[SOLVED] Please help me fix this sporadically disconnecting Ext. HDD

[rdenon6284]

I'm a heavy gamer on PC (specs below for laptop and drive) and have an external Toshiba hard drive that is less than a year old and works just fine 98% of the time.
The problem is, the hard drive disconnects 1-2 times a week, always while I'm knee deep in a video game. Recently, I lost over an hour of gameplay. It seems minor, but when it happens CONSISTENTLY EVERY FEW DAYS, it can be very aggravating.

I've tried a few "solutions" already - (1) connecting to different USB ports; (2) turning off USB Selective Suspend; and (3) Disabling "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"
I tried "Disabling USB Legacy Support in Bios" but when I clicked on the hard drive in Device Manager, there was no "Policy" tab in which to do this.

Any ideas?

This is the article I used to help me: https://windowsreport.com/fix-windows-8-1-external-hard-drive-keeps-disconnecting/

External Hard Drive:
Toshiba (HDTB420XK3AA) Canvio Basics 2TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0, Black

Laptop:
Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop PC, 15.6" FHD IPS w/ 144Hz Refresh, Intel i7-8750H, GTX 1060 6GB, 16GB DDR4, 256GB NVMe SSD, Aeroblade Metal Fans PH315-51-78NP

 

[jojesa]

I think is an issue with the Toshiba Canvio USB hard drives.

You could try uninstalling the USB Controller Driver.

Press Windows key + X and select Device Manager.
Search for USB Controller Driver and expand it.
Right click on the drivers one by one and select Uninstall.
Restart the computer and let Windows reinstall all those drivers.

 

[Bob.B]

I'm a heavy gamer on PC (specs below for laptop and drive) and have an external Toshiba hard drive that is less than a year old and works just fine 98% of the time.
The problem is, the hard drive disconnects 1-2 times a week, always while I'm knee deep in a video game. Recently, I lost over an hour of gameplay. It seems minor, but when it happens CONSISTENTLY EVERY FEW DAYS, it can be very aggravating.

I've tried a few "solutions" already - (1) connecting to different USB ports; (2) turning off USB Selective Suspend; and (3) Disabling "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"
I tried "Disabling USB Legacy Support in Bios" but when I clicked on the hard drive in Device Manager, there was no "Policy" tab in which to do this.

Any ideas?

This is the article I used to help me: https://windowsreport.com/fix-windows-8-1-external-hard-drive-keeps-disconnecting/

External Hard Drive:
Toshiba (HDTB420XK3AA) Canvio Basics 2TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0, Black

Laptop:
Acer Predator Helios 300 Gaming Laptop PC, 15.6" FHD IPS w/ 144Hz Refresh, Intel i7-8750H, GTX 1060 6GB, 16GB DDR4, 256GB NVMe SSD, Aeroblade Metal Fans PH315-51-78NP

Split it in half.
Find out if it's the pc or the external that is the problem.

 

[rdenon6284]

I think is an issue with the Toshiba Canvio USB hard drives.

You could try uninstalling the USB Controller Driver.

Press Windows key + X and select Device Manager.
Search for USB Controller Driver and expand it.
Right click on the drivers one by one and select Uninstall.
Restart the computer and let Windows reinstall all those drivers.

Do you mean, uninstall all 9 of the USB drivers under "Universal Serial Bus controllers"?

Here's what they are:

Generic SuperSpeed USB Hub
Generic USB Hub
Intel(R) USB 3.1 eXtensible Host Control
USB Composite Device
USB Composite Device
USB Composite Device
USB Mass Storage Device <------- (This is my ext. HDD)
USB Printing Support
USB Root Hub (USB 3.0)

 

[jojesa]

Do you mean, uninstall all 9 of the USB drivers under "Universal Serial Bus controllers"?

Yes.
Just to make sure Windows installs all drivers again and you could rule that out.

I still think is the Toshiba USB drive.
Have you tested the drive in another computer?

 

[rdenon6284]

Yes.
Just to make sure Windows installs all drivers again and you could rule that out.

I still think is the Toshiba USB drive.
Have you tested the drive in another computer?

I haven't. The problem with testing in another drive is that it would take days to test. The hard drive only disconnects once or twice a week.

 

[rdenon6284]

Yes.
Just to make sure Windows installs all drivers again and you could rule that out.

I still think is the Toshiba USB drive.
Have you tested the drive in another computer?

Ext HDD disconnected again about an hour ago while I was gaming. Completely froze the game. It's maybe the third time this week.

I changed the settings according to articles I saw online, to prevent the hard drive from powering down to save energy, turned off selective suspend, tried different usb drives on the computer itself (not my external USB port extender).

Only thing I haven't tried is ordering a different cord - but if my cord was faulty, why would it work propertly 95% of the time, only disconnecting/reconnecting the external HDD 2-3 times a week?

I'm desperate. Do you have any other ideas?

 

[rdenon6284]

Split it in half.
Find out if it's the pc or the external that is the problem.

Please help me understand how to do this.

Here's an update:

Ext HDD disconnected again about an hour ago while I was gaming. Completely froze the game. It's maybe the third time this week.

I changed the settings according to articles I saw online, to prevent the hard drive from powering down to save energy, turned off selective suspend, tried different usb drives on the computer itself (not my external USB port extender).

Only thing I haven't tried is ordering a different cord - but if my cord was faulty, why would it work propertly 95% of the time, only disconnecting/reconnecting the external HDD 2-3 times a week?

I'm desperate. Do you have any other ideas?

 

[img]

Did you changed / refreshed the USB driver? If there's no newer, try older revision!

And if you're using X-Rite colorimeter device for display calibration with original i1Profiler software, turn off i1 tray utility from system startup because sometimes it aggressively resets USB communication.

 

[Bob.B]

Please help me understand how to do this.

Here's an update:

Ext HDD disconnected again about an hour ago while I was gaming. Completely froze the game. It's maybe the third time this week.

I changed the settings according to articles I saw online, to prevent the hard drive from powering down to save energy, turned off selective suspend, tried different usb drives on the computer itself (not my external USB port extender).

Only thing I haven't tried is ordering a different cord - but if my cord was faulty, why would it work propertly 95% of the time, only disconnecting/reconnecting the external HDD 2-3 times a week?

I'm desperate. Do you have any other ideas?

Move the ext to a different machine......the problem will follow or not.
Try a different usb cable.
Remove the cover from the ext for better cooling.
There is no easy answer it's just try stuff.