Section: disk_install.NT
Driver Rank: 0xFF0006
Matching Device Id: GenDisk
Outranked Drivers: disk.inf:GenDisk:00FF2002
Device Updated: false
Parent Device: USB\VID_1058&PID_10B8\57584B314543344633393945

When started, Events says:
Device USBSTOR\Disk&Ven_WD&Prod_Elements_10B8&Rev_1012\57584B314543344633393945&0 was started.

Driver Name: disk.inf
Class Guid: {4D36E967-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
Service: disk
Lower Filters:
Upper Filters:

No matter what, those 4 Back USB 3.1's will not maintain connection to my HDD.

 

[Shinobi0072]

I recently discovered this problem too.
What is happening is that usb3.0 has some power saving mode that lets the hard drive power down.
Here is the fix.
control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/USB settings /USB selective suspend setting
The set the plugged in option to disabled.

I recently discovered this problem too.
What is happening is that usb3.0 has some power saving mode that lets the hard drive power down.
Here is the fix.
control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/USB settings /USB selective suspend setting
The set the plugged in option to disabled.

Thank you geofelt. Worked a peach for me