Solved How can I recover a lost USB disk remotely?

Hello!

I frequently access my main PC (see second system specs) remotely. I have configured it to power on automatically in case of a power shortage, so I don't lose access when the power is temporarily down for some reason. However I noticed lately that an external USB hard disk I have connected is not always detected properly after the system is back online. I have tried to remove it from Device Manager and then scan for devices, but it doesn't come back to life unless I go at my main PC and physically disconnect the USB cable and then reconnect it. This is very annoying when I am at work because I have to wait too many hours to return home and do it. Is there anything I could do remotely to avoid me that inconvenience? In this USB disk there are several files I want to access remotely. Before you ask, the disk health is 100% and they disk was bought a few months ago, so it should not be faulty. Other USB ports are occupied, but I could try a swap with another USB device, if this could help. Any ideas?

Yeah, that sounds like a really frustrating issue, especially when you can't be there to do anything about it. A couple thoughts about this:

1) Does performing a reboot of the machine allow it to see the drive after the reboot or does the cable still need to be unplugged / reconnected?

2) I understand that disk health shows good, but bear in mind that you are checking the health while the problem is not evident. Also, the problem may not be the disk, it could be related to the interface rather than the actual disk. Disk health may look for issues with the disk itself, but not with the interface or PC.

3) Try connecting to another USB port as you suggested to see if that helps.

4) Try another cable. Not real likely that itis the cable, but stranger things have been known to happen

5) If none of that helps, do you have access to another USB disk, at least for testing purposes (preferably a different make and model drive)? If you can determine whether the problem happens only with that one drive, you can maybe determine if that drive is at fault, or there is some issue on the computer side to blame.

6) Check the System Event Logs right about the time the system is being started. Is there any indication that the problem drive was seen at startup but that maybe some sort of errors were reported or does it seem like the drive is completely invisible to the system to the point where there are not even errors reported?

I hope this helps!

I think it acts as though it was securely removed from the PC and the only way to get access
to it again is to remove and plug it back in.
Does this happen with the other devices plugged in to the other ports??

Rebooting the PC doesn't help. Maybe if I removed the USB controller from Device Manager and then search for devices could do, but I don't want risk screwing the other USB devices.

spapakons said:

Rebooting the PC doesn't help. Maybe if I removed the USB controller from Device Manager and then search for devices could do, but I don't want risk screwing the other USB devices.

Click to expand...

Okay, that addresses item #1 on the list. How about any of the others?

Q: How can I recover a lost USB disk remotely?

A: Telekinesis.



Seriously... if the files are that important that you need to access them remotely... move them to an internal drive... if no other solution presents itself.

I will try a different USB port and hopefully I will get rid of the issue...

spapakons said:

I will try a different USB port and hopefully I will get rid of the issue...

Click to expand...

You don't mention which USB port you're using now... but I believe that the motherboard USB ports have a higher priority than the case ports.

spapakons said:

I will try a different USB port and hopefully I will get rid of the issue...

Click to expand...

Hope that works for you. But, yes, you may indeed need to do a little troubleshooting like moving to a different USB port, trying another drive, etc. to get some data that will hopefully aid in diagnosing the issue.

It is one of the two front case USB ports. I will switch to a rear port, or maybe a USB 3.0 port from my USB 3.0 PCIe card. But I have only two USB 3.0 ports and I would rather avoid reserving one.

spapakons said:

It is one of the two front case USB ports. I will switch to a rear port, or maybe a USB 3.0 port from my USB 3.0 PCIe card. But I have only two USB 3.0 ports and I would rather avoid reserving one.

Click to expand...

I don't know the details... but there's some things Windows just won't do... from the case ports.


On a side note... there are also some things Windows won't do after a power failure.
As I mentioned above... you may be forced to use an internal drive instead.

spapakons said:

It is one of the two front case USB ports. I will switch to a rear port, or maybe a USB 3.0 port from my USB 3.0 PCIe card. But I have only two USB 3.0 ports and I would rather avoid reserving one.

Click to expand...

Ahhh, very interesting! Be aware that USB 2 ports can supply less power than a USB 3 port. It's possible that if those front panel ports are USB 2, it may have difficulty supplying enough power during the initial spinup process. Is the drive a USB 3 drive? If so, it may be expecting more power than a USB 2 port can supply. Again, the most critical time is at startup as more power is used then.

EDIT: Note that my comments apply only to drives that are powered by the USB port. If you have an external supply, this does not apply.

spapakons said:

But I have only two USB 3.0 ports

Click to expand...

How barbaric . Time for a hub or a USB 3 expansion card?

I joke with you, of course. I actually have a couple machines so old that they only have USB 2 ports. Worse yet, they are laptops so there is no way to remedy that, except by replacing the machines outright.

I don't need a hub yet, I will manage. You are right, it is a USB 2.0 front port which provides less power than a rear USB 2.0 port and certainly less than a USB 3.0 My previous drive was a 2TB USB 3.0 2.5" drive, so it was not affected by the lower power. But this is a 5TB USB 3.0 2.5" drive that demands higher power. It looks like using one of my precious USB 3.0 ports is imperative. At least I will have a much faster speed when I copy files to and from the disk.

spapakons said:

I have configured it to power on automatically in case of a power shortage, so I don't lose access when the power is temporarily down for some reason

Click to expand...

Might I suggest an investment in a UPS/Uninterruptible Power Supply to prevent the shutdowns from short term power interruptions such as the momentary 'bumps'? A UPS is a battery backup that is intended to provide time for an orderly save of documents/processes, provides 10-20 minutes service. I have my desktops on UPS' because of losing a motherboard over 25 years ago, first UPS was much cheaper that the motherboard. Also, having a unit on my workbench is a must when flashing/updating a BIOS so as to prevent a failure of that process.

spapakons said:

I don't need a hub yet, I will manage. You are right, it is a USB 2.0 front port which provides less power than a rear USB 2.0 port and certainly less than a USB 3.0 My previous drive was a 2TB USB 3.0 2.5" drive, so it was not affected by the lower power. But this is a 5TB USB 3.0 2.5" drive that demands higher power. It looks like using one of my precious USB 3.0 ports is imperative. At least I will have a much faster speed when I copy files to and from the disk.

Click to expand...

By any chance, is that drive a Western Digital? I also have a 2.5 drive, 5 TB capacity. If we have the same drive, I would be happy to test it on some USB 2 ports here and see if I have similar issues.

spapakons wrote: "...in case of a power shortage..."
Does that happen once a year?
spapakons wrote: "...In this USB disk there are several files I want to access remotely."
For some files you have a 5 TB 2,5" drive?
My advice: Copy the files to your Mobile Phone and enjoy life.

I would copy the files you need to access remotely on an internal drive.

Ghot said:

Q: How can I recover a lost USB disk remotely?

A: Telekinesis.



Seriously... if the files are that important that you need to access them remotely... move them to an internal drive... if no other solution presents itself.

Click to expand...

An easier solution is

a) get married
b) keep partner at home
c) get partner to remove usb.

Alternatively use a cloud service like onedrive for storing data.

Can you try assigning a letter to the USB drive in Disk Management?


I was planning to buy a UPS when I still had a desktop, but the computers PSU failed and a UPS would not have been any use.

It seems daft that a UPS takes DC battery power, converts it to mains voltage AC so the PSU can change it back to DC.

Are there UPSs out there that supply the motherboard and drives etc with the DC?