External hard drives USB3 keeps disconnecting all the time


fernandofg

Member
Local time
2:25 PM
Posts
6
OS
Win 11 Pro 10.0.22621 Build 22621
Hi community

All my external hard disks keep disconnecting and reconnectiong all the time (they reconnect after 15 seconds). It happening with all external disks

Right now I have connected, if I connect another disk brand will do the same issue, so this issue came from windows itself and not from the hard disks brans:
- QNAP TR-004 with 4 disks (16tb each)
- SanDisk 22tb

Both got disconneted remdomly after 5, 10 or 20 minutes of use, and even when not been used also got disconneted and reconnected randomly

I have changed USB cables several times and different back ports and the issue persist

The power in my house is OK, Im using APC surge suppressor fot this hard disks, nothing in my office have issues with the power

The extrange thing is that I have another Win 11 PC with the same build and do the same exact issue all the time

I have seen like 30 youtube videos and do the corresponding fixes and the issue still persist, I dont know what to do to fix this issue anymore

Qnap support have been connected remotelly to my computer several times and the can't fix this issue

It seems that this issue only corresponding to this OS Win 11 Pro 10.0.22621 Build 22621

I will appreciate any help

Regards
 
Windows Build/Version
Win 11 Pro 10.0.22621 Build 22621
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11 Pro 10.0.22621 Build 22621
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Build in separate parts
    CPU
    i9-13900KF
    Motherboard
    Asus Tuf Gaming Z790-Plus
    Memory
    32gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce RTX 4070
    Sound Card
    NA
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 Asus VP32AQ / HIsense 65''
    Screen Resolution
    2k and 4k
    Hard Drives
    System Kingston SKC30001024G
    QNAP TR-004 external
See if any of this makes a difference.
Control Panel>Power Options>Beside your power plan select change plan settings>select change advanced power settings
Under USB Settings>USB selective suspend>set it to disabled

Also open device manager. Expand Universal Serial Bus Controllers. Right click on your usb controller>properties>power management tab>uncheck
allow computer to turn off this device to save power. If you are using a usb hub do the same for it in device manager

I was having issues with an external drive that stays connected all the time. Personally, I wasn't concerned about saving power so I disabled turning off device to save power under every item listed under USB category in device manager. Now the only external hard drive problem I encounter is recognition of the drive's presence when I boot up after a shutdown. I always have to replug the drive. Connection survives a restart and resume from sleep without issue though.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.3447
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 7080
    CPU
    i9-10900 10 core 20 threads
    Motherboard
    DELL 0J37VM
    Memory
    32 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    none-Intel UHD Graphics 630
    Sound Card
    Integrated Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1tb Solidigm m.2 +256gb ssd+512 gb usb m.2 sata
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell Premium
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    so slow I'm too embarrassed to tell
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 22H2 19045.3930
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 9020
    CPU
    i7-4770
    Memory
    24 gb
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    256 gb Toshiba BG4 M.2 NVE SSB and 1 tb hdd
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell factory
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Internet Speed
    still not telling
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
WIndows has had the ability to turn off USB to save power at least since XP, and never turned off power to connected external drives while they were being used at any time in the past, so who's the moron who changed it, and how does one get them fired from Microsoft? I can't be the only person whose hardware has been bricked by this problem.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Ghost Spectre Windows 11 Pro 22H2/Xubuntu 22.04 LTS
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Probook G9 455
    CPU
    Ryzen 5 5625U
    Memory
    24GB DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Radeon
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6"
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    WD Blue M.2 1TB, WD M.2 256GB
    Browser
    Firefox w/ Ublock Origin
    Antivirus
    none. Defender removed
  • Operating System
    W11 Pro For Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Z8 Tower G5 Fury
    CPU
    Xeon w9-3495x
    Memory
    1 TB (8 x 128 GB) DDR5-4800
    Graphics card(s)
    4x NVIDIA RTX A6000 ada (48 GB)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP M27fq QHD Monitor x4
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    4 TB HP Z Turbo Drive M.2 SSD x4 (RAID 0)
    12 TB 7200 RPM SATA-6G 3.5" Enterprise HDD x6 (RAID 10)
    PSU
    2250W
    Other Info
    Video Editing Box + Media Server
The suggestion I gave was not given to be a fix, but a possible work around. From my reading when I was trying to work on my external drive problem, folks had reported various issues with external drives but not everyone has issues with them. For the people who have issues, whether the actual problem is hardware specific or bios specific I can not say. It stands to reason if it is a windows problem, everyone would encounter it.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.3447
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 7080
    CPU
    i9-10900 10 core 20 threads
    Motherboard
    DELL 0J37VM
    Memory
    32 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    none-Intel UHD Graphics 630
    Sound Card
    Integrated Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1tb Solidigm m.2 +256gb ssd+512 gb usb m.2 sata
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell Premium
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    so slow I'm too embarrassed to tell
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 22H2 19045.3930
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 9020
    CPU
    i7-4770
    Memory
    24 gb
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    256 gb Toshiba BG4 M.2 NVE SSB and 1 tb hdd
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell factory
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Internet Speed
    still not telling
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
I had this problem a few months ago. Bricked a new SSD during a software setup because windows shut off USB when the screen timed out. That has never happened before I started using W11 in March.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Ghost Spectre Windows 11 Pro 22H2/Xubuntu 22.04 LTS
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Probook G9 455
    CPU
    Ryzen 5 5625U
    Memory
    24GB DDR4
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Radeon
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6"
    Screen Resolution
    1080p
    Hard Drives
    WD Blue M.2 1TB, WD M.2 256GB
    Browser
    Firefox w/ Ublock Origin
    Antivirus
    none. Defender removed
  • Operating System
    W11 Pro For Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Z8 Tower G5 Fury
    CPU
    Xeon w9-3495x
    Memory
    1 TB (8 x 128 GB) DDR5-4800
    Graphics card(s)
    4x NVIDIA RTX A6000 ada (48 GB)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP M27fq QHD Monitor x4
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    4 TB HP Z Turbo Drive M.2 SSD x4 (RAID 0)
    12 TB 7200 RPM SATA-6G 3.5" Enterprise HDD x6 (RAID 10)
    PSU
    2250W
    Other Info
    Video Editing Box + Media Server
See if any of this makes a difference.
Control Panel>Power Options>Beside your power plan select change plan settings>select change advanced power settings
Under USB Settings>USB selective suspend>set it to disabled

Also open device manager. Expand Universal Serial Bus Controllers. Right click on your usb controller>properties>power management tab>uncheck
allow computer to turn off this device to save power. If you are using a usb hub do the same for it in device manager

I was having issues with an external drive that stays connected all the time. Personally, I wasn't concerned about saving power so I disabled turning off device to save power under every item listed under USB category in device manager. Now the only external hard drive problem I encounter is recognition of the drive's presence when I boot up after a shutdown. I always have to replug the drive. Connection survives a restart and resume from sleep without issue though.
I laready did that, that info is on at leats 15 videos on youtube and I did a lot of other fixes mentioned on youtube and the issue is still there

Regards
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11 Pro 10.0.22621 Build 22621
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Build in separate parts
    CPU
    i9-13900KF
    Motherboard
    Asus Tuf Gaming Z790-Plus
    Memory
    32gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia Geforce RTX 4070
    Sound Card
    NA
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 Asus VP32AQ / HIsense 65''
    Screen Resolution
    2k and 4k
    Hard Drives
    System Kingston SKC30001024G
    QNAP TR-004 external
The only other things I can suggest to try are:
1. if you are using a usb hub, try connecting directly
2. Make sure UEFI bios is up to date.
3.. Make sure you have no corrupt system files that is causing this problem. Open a command prompt as administrator and type sfc /scannow
Pay attention to the scan results to see if SFC found anything it could not repair. If it found corruption it could not fix followup with this command (note the spaces)
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Restart computer
4. See if a repair install makes a difference. Repair Install Windows 11 with an In-place Upgrade Tutorial
5. Install Windows 10
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.3447
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 7080
    CPU
    i9-10900 10 core 20 threads
    Motherboard
    DELL 0J37VM
    Memory
    32 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    none-Intel UHD Graphics 630
    Sound Card
    Integrated Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1tb Solidigm m.2 +256gb ssd+512 gb usb m.2 sata
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell Premium
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Internet Speed
    so slow I'm too embarrassed to tell
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro 22H2 19045.3930
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Optiplex 9020
    CPU
    i7-4770
    Memory
    24 gb
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Benq 27
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    256 gb Toshiba BG4 M.2 NVE SSB and 1 tb hdd
    PSU
    500w
    Case
    MT
    Cooling
    Dell factory
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless
    Keyboard
    Logitech wired
    Internet Speed
    still not telling
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender+MWB Premium
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