External harddrives disconnecting randomly

Hi there,
Even though the title sounds like a common issue, mine is far stranger (Tl;dr ver at the bottom of the text wall)

It actually started in my old rig which I used till recently despite being a decade old and still had win7 installed,
The first bit might not be related to the current issue but I wanted to start from there just to be safe:

One day I had notifications nonstop about device that disconnect and reconnect every few secs/mins despite not seeing any device is actually missing from the list,

After very long time of testing I've found out it was my mouse pad usb cable, main reason it took so much time to find it out was cause the usb for the pad's LED was already disconnected but from the pad's end, but not the mobo's end which still had the usb cable plugged in,
With that, the nonstop notification issue about disconnect device ended, so everything should be good now right? Wrong! Dx


After some months of not having usb related issues (and not having any usb issue for almost a decade prior to that) I've suddenly seen that all of my external hard drives disconnects and reconnects randomly at least few times a day,
I also got a usb 3 hub and two usb 3 cables that I use to connect drives to and the drives disconnects from them as well,

In order to solved it I've tried everything that was in the book aside formatting the OS (reason for that soon),

●I've tried to change all possible power settings so the decives won't go to sleep (I didn't change the system power settings from Balance, but I did made sure to set it to not turn off USBs, as well as went to each port and device in the device manager and checked the box so it won't be turning Off).

●Tried to change ports to see if there was some issue with the actual USB port/mobo.

●Tried to see if something was off in the bios with the USB settings (I never touched the power settings there btw so I didn't messed with it).

●Tried a new usb cable and a new HDD (had one I've just bought back then to test it on).

●Tried to plug out each device one by one aside the mouse and keyboard as I didn't have spares (I didn't got any disconnection issues from them as well).

●Tried removing the drives' drivers (included hidden ones) from the device manager.

●Tried to update the general USB 3 drivers (got black screens thx to that so I've moved back to the old driver).

●Tried reinstall the USB 3 drivers.

●Tried doing system repair scans such as SFC and also AV scans (though I knew I had no virus).

●Tried remove some apps that I thought may be at fault for the current issue.


And nothing worked,
I've kept repeating other stuff such as removing the drives from the device manager and change the USB cable ports for a while and start thinking it may be the old mobo or PSU at this point (despite not having any other issue with them that hint that so far),
And it definitely wasn't a windows update since I didn't updated win7 for ages (remember this is a decade old machine).

Funny enough, after repeating some of the stuff I did above the issue at some point stopped for good, I really dk what caused it and thought I was over with it,

The main reason I didn't bothered to format and reinstall win7, was because I was planning to move to a new build with win11 on it at some point,
Which I just did last month.

But after moving to a complete new machine where all of the hardwares aside the GPU (and external stuff such as the keyboard/mouse/monitors etc.) were replaced, and moving to win11 pro after a clean installation,
The issue has returned!


I've tried all of the above again for a month with no luck, the issue happens at least once or twice a day and unlike with win7, win11 doesn't show error disk in the event log, though it does show in the information events the device was connected and in healthy condition which I use as an indicator to tell me the HDDs were disconnected when I'm away from the computer.

Aside from that, my new PSU got an Eco mode, but afaik this is only for its fan over anything else and I forgot if it's On to begin with.






Tl;dr

I've got an issue on my decade old machine where my USB ports would've randomly disconnected and reconnected my external hard drives few times a day,
After trying nearly everything that a human being can think of, the issue eventually resolved itself without me knowing why or what caused it to begin with.

Last month I've moved to a new rig with a clean installation of win11 pro and got the exact same issue !

I honestly dk what to do at this point, I would assume it's some app I've reinstalled on the new machine or some device that cause it, any suggestions?

Also can someone tell me if there's more efficient way to monitor USB ports and their errors?
Or if you know if any known app or windows's process that could cause such thing where USB ports are disconnected?

Thx in advance

Always use externally powered hubs.

This is my use hub and it got external power source


The issue happens to any HDD that connects to it as well as the HDDs that connect directionly to the motherboard

Try these changes to see if it makes a difference.

Uncheck "allow computer to turn off this device to save power " in control panel, power management tab of device properties.You will see this tab under each usb controller and each hub.
Also turn of usb selective suspend in control panel>power options>next to your power plan select edit plan settings>select change advanced power plan>usb settings

This what I've said I did in the text wall above, just without stating the names of the options as I didn't recalled their exact names at the time of writing.

Try replacing the USB keyboard/mouse.

Let me see if I understand your drive configuration. You list 4 drives in your computer specs (2 nvme, 1 ssd, and 1 HDD) These are all internal drives. Correct??

You state "also got a usb 3 hub and two usb 3 cables that I use to connect drives to and the drives disconnects from them as well", Wow, from the link you provided those are 10 port hubs and you have 3 of them. How many usb drives do you connect at the same time through these 3 hubs and 2 cables??

You also stated "It actually started in my old rig". and then you say "after moving to a complete new machine.......The issue has returned"

Although a single usb host controller is supposed to allow up to 127 devices, Some have reported that no more than two USBHub3+ hubs can be connected at a time due to limitations imposed by some host controllers. If that is the case it requires adding more USB3 resources.(a discrete usb3 host controller)
The technical explanation of why here which explains tiers and endpoints. How Many USB Devices Can I Connect? | Acroname

By using the process of elimination, you can get a better perspective of where your configuration of drives is breaking down. However, it will take some time.

You did not say if these disconnects are random or if you are able to associate them with a system event. (ie: restart, or wake from sleep/hibernate) If your computer is currently set to use sleep or hibernate, turn off sleep/hibernate and monitor. If you get no failures with the 3 hubs connected with sleep/hibernate turned off, but you do get disconnects with sleep/hibernate turned on, it would point to the power saving features of the computer affecting the usb ports the hubs are connected to during the wake process..


If you are getting disconnects not associated with wake events from sleep/hibernate or restart, prove that the power distribution is working correctly for each of your powered hubs.
Leave sleep/hibernate off for the following tests.

Start by connecting the external drives you connect directly to the 2 usb cables. Monitor the 2 drives. Do they disconnect?
If not, connect only one hub with its drives. Does it disconnect? If so, test that same hub in a different usb port. If it does not disconnect using a different port, use that same port to test the other hubs. If it doesn't disconnect, replace hub #1 and its drives with hub #2 and its drives. Monitor for disconnects again. Then replace hub #2 and its drives with hub #3 and its drives and monitor. If there is no disconnect during this procedure, this proves your hubs individually are providing enough power to power the drives on the hub's ports. If you get disconnects with only one hub connected, that hub and/or its power is suspect.

Next, connect hub #1 and hub #2 with their drives, Monitor for disconnects. If no disconnects with a 2 hubs connected but there are disconnects when the third hub is connected, IMO your controller is limiting the number of connected devices in some way. You will have to install a discrete usb controller to handle the third hub.

I'm not a hardware expert so someone else may have a better way of troubleshooting this complicated issue or see something I've missed..

I have 2 nvmes, 1 SSD, and 3 HDDs,

The issue only happens with the external HDDs I'm using and also happens even when only one of them is connected, therefore it shouldn't be something to do with too many decvies that are working at once or so I believe (also my old rig had less internal drives and also had the issue, so it's not due to too many internal drives either)


I've stated above that the disconnections are random or that I at least can't find any event that give me too much info aside from the events that show up when you first connect the device which I've used as indicateor to tell if the device was disconnected when I was out (since the event shows it was reconnected),
My PC is also set to never sleep, and I've stated that none of the devices are set to sleep either, but you're right that I didn't mentioned if it happens in other cases such as restart,
so to make it more clear, it happens randomlly few times a day, my pc never sleeps, and I turn off the PC once a day but the issue not happens just after restart but rather randomlly around the day without any leads to why.


I've also said above that I've already checked every device by disconnect them one by one and see if the issue still happens, which it still does,
Only two things I didn't plugged off but only changed their ports were keyboard and mouse since I don't have spare and since they don't give me vibes they're the ones at fault here, though tbf one can't never knows,
Also didn't disconnected any of the monitor DP cables as I don't think it's relates.

I don't belive it's the PSU since it happened on my old and new PSU, and I've got a UPS too which doesn't show me any sign of power loss as far as I'm aware,


It's really a complex issue which is why I've posted it here as well as posted a wall for all of the steps I did so people could tell me if there's other stuff I'm not aware of,
It's really annying overall and I wish someone would've just pop up and give me the magic solution at this point as I feel like I've tried nearly everything I could

egozi44 said:

The issue only happens with the external HDDs I'm using

Click to expand...

Clean the USB connectors with Isopropyl alcohol (when the power is OFF).
After a while, they can a practically invisible film on them.

I didn't read all the posts, but I'm assuming you do NOT have the USB ports set to turn off, to save power.

IMO you have covered all the bases in your troubleshooting.

I know this is a stretch, but have you talked to Anker Tech Support since all 3 hubs are the same. I'm just brainstorming here, but there is always a possibility of incompatibility or a known issue with that particular hub. I do not see that particular hub on their site. (Yes I do see it on Amazon) Anker has good folks to deal with and are all about customer service.

It would be interesting to see if another different powered hub would do the same thing. Maybe even a different brand.
Sorry I've been no help but that is one strange issue.

Sorry for the delay

Clean the USB connectors with Isopropyl alcohol (when the power is OFF).
After a while, they can a practically invisible film on them.

I didn't read all the posts, but I'm assuming you do NOT have the USB ports set to turn off, to save power.

Click to expand...

I don't think it will help consider how all of the ports are brand new, and how the same issue happened on my old machine which had a different mobo entirely,
All of my stuff are connect direct to the mobo btw, I don't use the front USB for external drives as much as the ones from the back,
I do connect devices such as my Yeti mic in the front however but got no issues with it simialr with any other device that isn't a drive or the hub.

And you're correct, my stuff are set to never turn off/sleep, unless windows UI just show they're all off but actually ignores the order somehow
(If you know how I can see it via the registry I will be happy to know how just to confirms it)

IMO you have covered all the bases in your troubleshooting.

I know this is a stretch, but have you talked to Anker Tech Support since all 3 hubs are the same. I'm just brainstorming here, but there is always a possibility of incompatibility or a known issue with that particular hub. I do not see that particular hub on their site. (Yes I do see it on Amazon) Anker has good folks to deal with and are all about customer service.

It would be interesting to see if another different powered hub would do the same thing. Maybe even a different brand.
Sorry I've been no help but that is one strange issue.

Click to expand...

Stretchs are welcome and could very well be what ganna help me in case I've missed anything ahah xD

I've actually considered buying a different hub when I've thought it was the culprit, but after I've seen the issue keep going even when the hub was compeletly disconnected from the computer, I've assumed it wasn't the hub fault after all,
Unless it's also caused by the hub's driver, though I blurry recalling trying removing it too on the old machine year ago, but don't recall if it really was the case at this point

If this is happening on two diffent computers then it has to be one of your USB devices. If I read it right you disconnected the hub and tried one drive at a time with the same disconnecting problem. This would eliminate the hub and the drives from being the problem. Although it's possible I can't see all of your drives having the same problem. Unless there is another USB device connected to your computer it's got to be the keyboard and/or mouse.

It may also be some app I've reinstalled that does it which I'm not aware of,
But I dk how to monitor it if the Event Viewer doesn't show anything,

Is there any app out there that can monitor USB ports and tell you what caused them to disconnect?

Looking back there was one thing I didn't want to do even in the old rig,
In most guides such as this one they're telling you to try disabling the default boot process by disabling USB legacy support,
But rather than tell you to go and do it in the actual bios, they sent you to the Device Manager and tell you to do into Policies tab and check Better performance and enable write caching on this device,

Which I've never got how it's relates, but either way I never tried it cause it also change things so I could mistakenly damage data on the drive when the drive is disconnected without the safety disconnect hardware button thingy, and consider how my issue relates to the drives randomally disconnecting I could very well kill my drives faster if I do that and the issue still be around.

glasskuter said:

Always use externally powered hubs.

Click to expand...

Especially for 3.5 inch external HDD's !!! (or USB driven multi-bay HDD enclosures).

Cheers
jimbo

I think I will do what this guy said and will buy USB card

It's possible I've solved the issue in my old rig when I've reconnected things that affect the usb priority

egozi44 said:

I think I will do what this guy said and will buy USB card

Click to expand...

Have you tried another mouse and keyboard?

I'm not sure that's gonna help.
# USB selective suspend setting (Default on; 0 - "Off")
powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT 2a737441-1930-4402-8d77-b2bebba308a3 48e6b7a6-50f5-4782-a5d4-53bb8f07e226 0
powercfg /SETACTIVE SCHEME_CURRENT

Winuser said:

Have you tried another mouse and keyboard?

Click to expand...

Not yet since I don't have spares, but my mouse finally got disconnected when I've connected my phone to the front usb panle, which never happened before and so far didn't repeated itself too.

I honestly thinks it relates to what that guy said in the vid, and my keyboard and monitor also got their own usb slots (monitor also got card reader), so maybe all of these usbs that connects to usb devices with additonal usb slots just crazy the mobo controller out and it only disconnect stuff with low priority which its orders via how I've connected my devices.

Some friends told me it happened to them too around the time they start use six usb slots of their mobos so it could that,
Either way I want to give that usb card a try cause it should make usb 3 transfer even faster by theory too.

abactuon said:

I'm not sure that's gonna help.
# USB selective suspend setting (Default on; 0 - "Off")
powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT 2a737441-1930-4402-8d77-b2bebba308a3 48e6b7a6-50f5-4782-a5d4-53bb8f07e226 0
powercfg /SETACTIVE SCHEME_CURRENT

Click to expand...

That is a powershell command?
I did turn off selective USB suspend thingy but I won't mind do it with a command too,
I just dk how to use it cause Idk the powershell format I need to save the note as xD

egozi44 said:

Not yet since I don't have spares, but my mouse finally got disconnected when I've connected my phone to the front usb panle, which never happened before and so far didn't repeated itself too.

I honestly thinks it relates to what that guy said in the vid, and my keyboard and monitor also got their own usb slots (monitor also got card reader), so maybe all of these usbs that connects to usb devices with additonal usb slots just crazy the mobo controller out and it only disconnect stuff with low priority which its orders via how I've connected my devices.

Some friends told me it happened to them too around the time they start use six usb slots of their mobos so it could that,
Either way I want to give that usb card a try cause it should make usb 3 transfer even faster by theory too.


That is a powershell command?
I did turn off selective USB suspend thingy but I won't mind do it with a command too,
I just dk how to use it cause Idk the powershell format I need to save the note as xD

Click to expand...

If you are running too many USB devices at the same time and they are using power from the computer than I guess that could be your problem. If not I'm suspecting the keyboard and/or mouse because the way I understand it is that they were used on both computers.