Windows 10: USB External Drives Keep "Unhooking"

I've had this issue for a while, but I thought it was caused by something else...

I have an external USB drive, which is just a case with a standard 2 TB desktop drive in it for backups. I have been unable to back up my system with it for about a year. It keeps failing both with Windows Backup and Macrium. The backup will be proceeding normally, then about halfway through the drive will just suddenly disappear, only to return 5 to 10 seconds later. Of course, this blows the back up out of the water and it fails.





I thought it was either the 2 TB drive itself or the enclosure, so I pulled it out and put it into a HD dock and tried again. Did the same thing, so I thought it was the hard disk. Today, I am copying some data off of some old HDs to get them ready to put into some old machines for sale. No matter what drive I put into the dock, it unhooks itself halfway through copying a batch of files. I'm copying a folder at a time to minimize the amount of drive failures, but some of the files are quite big and they fail halfway through.

Now here's the funny part: After copying about 200 GB in fits and starts and constant failures, it would seem that the USB port on the front of my PC has now blown. Now I get a "USB device unrecognized" failure when plugging in or powering up the dock. None of the front USB ports work properly now, including the USB3 ports.

I'm starting to wonder if I have blown the USB controller on the motherboard.

Has this ever happened to anyone here? I'm curious if a prolonged USB data transfer is detrimental to the USB controller.

Thoughts?

:)

 

Hard drive/ OS issue

a guy suggested :

• shutdown
• unhooked HDD
• restarted
• yay !!
• reconnected HDD
• restarted
• yay !!

also , try method 3
How do I unlock the drive where Windows 10 is installed?

 

Toshiba External USB drives not showing in Explorer or Disk Management Plug-in

Thank you for the update.

Looks like your system is unable to detect your external hard drive. Let's see if scanning for new hardware will fix the issue. Follow these steps:

• Press the Windows key to launch the Start menu.
• Type in Device Manager and press Enter.
• Under Device Manager, select Action tab > Scan for hardware changes.
• Wait for your system to install the generic driver for your device and follow the on-screen instructions.

If the issue still persists, we suggest that you perform the following recommendations below:

• Plug in your external USB drives to other USB device port of your system.
• Use other USB cables for your external device to connect to your system.

Keep us updated and we will be glad to assist you further.

 

What has happened to the additional drives that appeared in the Windows Explorer for external USB devices

Hi Alan,

Welcome to Microsoft Community. Your interest in Windows 10 is much appreciated.

For better understanding please answer the below questions:

• Does the USB drive shows in the Device Manager?
• Is the computer detecting the connected USB devices?
• Have you checked the USB drives on the different computers?

I would suggest you to try the below methods and check if that helps:

Method 1:

Check if you are able to see the USB External DVD drive in Disk Management. If you are able to see the USB External DVD drive in Disk Management, follow the steps to assign the drive letter:

• Press Windows key + X.
• Select Disk Management.
• Right-click the drive that you want to change, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.
  

Do one of the following:

• To assign a drive letter if one has not already been assigned, click
  Add, click the letter that you want to use, and then click OK.
• To change a drive letter, click Change, click Assign the following drive letter, click the letter that you want to use, and then click
  OK.

Method 2: I would suggest you to un-install and reinstall USB controllers and check. This method resolves steps where the currently loaded USB driver has become unstable or corrupted.

• Press Windows key + X.
• Select Device Manager.
• Expand Universal Serial Bus controllers.
• Right click a device and click Uninstall.
• Repeat for each device. Once complete, restart your computer.
• Your USB controllers will automatically install.

Keep us posted if you face any issues on windows in future. We will be glad to help you.