Windows 10: Cannot copy to an external USB hard drive

I can copy from, but not to ANY I have tried multiple external HDDs, ports and cables external drive. Whether I copy paste or drag drop, most times it will copy 1 or 2 files, then the copy stops, the drive disconnect chime occurs and explorer crashes. Most times I get 0x8007045d error code.


This is a clean install as of a few days ago

Windows is fully up to date

Motherboard is up to date

Been through power settings

Uninstalled all USB drivers in device manager and rebooted

Made sure all read/write permissions are good

Tried multiple brands of drive, multiple usb cables and multiple usb ports


All other USB devices function normally, drawing tablet, keyboard, mouse, SD card reader

Transferring between drives inside the tower is normal

Transferring FROM the external drives is normal and speedy


Cannot write or only very briefly write to any external HDD over USB

:)

 

External hard drive not recognised

Thanks for this. I've done what you suggested and been through all the steps mentioned in the article. The hard drive works fine on a Mac computer, and I've managed to copy the information on it. It must be a Surface issue so I'll try to get a chat line tomorrow.

 

External hard drive not recognised

Hi twynog,

The issue that you're experiencing with the external hard drive might be due to some missing Windows hardware or software updates. To help you in resolving this, you may follow the steps below:

Method 1: Uninstall and then reconnect the external hard drive - this method resolve issues where the currently loaded USB driver has become unstable or corrupt.

• Select Start, type Device Manager in the Search box.
• Select Device Manager from the returned list.
• Select Disk Drives from the list of hardware.
• Press and hold (or right-click) the USB external hard drive with the issue, and select Uninstall.
• After the hard drive is uninstalled, unplug the USB cable.
• Wait for 1 minute and then reconnect the USB cable. The driver should automatically load.
• Check for the USB drive in Windows Explorer.

If method 1 doesn't work the way it should, you may proceed to other steps provided in this
article.

Do get back to us if you need further assistance.

If you think this was useful, you may "mark it as an answer" to help those who are facing the same issue.

 

External Hard Drive

Hi John,

We suggest that you try the troubleshooting steps below:

• Open your External Hard Drive file in File Explorer.
• Type the name of the file you want to search on the search box and click Enter.

The file will show up in Search Results and you will be able to move it to the correct folder.

Let us know if you need further help.