Question Windows Server 2016 supported USB Drives?

Nov 25, 2020
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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?
 
Nov 25, 2020
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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

Titan
Moderator
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.
 
Nov 25, 2020
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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?
 
Nov 25, 2020
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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.)
 
Nov 25, 2020
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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 :)
 
Nov 25, 2020
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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?