Crazy behavior with external drive and USB3

[GeezerMan]

Here's an odd one..
I have two identical Seagate 2TB external drives. USB3. Not portable drives, they have their own power supplies

PC number one
both external drives work fine with USB2 and USB3

PC number two
One external drive works fine with USB2 and USB3
One external drive works fine with USB2, but with USB3 I get error messages of needing to reformat the drive before using, if I say OK, it says it can't format it . I also get an error about the drive having the wrong capacity. see attached pic. what gives with this?
I did reformat, and delete the partition of the drive while using USB2, but I still get the same problem with USB3. I also re installed the USB3 drivers for PC number 2.
Now, other external drives seem to work OK with USB3 with PC number 2, so it's this one particular external drive it does not like hooked up with USB3
PC number two uses the Intel USB3 ports, no aftermarket chip at all.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106453664/drive%20prob.png

UPDATE..

PC Number 3..
crazy drive will connect with usb3, but it gives the common message, " this device can perform faster if connected to a USB3 port"

I'm beginning to suspect a weak USB3 port in the drive

 

[Cerb]

I'd try to get an RMA. If an identical drive works fine in the same PC and USB port...

 

[GeezerMan]

PC Number 3..
crazy drive will connect with usb3, but it gives the common message, " this device can perform faster if connected to a USB3 port"

I'm beginning to suspect a weak USB3 port in the drive ..

I got several of these drives on a price mistake over a year ago, all brand new in the factory box. I'm just now using them. Warranty is only 1 year.

I'll probably remove the drive and use it as an internal drive.

The more I use the USB3 cables and ports the more I don't like them. They sometimes can be a bit picky about insertion, with that crimp in the port

 

[Burpo]

Might want to check & see if a firmware update is available..

 

[GeezerMan]

I checked for firmware updates, there are none.
I went ahead and opened all 4 of these drives I had. All the same model. All new. Two have no problem, the other two have problem connecting via USB3 on one PC

And I do get that odd error on another PC about the connecting the drive with USB3 for better performance, when it is already connected via USB3.

I suspect a borderline USB3 port on the enclosure, probably related to the USB3 contacts since the USB2 seem to work OK

These are pretty cheaply made enclosures, with minimal venting, and my plan was to remove the drives anyway

 

[ArisVer]

Are you running identical operating systems on your computers?

 

[GeezerMan]

Are you running identical operating systems on your computers?

yes, win 7 64 bit.

The bottom, or base, of the external drive snap right off in mere seconds, and it contains the circuit board and with USB3 jack and power jack. I can easily swap the bases from each of the external drives, and I was able to confirm that the problem is contained within two of the bases. My main PC has a particular problem with these two using USB3, but my other PCs still act oddly by saying that I should use USB3 when I already am . Two of the four external drives work OK with all of my PCs. Remember, all 4 of these external drives are the same model.

 

[Charlie98]

When did this start?

Are you using the case ports or the mobo ports?

As an aside, I've found the Seagate enclosures to run hot, too, and wound up just yanking the drives.

 

[GeezerMan]

When did this start?

Are you using the case ports or the mobo ports?

As an aside, I've found the Seagate enclosures to run hot, too, and wound up just yanking the drives.

It happens with either case or the Intel ports. It's an ITX board, so it only has Intel Z97 chipset USB3. No aftermarket chip for the USB3
My original plan was to remove the drives. I checked, and I got the 4 drives 2 years ago. That was a fast two years. I'm just now starting to use them. And yes, idle temps are at 48 degrees C. That's hot. I removed one drive from the enclosure last night. It's a 2 platter, [FONT=Open Sans,sans-serif]2TB Seagate Barracuda [/FONT][FONT=Open Sans,sans-serif]7200.14 ST2000DM001[/FONT]

 

[Charlie98]

That mirrors my temps with my 1TB external... it ran about 47C.

If you are going to yank them, well, no big deal. I've been having intermittent problems with my other (Seagate portable USB3.0 drives) and even some of my other devices for about a month. I can't trace it exactly to any update or install, but it's there.

 

[GeezerMan]

That mirrors my temps with my 1TB external... it ran about 47C.

If you are going to yank them, well, no big deal. I've been having intermittent problems with my other (Seagate portable USB3.0 drives) and even some of my other devices for about a month. I can't trace it exactly to any update or install, but it's there.

I was mostly concerned about my new PC build having a motherboard problem. It works OK with other brands of external USB3 drives.

 

[Lorne]

Are these on the motherboard ports or front of the case ports?

Front panel ports have been notorious for that same issue.

 

[GeezerMan]

Are these on the motherboard ports or front of the case ports?

Front panel ports have been notorious for that same issue.

It happens with either case or the Intel ports. It's an ITX board, so it only has Intel Z97 chipset USB3. No aftermarket chip for the USB3

 

[Charlie98]

I was mostly concerned about my new PC build having a motherboard problem. It works OK with other brands of external USB3 drives.

I have problems with the USB3 SATA ports as well (with my Z68 board.) I've even gone so far as to get a replacement mobo just in case it is the controller or ports. :\

 

[GeezerMan]

I have problems with the USB3 SATA ports as well (with my Z68 board.) I've even gone so far as to get a replacement mobo just in case it is the controller or ports. :\

here we are 4 years or so since USB3 was released, and it seems to me to be too quirky still

 

[Ranulf]

While it seems like the seagate usb3 ports, maybe try reinstalling/newer usb3 drivers?

I've had intermittent problems with my mobo's (gigabyte amd 970) usb3 ports over the last few months as well. The ports often wouldn't detect flash drives or hdd's, it would power them but windows7 wouldn't see them except sometimes just after reboot. A driver reinstall seems to have fixed the problem though.

 

[Charlie98]

While it seems like the seagate usb3 ports, maybe try reinstalling/newer usb3 drivers?

I've had intermittent problems with my mobo's (gigabyte amd 970) usb3 ports over the last few months as well. The ports often wouldn't detect flash drives or hdd's, it would power them but windows7 wouldn't see them except sometimes just after reboot. A driver reinstall seems to have fixed the problem though.

My troubles started when I installed a USB3 expansion card... first with a Renesas chipset (that worked fine, but didn't have a USB3.0 header for the front case ports) and then one with a VIA chipset... and that's where the trouble began. Since then I've reset the CMOS, flashed the updated BIOS, uninstalled and reinstalled all the USB and SATA drivers I can find... and, finally have it where my performance is almost back to where it was, but still have that nagging recognition problem, sometimes. The problem is, sometimes it's the BOOT DRIVE. It's gotten worse the past month or so, affecting the external drives and USB drives even in the USB2 ports.

 

[GeezerMan]

Well, a little update here. I had a problem today with transferring files to several different USB2 flash drives. The browser would lock up. It was impossible to open any web pages. I couldn't open a office document either. A bit of googling, and I discover a post by a Bitdefender employee saying not to run Bitdefender and Malwarebytes together. I like malwarebytes, so goodbye to Bitdefender

Problem solved. For flash drives anyway. I'll o back and check my USB3 external drives now..