Question Windows Server 2016 supported USB Drives?

[Lance Uniserve]

Had a very interesting email conversation with DELL support.
I am using standard External USB 3.0 drives on a Windows Server 2016 PowerEdge T440.
When connected to a USB 2.0 port the drives work quite well, other than being a bit slow.
When connected to a USB 3.0 port the OS throws NTFS I/O write errors.
this happens with a variety of USB 3.0 drives.

Turns out, the External USB 3.0 drives are not certified for use with Windows Server (any edition), therefore there is no support from Dell or Microsoft.
That's fair; they only support certified drives.

So, I submitted a request to Seagate pre-sales: the response is Seagate has no USB drives that are certified to work with Windows Server.
Google hasn't been of any help either.
The Microsoft Hardware Compatibility list has zero 0 drives listed as being compatible with Windows Server.

so the question to you is: is there ANY External USB 3.0 drive that IS certified to work with Windows Server?

 

[Alabalcho]

You've answered your own question:

Turns out, the External USB 3.0 drives are not certified for use with Windows Server (any edition), therefore there is no support from Dell or Microsoft.

 

[Lance Uniserve]

Microsoft does not certify devices, the vendors do. So Seagate has chosen not to certify any of their external USB drives.

Question still stands: does any other vendor of external USB drives certify their drives to work with Windows Server 2016/2019?

 

[USAFRet]

Microsoft does not certify devices, the vendors do. So Seagate has chosen not to certify any of their external USB drives.

Question still stands: does any other vendor of external USB drives certify their drives to work with Windows Server 2016/2019?

Certified, as in signed paperwork.
Or, Does this USB thing work with Server2019.
Or, Does this USB thing work with this Dell.

There is a difference.

 

[Lance Uniserve]

Dell is saying they wont "support" a device on their servers unless the Vendor has formally certified the device to work with windows server.

 

[USAFRet]

Dell is saying they wont "support" a device on their servers unless the Vendor has formally certified the device to work with windows server.

Right.
And they're not going to troubleshoot a bunch of random USB devices.
Especially ones that work sometimes...USB 2 vs USB 3.

This is a hardware issue, not a Server2016/2019 issue.

 

[Lance Uniserve]

I agree, it is a hardware issue. but Dell has told me, they will not address a hardware issue if the hardware is not certified by the vendor (eg Seagate).

back to my question: is there any external USB drives that are certified to work with windows 2016/2019?

 

[USAFRet]

I'm not seeing anything.

Does this USB drive work on other hardware, via USB 3.0?

 

[USAFRet]

USB is its own standard.
I can't imagine a manufacturer stating "Windows Server2019 certified". If there even is such a thing.

 

[Lance Uniserve]

yes: drives work on win10
yes: there is such a thing as "Windows Server2019 certified".

to me, any drive that works on win10 should also work on win2016/win2019.
but, that is definitely not the case.

in summary: dell has a hardware problem with usb 3.0 on there poweredge servers.
but, because the usb drive is not certified to work with windows server they will not address the problem
(to be fair they tried: they sent out a tech who replaced the motherboard and front panel under warranty support.... I knew it wouldnt help, but the Dell rep insisted this needed to be done before they would escalate the support ticket.)

 

[USAFRet]

Can Dell tell you which devices are certified to work with their hardware + Server2019?

 

[Lance Uniserve]

I asked them that... tech support doesnt know; I need to contact pre-sales to find out.
doing that next.
but doing a search on dell website shows there are no certified external usb drives.

thats why I am asking the question here

 

[USAFRet]

I asked them that... tech support doesnt know; I need to contact pre-sales to find out.
doing that next.
but doing a search on dell website shows there are no certified external usb drives.

thats why I am asking the question here

It would seem...if they are asking for a certain class of device, they should be able to tell you which ones apply.

 

[Lance Uniserve]

It would seem...if they are asking for a certain class of device, they should be able to tell you which ones apply.

that would make way too much sense.

basically: they dont want to sell cheap usb external drives, they want to sell expensive storage systems.

 

[Lance Uniserve]

Tried contacting Dell Pre-Sales today. they couldnt answer question so they sent me to .... wait for it ... Dell Pre-Sales. the Dell person couldnt answer the question so punted it.

Let me rephrase my original question:

Has anyone else used a USB 3.0 External Drive with a current generation PowerEdge Windows Server 2016?