Windows 10: USB 3.0 Hard drive enclosure stalling at random moments.

The hard drives I've used in the enclosure are both fairly older (they are SATA II drives). From what you've written, it sounds as if you are saying that it's possible that the drives require more power than my computer's native USB 3.0 ports can provide. Is this correct? If so, how can that be? I thought that if the external enclosure has its own power adapter (which mine does), the USB cable is only necessary for the transfer of data, not power.

Regarding USB hubs, isn't a USB hub (even one with a power adapter) limited in the amount of data that can be transferred through it per second by the limitations of the port it is plugged into? That is to say, wouldn't plugging multiple devices into the ports of the hub "dilute" the amount of data that can be transferred to and from each of said devices?

Have you ever had or witnessed a problem such as mine? If so, how often, if ever, was it caused by insufficient power from the computer's USB port? Also, if so, did the problem happen exclusively with either USB 2.0 or 3.0 ports, or with both?

 

Hi there

@hbenthow

In theory a powered USB port from the computer should be OK - but when it comes to HDD drives - these can consume a LOAD of power and the internal power supply of the USB3 enclosure - especially if you've got the HDD's running in any sort of RAID mode might not be enough- remember you could have say 4 concurrent HDD operations -- also the Host computer needs more work as it has to have "dynamic port detect" (which all modern computers have on USB ports) to detect from a single USB entry which HDD the I/O is directed at.

Using a POWERED Hub ensures there's always enough "Juice". Some of the cheaper HDD enclosures have really cheap and nasty power supplies barely "man enough for the job" - especially at full load.

For typical HDD's - especially older ones with small cache sizes the USB ports will be MORE than fast enough - a USB3 port is well capable of getting HDD throughput to around 120 - 180 Mb/s (bits) --there's no way on these sorts of enclosures you are ever going to get the latest 6 Gb/s which I think is the theoretical maximum data transfer (for e-sata - if your enclosure can connect to an e-sata port).

For file serving - etc etc that speed is plenty. Even over a Wifi network an INTERNAL HDD won't give you much over 30 - 40 Mb/s (if you are lucky !!!).

I suspect it's either a power or a defective HDD problem --ideally you should use identical capacity / quality HDD's in these enclosures as well - if you have a 4 Bay enclosure you can use different sets / types of HDD's but use them in pairs - i.e similar (preferably) identical HDD's in each pair.

I've had cases where the Host computer wouldn't see the HDD enclosure at all (either on USB2 or 3) but worked immediately when I connected via a powered hub.

Also ensure that the powered hub has at least 1 "charging port" on it as one of the ports - that's the one you should plug your enclosure in to.

Cheers
jimbo

 

I'm not using any sort RAID array or even multi-bay enclosures. The enclosure I had trouble with is just a single-disc enclosure.

I'm not currently 100% certain whether the problem has been solved, but it hasn't shown signs of returning for now.

In your experience, has a slightly loose or crooked USB connection to the computer ever caused an issue like this? I suspect that the plug having been slightly crookedly plugged in may have been the problem, but I'm not certain whether this can be the case.

Could you recommend a high-quality but affordable powered USB hub with charging ports?

 

I've had pretty good luck with Newegg's house brand Rosewill. Here's a forinstance that works fine for USB hub purposes: Rosewill RHB-420 Aluminum Mini USB 3.0 3-PORT Hub Plus 2.5" SATA I/II/III (6.0 Gb/s) SSD/HDD Adapter-Newegg.com. Try this Newegg search for other options.
HTH,
--Ed--

PS: If you jump on the first item, read the reader reviews to get the inside scoop on getting the SATA drive connector to work properly. It's not exactly plug'n'play, but then, I don't use it, either.

 

Hi there

anything by ANKER is usually great too -- I've also used USB-->LAN adapters from them -- no probs whatsoever

I go for the slightly more expensive Aluminium ones rather than the perfectly OK plastic cheaper stuff (LAN--USB, USB 3 multi-port) etc - but that's just me --hopefully in my older years I'm not getting into the Apple fanboi mindset !!!).

Cheers
jimbo

 

For the time being, I'll hold off on getting a hub, until I'm fairly certain whether the measures I have taken thus far have fully solved my problem. If the problem reappears, I'll keep the advice about the hub in mind.

Thank you all for the help.

 

I (and others from posts on a recording forum) had problems with USB 3.0 and a MOTU 896mk3 Hybrid recording interface unit. I would get drop outs with it connected to a USB 3.0 port (both Intel and ASMedia). Others with USB interface MOTU devices apparently have the same problem, according to the recording forum. Connected to a USB 2.0 port and it works fine, no drop outs. I have many other USB devices, including an old wireless DAW controller that only has Vista drivers, that work perfect on USB 3.0 ports.

In the case of the hard drive enclosure, I would suspect the enclosure since it apparently worked OK on a 2.0 port.

As a side note, I recently built a new PC for recording and all it has is USB 3.0 ports so I bought a PCIe Firewire 400/800 card with the T.I. chipset and am using the MOTU 896mk3 Hybrid with Firewire and works fine.

 

I wonder if it might have simply been due to my unplugging and re-plugging the USB cord, though? I noticed when I went to unplug it from the USB 3.0 port that it was slightly slanted, so that some of the metal of the plug was showing on one side. I theorize that this may have caused a weak connection. Not only did the drive not malfunction after I unplugged the cord from the 3.0 port and plugged it int other 2.0 port, but so far, it has also been working correctly after I plugged it back (securely) into the 3.0 port again. I'm not sure whether my theory is feasible, as I have gotten conflicting information from various sources about whether such a problem can be caused by a loose USB connection.

That's why, while I'm still not sure whether the problem is fixed, I am holding off for the time being on buying any other products to fix the problem until such time as i am certain whether it has been fixed.