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Peculiar problem with an external HDD

smartcooky

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smartcooky
Joined
Oct 26, 2012
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Nelson, New Zealand
I have a 1TB external HDD in an AData XPG exclosure. Its USB3 (it uses a USB 3.0 Micro B Cable)

Plug it into one computer, it works fine, but in the other computer it, makes the usual USB plug in sound but is not assigned a drive letter. Its also clicks at about one second intervals.

It does not appear in Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management, but it does appear in Device manager > Storage Controllers as "USB Attached SCSI (UAS) Mass Storage Device"

Both computers are running Win 10 Pro 64 bit v22H2


Anyone here have any idea what could be causing this?
 
It's a bus powered 2.5" hard drive case so power is the most likely issue. Have you a Y cable?
 
catsmate said:
It's a bus powered 2.5" hard drive case so power is the most likely issue. Have you a Y cable?
Click to expand...

A Y cable? I have a USB A (M) to USB A (F) extension cord which has two USB A (M) connectors at one end. I use it for connecting a printer when its a long way from the computer - I connect the second USB A connector into a cellphone charger.
 
Last edited:
OK. It works fine in any of the rear USB ports.

This computer has a two front ports (it doesn't work in either of them) but it also has a card reader with its own USB (See attachment).

Sometimes it works on that one, but not all the time.

With the Y cable. It works every time if I plug the second USB into a charger.
 

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smartcooky said:
OK. It works fine in any of the rear USB ports.

This computer has a two front ports (it doesn't work in either of them) but it also has a card reader with its own USB (See attachment).

Sometimes it works on that one, but not all the time.

With the Y cable. It works every time if I plug the second USB into a charger.
Click to expand...

Yep, that's power. Have run into that a few times. The Y-cable idea is simply to take power from multiple USB ports enough to drive the peripheral. Older external HDDs sometimes needed them. Newer SSD stuff does not.

Often the front USB ports on a PC are designed only for mouse/KB or other low-drain devices. The rear ports are usually on a different heavy-duty ASIC, and meant for stuff that you might conceivably stack on top of the case, e.g. external drives.

This arrangement is not true for all makes, models and types of PCs. Old mobo's sometimes had a pair of low-power m/kb USB ports beside (above??) the onboard LAN port. Laptops are another gotcha for the same reason.
 
smartcooky said:
A Y cable? I have a USB A (M) to USB A (F) extension cord which has two USB A (M) connectors at one end. I use it for connecting a printer when its a long way from the computer - I connect the second USB A connector into a cellphone charger.
Click to expand...
I was referring to one with two USB-A plus, one of which (usually red) is intended purely as a power source.


This cable has a microA plug for the device.

smartcooky said:
I will try that when I get to work. If what you and the others say is correct, it may work in the back USB ports, but not on the front ones.
Click to expand...
Quite possibly, depending on the system's layout.
 
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