My external USB 3.0 HDD keeps disappearing from Windows 10

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Foebane72

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Jun 8, 2016
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I upgraded to Windows 10 a couple of days ago and thought I had no problems, until I tried to copy a large 2Gb+ file from my external USB 3.0 HDD, which is in an enclosure. The next thing I know, the copy freezes for a minute or so before Windows tells me I don't have enough memory for the operation and the external drive disappears from "This PC".

The external HDD is connected via a USB 3.0 port, and I don't have a driver running for USB 3.0, because I had problems with them in my old Windows. Should I simply reconnect the external HDD to a USB 2.0 connector instead?
 
Solution
A
In any event if your USB 3.0 device works with the USB 2.0 port connection that should be fine in your old system. While the difference in data transfer rates will, of course, favor a USB 3.0 connection, the truth of the matter in most everyday copying/moving data operations is that the difference isn't so enormous that you can't live with it. On the other hand if your work involves copying/moving/cloning substantial chunks of data throughout the day then that could be a significant problem and a USB 3.0 solution would need to be found.
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It worked fine on a USB 2.0 port. And I didn't try it before as both my USB 2.0 ports at the back were being used for my keyboard and mouse. I have now moved those to the USB 3.0 ports (as worthless as their promised speed is) and have Amazon-ordered a couple of extension leads for the 2.0 ports.

The thing is, under Windows 7, I had a lot of issues with USB 3.0, and more than once an install of Win7 had to be restarted because a dodgy USB 3.0 driver left all of my input devices useless, so I could do nothing but reset the PC and boot the install disk and try again from scratch. Even when it did work, it was unstable and it wasn't that much faster, so now I've given up.

The external HDD works fine under 2.0 now. I just can't use it just yet until the extension cable comes, as I have my external HDD on the floor (to hide it) and the short USB 3.0 enclosure cable won't reach the 2.0 socket.

 
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In any event if your USB 3.0 device works with the USB 2.0 port connection that should be fine in your old system. While the difference in data transfer rates will, of course, favor a USB 3.0 connection, the truth of the matter in most everyday copying/moving data operations is that the difference isn't so enormous that you can't live with it. On the other hand if your work involves copying/moving/cloning substantial chunks of data throughout the day then that could be a significant problem and a USB 3.0 solution would need to be found.
 
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Solution
As an anecdote, a year or so ago when I first got my USB 3.0 HDD enclosure and the USB 3.0 was working properly on Windows 7, I first noticed the cable was rather too short, and thought I'd try a USB extension cable lying around. The result was, extremely intermittent connection if any at all. I then remembered the extension cable was USB 2.0, and I learned that it matters which version you use: something about missing data lines in the USB 2.0 cable or so I read.

So a 2.0 cable between a 3.0 device and a 3.0 port is obviously silly, but a 2.0 cable from a 3.0 device to a 2.0 port should work fine. I hope.
 
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I'm having problems again, this time the external HDD keeps locking up rather than disappearing.

I started using it again an hour or so ago and I was working on files fine, but then I go to rename the folders and it just freezed up on one of them, Explorer said "Not Responding" and I had the busy circle pointer. It just remained that way until I was forced to turn off the HDD via the power button. What's more, it kept doing it every time I put it back on and tried to access that one folder. In fact, the HDD has frozen on various random folders I've clicked on.

I don't know if the enclosure interface or the HDD is packing up on me (the HDD is over seven years old) but all of a sudden I think I've lost most copies of my videos, and I only have one or two left rather than the ten copies I had. I'm annoyed.

I just ought to mention that over the many months I've used this external HDD, most of the time I would turn it on just long enough to add files or whatever, then turned it off in the space of as little as one minute - could this have a bearing on the HDD failing?

What does an external HDD hanging mean? Do I need to get a new HDD?
 
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I assume the USBEHD is a commercial "one-piece" device rather than a USB external enclosure & a separate HDD?
If it was the latter (we generally advise PC users to go that route rather than purchase these commercial products) you could remove the HDD from the enclosure and install it internally in the PC and determine if you can access its data that way. With some commercial products you can do that as well but with others because of their proprietary nature it's not feasible.

In any event use a HDD diagnostic program to test the health of the HDD. Most of them can test a USB-connected device. If possible, use the diagnostic program available from the drive's manufacturer but most other programs, e.g., HDTune will suffice as well. At least that can tell you if the HDD is defective.

Whether the enclosure itself is defective is another story. Generally speaking with commercial units we find that's the case, not the enclosed drive. But that's not always the case. There's very little one can do about it other than trying to salvage as much data they can from the USBEHD, presuming they can access some of its data. Other than that...c'est la vie.

 
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The HDD in the enclosure used to be the main internal HDD for my previous PC. That computer was replaced after it broke down, so I salvaged the HDD and put it into the 3.0 enclosure I bought separately.

I figure it's no longer working because of the age of the HDD (7+ years), but I could be wrong altogether and it could just be a driver issue, but I have no idea. I'm not willing to take out the HDD and put it in my current PC to test.
 
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I doubt if it's a driver issue. I'm not clear why you are not willing to remove the HDD from the USB enclosure and install it as a secondary drive in your system. That's ordinarily what we do when we can since it obviously will indicate (or tend to indicate) whether it's the HDD or the USB enclosure that's defective. There's some problem in doing so?

Anyway if you're reluctant to do so for some reason why haven't you tested the USBEHD as a USB device as previously suggested? Or have you done so?

BTW, I've been assuming you're working with a desktop PC and not a laptop/notebook.
 
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With what tool? CHKDSK froze like the other examples above. And yes, it's a desktop PC.

EDIT: In any case, it's not urgent, and I have copies of the files elsewhere, for now. I've put the drive away into my cupboard until I can deal with the problem later, and hopefully the files are still there.

Thanks for the info, anyway.
 
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