Windows 10: Win 10 disconnects external drives at random

Hello all,

This is my first post, hopefully to the right forum.

Please help me understand what’s happening.

I recently bought a new machine - Dell with Win 10 Pro.

All data is stored on two external USB drives, which I will name here as N: and T:.

Each drive is backed nightly on two other external drives.

From day one, drive N: would disconnect (or would be disconnected) from the system for no reason, at random times. It has never once happened while it was connected to the old machine, a Gateway with Vista.

When that happened, I Would disconnect-reconnect the power supply to the drive and the computer would recognize it instantly. Today, however, “instantly” stretched into several minutes.

Yesterday, drive T: went into coma during a backup to a new drive, at about 65%. I killed the backup process, restarted the machine. The drive was not visible, I thought it died. This morning it was plugged in, became visible, the backup resumed (!) but then stalled at 81%.

Both drives are Seagate. N: is 4.5 years old, T is almost 3. I Know they will die one day, but so far suspect the OS.

Any ideas or explanation are greatly appreciated.

Boris

:)

 

External hard drive disconnecting

Hi,

I realize the inconvenience caused to you regarding the external hard drive as it is disconnecting. I will certainly assist you.

Please answer the below questions to assist you better.

• What is the make and model of the external hard drive?
• Are you getting any error messages in the device manager?

Follow the below methods and check if it helps.

Connect the external hard drive and perform the following methods.

Method 1: Run the Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter.

Windows 10 has a built-in troubleshooter to check and fix issues with hardware and devices. I would suggest you to run this troubleshooter to check if the issue is with the Bluetooth adapter. Refer these steps:

• Press Windows key +X, select Control panel.
• Change the view by option on the top right to Large icons.
• Click on troubleshooting and click on the view all option on the left panel.
• Run the Hardware and devices troubleshooter.
• Restart your computer and check if the issue is resolved.

Method 2: Check if you can see the device in Device Manager

• Press Windows key + X.
• Click on Device manager.
• Click on View Tab, Select Show hidden devices.
• Click on Scan for Hardware changes.
• Check if the devices show up in Device Manager in the device list.

Hope this information is helpful. Please do let us know if you need further assistance, we’ll be glad to assist you.

 

Win 10 won't boot, if I disconnect secondary drive(s)

1. Download: Macrium Rescue ISO 6.1.1000 and use: Rufus - Create bootable USB to create a USB Boot.
2. Disconnect Disk 1 from your PC
3. Boot up your PC using the USB in step 1
4. Follow the screen shot to fix Windows Boot

 

External drive

Hi Richard,

There are several factors that can cause your external drive to not read DVDs even though the system is recognizing the device. This could be caused by a driver that needs to updated or corrupted files. For us to resolve your concern, kindly answer the questions
below:

• Just to confirm, the device that is not working properly is a external DVD optical drive?
• Were there any recent changes or updates installed on your computer?
• Have you tried to plug the external drive to a different port on your computer?

As a initial recommendation, we suggest that your run the built in troubleshooter in Windows 10. Kindly refer to the steps below:

• Type “Troubleshooting” in the Search bar and press Enter.
• Click on “View All” in the top left corner.
• This will display the list of troubleshooters which are built-in in the computer. You can click on
  Hardware and Devices from the list and you can run the troubleshooter.

This will check for common errors that affect hardware on your computer and attempts to correct them.

We look forward to your response after completing the steps.