WD Elements USB drive works in USB3 port but not USB2?

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sidefx

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#169856 28-Mar-2015 11:41

I've got an issue with a USB3 drive (2.5 inch WD Elements 1TB) a friend gave me to put some files on - I plugged it into the USB3 port on the back of my desktop and copied the files onto it and all seemed fine. Returned it to them but they apparently can't access anything on it any more from a couple of devices. So I got the drive back and happened to plug it into a USB2 port this time, and had similar issues to them - couldn't open any files or copy files off it etc... I then plugged it back into the USB3 port on the back of my desktop and it seems I can now access it fine. Anybody seen anything like that before? Google finds me plenty of people having the opposite problem (drive works fine in a USB2 port but not USB3) but not much similar to this issue.

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kiwigeek1

637 posts

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#1271494 28-Mar-2015 15:19

you prob need to give more details OS drivers fat32/ntfs/gpt etc..

guess you have renesas driver 6.2.9 or greater? I have the one from 28 Jan 2013

on win 7 and win 8 and have no issues with usb 2 and usb 3.. although it can have issue through a hub

but root port always stable. (ie not randomly dropping)

I guess you do the usual chkdsk /f/r e:

richms

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#1271506 28-Mar-2015 15:57

Power issue? Many of the USB 3 drives take more than 500mA, and if you have a board with per port current limiting you will run into problems.

The old USB 2 solution was a 2 headed cable, if the limits were enforced per port, plug the second power only head in to an adjacent port and it would get more current without tripping the polyfuse.

So try a powered USB hub and see if that gets it running ok. IME 2.5" drives even when specced with 500mA have been marginal too often.

Richard rich.ms

toyonut

1508 posts

Uber Geek

#1272534 28-Mar-2015 18:20

So was this their drive beforehand and was it working perfectly for them before giving it to you?
My guess would be power as well, same as Richms.

Try Vultr using this link and get us both some credit:

http://www.vultr.com/?ref=7033587-3B

tommywd

15 posts

Geek

#1273485 30-Mar-2015 15:49

Hey there sidefx,

Have you tried using a different USB 3.0 cable to power up the external HDD (preferably a shorter one)?

Another thing you can try is uninstalling the drive from the Device Manager, then reboot the PC. Afterwards Shut down and reinstall the drive. It happens quite often that the drive just needs a fresh install to be working properly with the PC.

If this doesn't work, then i guess it could be the compatibility issue. You wouldn't believe how often there are compatibility issues. And for that there's really nothing to work with.

Hope this helps. Good luck!!