USB Plugged in External Hard Drive Issues With Connecting and disconnecting

USB 2.0 can provide up to 0.5 Amps while USB 3.0/USB3.1 provides up to 0.9A Amps. The read/write on USB 2.0 port is a lot slower than a USB 3.0 port.

The OPs laptop has USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports. The didn't say which one of these ports he was plugging into. It might make a difference.

If you plug a 2.5" HDD into a USB powered hub and you have intermittent problems then that might mean you have a power problem. If so, then a USB hub with ts own power adapter should solve that problem.

Saying USB 7 port hub is useless as that only says you have 7 ports, what version of USB is the hub and the ports in question as that determines the transfer speeds.

Some USB 3.0/USB 3.1 ports can support BC 1.2 (Battery Charging version 1.2). These specific ports can provide up to 1.5A rather than up to only 0.9A, but for that to work, the USB device that's plugged into the port must also support BC 1.2, and, AFAIK there are no external HDDs that can support BC 1.2, as its intended purpose was/is to charge a phone or similar device at a charging rate that is faster than 0.9A. Either way, 1.5A at 5V translates to 7.5W so, the maximum power limit is still only 3W higher than 0.9A at 5V, and, for the port to be able to handle up to 1.5A and data, the port must be a Charging Downstream Port (CDP), as a Dedicated Charging Port (DCP) can only handle up to 1.5A and no data. But anyway.

Some cheap/old USB 3.0 hubs automatically drop the USB 3.0 speed of all of their ports to USB 2.0 speed if the total number of USB 3.0 ports that have a USB device plugged into them exceeds a given number. My point is, all USB 3.0 hubs with equal number of ports are not created equal. YouTube is choc full of old "reviews" that all praise the Sabrent 4-Port USB 3.0 hub that you see in post #7. Only caveat, "For a stable connection, the devices connected to the 4-Port USB 3.0 Hub must not exceed a combined current of 5 volts 900 mAh." The "mAh" in that sentence is an obvious mistake, as we're talking milliamps, not milliamp-hours. But yeah, the wallwart that comes with this hub is still limited to only 2.5A at 5V (which translates to 17W) according to specs. It means that, to be able to handle 4 ports each up to 0.9A at 5V, it is still underpowered. The hub itself also consumes a little bit of power, even though I will admit that the 100W power supply that came with mine appears like it could be a tad overkill. It is a weapon of course, BUT... it runs stable.

All data and power are using only one port, hub is connected to. 3.5" HDDs require 12vDC while USB provides 5vDC only. There are other possible problems like laptops have less power delivery to USB ports than desktop PCs and some 2.5 "HDDs need more power than one USB port can provide so they need USB cable with 2 USB connectors, one with data+power and one power only.

Interesting conversation.

I have a 2.5" hard drive (WD Black 7200 RPM) in a Ugreen external case and when I plug it into the USB 3.0 port on the front of my tower, it is recognized for the first time in USB 2.0 (file writing at 40 Mo/s)

If I unplug it, and plug it back in again it is detected in USB 3.0 (transfer of 115 Mo/s)

Do you know where the problem comes ? I would like it to be detected in USB 3.0 when first connected.
Maybe I should change to a motherboard with a USB 3.1 port ?

In any case if I transfer files at 40 Mo/s or 115 Mo/s there is never an error or disk disconnection.
So there is nothing to worry about ?

Windplay87 said:

Interesting conversation.

I have a 2.5" hard drive (WD Black 7200 RPM) in a Ugreen external case and when I plug it into the USB 3.0 port on the front of my tower, it is recognized for the first time in USB 2.0 (file writing at 40 Mo/s)

If I unplug it, and plug it back in again it is detected in USB 3.0 (transfer of 115 Mo/s)

Do you know where the problem comes ? I would like it to be detected in USB 3.0 when first connected.

Click to expand...

If all it takes to prevent the problem from ever coming back is just to unplug/replug it only one time, then I think I could easily live with that. Only if the problem comes back multiple times after, that's when I might get annoyed by it. In Device Manager, you can look for the Hardware ID of the USB-to-SATA adapter module that's inside the enclosure. Once you found out the exact make and model of the chip, you can search online to get the latest firmware upgrade for it. There's always a chance that upgrading the firmware of the chip will remedy it.

Windplay87 said:

Maybe I should change to a motherboard with a USB 3.1 port ?

Click to expand...

USB 3.1 gen 1 is just a different name for USB 3.0 (as is USB 3.2 gen 1x1). It is 5 Gbps maximum theoretical transfer speed.

Similarly, USB 3.2 gen 2x1 is just a different name for USB 3.1 gen 2, and, the difference between USB 3.2 gen 2x1 and USB 3.2 gen 1x2 is that the latter is USB Type C only. Both of these are 10 Gbps maximum theoretical transfer speed, though.

USB 3.2 gen 2x2 is also USB Type-C only, and, its maximum theoretical transfer speed is 20 Gbps, but it never became a popular choice (due to Thunderbolt 3). The "x2" in "gen 1x2" and "gen 2x2" refers to the fact that it uses 2 data links instead of only one. For that to work, USB Type-C is a requirement because it has the optional ability to offer double the number of data lines when compared to USB Type-A (or when compared to microUSB).

Windplay87 said:

In any case if I transfer files at 40 Mo/s or 115 Mo/s there is never an error or disk disconnection.
So there is nothing to worry about ?

Click to expand...

If it works, it works, but it only works until it doesn't. So, besides keeping multiple, reliable, backup copies of all my important data, what I like to do is use FastCopy with verification enabled, and, I also use it with the option to calculate and write file hash codes to the log file.

hdmi said:

If all it takes to prevent the problem from ever coming back is just to unplug/replug it only one time, then I think I could easily live with that. Only if the problem comes back multiple times after, that's when I might get annoyed by it. In Device Manager, you can look for the Hardware ID of the USB-to-SATA adapter module that's inside the enclosure. Once you found out the exact make and model of the chip, you can search online to get the latest firmware upgrade for it. There's always a chance that upgrading the firmware of the chip will remedy it.

Click to expand...

Thank you for taking the time to reply, it's very interesting.

After your advice, I've just found the latest firmware for the ASM-235CM chip. This update is supposed to solve the problem of slow disk recognition in Win11 (so it would apply to my problem) I think it's the right file ?

On the other hand, for the update, I've never done it, it talks about an MP Tools utility, can you guide me for the update or is there a simple tutorial ?

Finally, the HHD 2.5” currently contains some important files. Is there any risk in updating the firmware ?


My Ugreen external box :

Windplay87 said:

Thank you for taking the time to reply, it's very interesting.

After your advice, I've just found the latest firmware for the ASM-235CM chip. This update is supposed to solve the problem of slow disk recognition in Win11 (so it would apply to my problem) I think it's the right file ?

On the other hand, for the update, I've never done it, it talks about an MP Tools utility, can you guide me for the update or is there a simple tutorial ?

Finally, the HHD 2.5” currently contains some important files. Is there any risk in updating the firmware ?

ASM-235CM/ASM-2235 Firmware

Version 220906_D1_45_01 extracted from Transcend, solves the problem of slow disk recognition in Win11

www.station-drivers.com

View attachment 116857

My Ugreen external box :

View attachment 116871View attachment 116870

Click to expand...

https://station-drivers.com/index.p...d-pid-in-mptool-asmedia-asm235cm?start=5#3908

https://station-drivers.com/index.p...d-pid-in-mptool-asmedia-asm235cm?start=5#3911