Question PC crashes when using external HDD!

[ismmostaar1]

CPU: R5 3600 (stock)
CPU cooler: Cooler Master H412R
Motherboard: ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0
BIOS Version: P7.40
Ram: XPG GAMMIX D35 16GB (8GB x 2) DDR4 (overclocked to 3200MHz)
SSD/HDD: Samsung SSD 960 EVO 500GB for OS / multiple internal HDDs for storage
External HDD: StoreJet 25M3 2TB
GPU: ZOTAC 1050 TI (stock)
PSU: DPS-400MB-1 A
PSU Wattage: 400W
Chassis: AeroCool Streak
OS: WIN10 22H2
Monitor: FUJITSU B22T-7 Pro

I was giving this used external hard drive, whenever I try to copy/move files from/to it, the PC crashes every time after few seconds, and by crashing i mean PC shuts down, here's some solutions i have tried with no luck:

- Tried different ports, front 3.0 & front 2.0 & rear 3.0 but same result, and i can use USB flash drives in them just fine so ports are fine
- Used the drive in another PC (laptop) , it worked without any issue so it is not faulty
- I have recorded tens of hours from a satellite dish receiver using this drive with no issue
- Since i got 5 other hard drives in PC (1 NVME & 4 HDDs), i have unplugged all HDDs except the NVME (OS) and the external drive, but it still crashes so i don't think the low 400 Watts is the issue here
- Changed the drive letter in disk manager
- Uninstalled it from device manager & restart
- Tried updating it's driver from device manager it said it's the latest
- Formatted it
- Launched BIOS and looked for anything USB related but couldn't find any! please help.

 

[Lutfij]

PSU Wattage: 400W
400W is the advertised wattage of the unit. What is the make, model and age of the PSU?

MOBO: ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0
What BIOS version are you on for your motherboard?

On second thoughts, please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

Whenever I try to copy/move files from/to this external HDD the PC crashes everytime after few seconds,
By crash are you referring to a BSoD or a reboot? if the former, pass on the .dmp files. If the latter, then it might be a thermal or power relates issue.

 

[ismmostaar1]

PSU Wattage: 400W
400W is the advertised wattage of the unit. What is the make, model and age of the PSU?

MOBO: ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0
What BIOS version are you on for your motherboard?

On second thoughts, please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

Whenever I try to copy/move files from/to this external HDD the PC crashes everytime after few seconds,
By crash are you referring to a BSoD or a reboot? if the former, pass on the .dmp files. If the latter, then it might be a thermal or power relates issue.

Not sure how some of those info are related like what a monitor has to do with anything but who am i to know better , anyways i have filled all those hopefully it'll help, so yes a PSU is an old one i took it from my previous office PC to save budget on this build, But i have been using this PSU with this build for a whole year now , i played games and RAM is overclocked to 3200 with no issue until now, but as i said in the topic i have unplugged all internal HDDs except for the NVME where the operating system is installed but it still crashes when moving files from/to this external drive, it can't be that this external HDD is eating more juice than four internal HDDs combined, and by Crashing I mean PC shuts down, now i put the HDDs back in since removing them didn't make any difference, do you know if it can be solved from Bios, if so how?

 

[ismmostaar1]

.

So any thoughts?

 

[VizzieTheViz]

Not sure how some of those info are related like what a monitor has to do with anything but who am i to know better , anyways i have filled all those hopefully it'll help, so yes a PSU is an old one i took it from my previous office PC to save budget on this build, But i have been using this PSU with this build for a whole year now , i played games and RAM is overclocked to 3200 with no issue until now, but as i said in the topic i have unplugged all internal HDDs except for the NVME where the operating system is installed but it still crashes when moving files from/to this external drive, it can't be that this external HDD is eating more juice than four internal HDDs combined, and by Crashing I mean PC shuts down, now i put the HDDs back in since removing them didn't make any difference, do you know if it can be solved from Bios, if so how?

It’s not drawing more power but it is drawing it from a different place than the internal hdd which get their power straight from the psu while this drive will be powered through the usb cable which gets its power through the motherboard.

So that’s how it could be a psu thing.

Don’t really know that much about what could be causing this besides the things that were already suggested so good luck.

 

[evermorex76]

400 watts is fine for that machine when it's just sitting there doing some file transfers, and obviously if you're using it normally then it's good enough under load. You don't have any seriously power-hungry parts so you probably only use 300W or less max. (Total wattage isn't the only important thing with a PSU of course. The wattage on each voltage rail is also important, but modern PCs use the 12V rail for nearly everything so PSUs also allocate most of their wattage to that.)

That drive does indicate 5V 1A for power requirement on the label. Depending on the enclosure you're using, none of your USB ports may be capable of powering that drive in that enclosure. USB3.0's specification is only 0.9A, so if the motherboard is designed within the spec then the drive could be pulling too much power. (Usually it just makes a drive take longer to spin up, but it COULD crash some systems.) An easy thing to do would be getting a USB adapter that supports an external power supply.

You say you were given the drive, but you also say you've recorded hours of video with your receiver. Do you mean you've had the drive for a while and had it plugged directly into the receiver? When you say you used it in a laptop, do you mean with the same USB enclosure? The laptop may provide more power than the spec on its USB ports (a laptop is expected to be more mobile, so the maker would expect people to be plugging in things without external power, and the spec does include a little higher power allowed for charging devices).

 

[evermorex76]

It’s not drawing more power but it is drawing it from a different place than the internal hdd which get their power straight from the psu while this drive will be powered through the usb cable which gets its power through the motherboard.

So that’s how it could be a psu thing.

Don’t really know that much about what could be causing this besides the things that were already suggested so good luck.

Yeah but it's a total of 5 or 6W for that drive and the enclosure, so it's highly unlikely to be an issue with insufficient power unless the system was truly on the edge of not having enough anyway, which isn't likely if it worked under load and now crashes with just this one drive being added while not under load. An 3.5 inch SATA drive uses 12V (and 5V usually), which is what is being supplied to the motherboard (and converted to 5V for the USB ports), so both the internal and USB drives ultimately are drawing from the 5V rail. If 5 internal drives were disconnected, that would have freed up all that power to be sent to the USB drive.

Now, the motherboard's capability to convert the 12V to 5V for USB could also be an issue, not due to the quantity of power, but maybe quality. Unlikely again, though.

 

[evermorex76]

An easy thing to do would be getting a USB adapter that supports an external power supply.

I just noticed the highlight indicating StoreJet 25M3 2TB. I was confused by the DiskInfo screen indicating it's a Seagate drive. Every branded pre-built external drive I've ever seen has shown the brand and model info for the maker of the whole unit (StoreJet here) rather than the model of the drive that is in the enclosure. But that drive's label does show 5V 0.9A is the power draw, which is odd since the drive inside is rated for more. I would still bet this is an issue with the USB ports on the desktop simply not being able to supply enough power.

A self-powered USB hub that is rated for more than the per-port spec might be a solution, then. I have no specific recommendations for hubs that I'm sure supply extra power, but they would indicate "fast charging" or something like that. I did a quick search on Amazon and most of them seem to have fast/smart charging ports that don't also transfer data.

Another option would be a USB3 Y-cable. You would need to plug the two A connectors into ports that are on different root hubs in the chipset to be sure to get additional power, so don't use two stacked ports, but side by side ports ought to work. You can use USBTreeView with a flash drive to test the ports to identify for sure which root hub they're on.

https://www.amazon.com/SaiTech-USB-3-0-Shape-Micro/dp/B00MFL4HQU

 

[ismmostaar1]

You say you were given the drive, but you also say you've recorded hours of video with your receiver. Do you mean you've had the drive for a while and had it plugged directly into the receiver? When you say you used it in a laptop, do you mean with the same USB enclosure? The laptop may provide more power than the spec on its USB ports (a laptop is expected to be more mobile, so the maker would expect people to be plugging in things without external power, and the spec does include a little higher power allowed for charging devices).

Another option would be a USB3 Y-cable. You would need to plug the two A connectors into ports that are on different root hubs in the chipset to be sure to get additional power, so don't use two stacked ports, but side by side ports ought to work. You can use USBTreeView with a flash drive to test the ports to identify for sure which root hub they're on.

Thank you so much for taking the time and helping me i appreciate it, i only had this drive for a week and had to try every solution i know of before posting here, so yes the drive was plugged directly to the receiver to record tv channels, and when i used it on the laptop i was using the power cable not the battery, now i can understand that the motherboard is an entry level one and it's might be the one that causing this issue right? not sure i fully understand the solutions you suggested though, so all i need is to get either "a self-powered USB hub" or "a USB3 Y-cable" and use the drive with it instead of directly connecting it to PC ports right?

 

[VizzieTheViz]

Thank you so much for taking the time and helping me i appreciate it, i only had this drive for a week and had to try every solution i know of before posting here, so yes the drive was plugged directly to the receiver to record tv channels, and when i used it on the laptop i was using the power cable not the battery, now i can understand that the motherboard is an entry level one and it's might be the one that causing this issue right? not sure i fully understand the solutions you suggested though, so all i need is to get either "a self-powered USB hub" or "a USB3 Y-cable" and use the drive with it instead of directly connecting it to PC ports right?

Yes that would at least rule out the motherboard not supplying enough power being the problem.