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got usb 2.0 hub - now external hard drive is crashing

N

NleahciM

Senior member
So I have a laptop and thus only 2 usb ports. I have a usb 2.0 sound card, usb 2.0 external hard drive, usb 2.0 ipod, and usb 1.1 mouse, so I decided to get a usb 2.0 hub. My plan was to put the external hard drive on one of my computer's usb ports, and the hub on the other. So I set that up - and it worked for a bit - and then windows started giving me a ton of write failure errors (all of the errors were from the external hard drive). Then I tried browsing the hard drive - and I couldn't. I then restarted - and the hard drive didn't even show up. But then I turned off my computer - power cycled the hard drive - and restarted - and it worked again. Thus I'm pretty sure something is causing my hard drive to actually crash, as odd as that sounds. I tried moving things around - putting everything on the hub, only attaching some usb devices, etc. But eventually the hard drive always crashes. Any idea what could be going wrong here? This is driving me crazy!
 
Originally posted by: bacillus
is your hub externally powered?
Click to expand...

yes

Also forgot to mention I'm running Windows XP SP2. I've been using all of these usb devices (besides the hub) for at least 3 months with no problems whatsoever.
 
Many items such as Printers, Scanners and HD's have problem when running through 1 hub because of a streamline effect (multiple items running @ the same time) of sharing via 1 port...
 
really does seem to be acting like its got more data then it can transfer?

could always try a pci card to get more ports if that don't work for you.
 
what is power cycling? also are you saying you have your operating system on the external drive? could be you have too many items and that external power cant handle it, you may need to install the hubs driver(s) if there are any. and is it even possible to put an os on an external harddrive?
 
I'm wondering if the USB hub is causing errors on the port, and Windows might be resetting the hardware.. as to how that's cause the issues, I'm not entirely sure, but perhaps it interrupts any in-progress data-transfers?

Bottom line - if you remove everything else but the USB 2.0 external HD, and the USB 1.1 mouse - does it still cause errors? Perhaps the HD itself inside the enclosure just decided that it was time to start acting up, have you run the mfg diagnostics on it? (Probably would have to remove it from the enclosure and hook it up to a desktop machine.)
 
Originally posted by: NleahciM
So I have a laptop and thus only 2 usb ports. I have a usb 2.0 sound card, usb 2.0 external hard drive, usb 2.0 ipod, and usb 1.1 mouse, so I decided to get a usb 2.0 hub. My plan was to put the external hard drive on one of my computer's usb ports, and the hub on the other. So I set that up - and it worked for a bit - and then windows started giving me a ton of write failure errors (all of the errors were from the external hard drive). Then I tried browsing the hard drive - and I couldn't. I then restarted - and the hard drive didn't even show up. But then I turned off my computer - power cycled the hard drive - and restarted - and it worked again. Thus I'm pretty sure something is causing my hard drive to actually crash, as odd as that sounds. I tried moving things around - putting everything on the hub, only attaching some usb devices, etc. But eventually the hard drive always crashes. Any idea what could be going wrong here? This is driving me crazy!
Click to expand...

Are the port on the laptop USB1.1 or USB2. If they are 1.1, that could be your problem, and an HDD on USB1.1 will choke the connection.
If they are USB2 then try this. Connect the Hub on one port, and the mouse on the other. Then connect your HD, Sound & Ipod on the hub. Its always good to keep USB1.1 and USB2 devices separate, since most hubs will slow down to USB1.1 when devices are mixed, and well read above.
 
Will try to answer all questions:

ports on laptop are usb 2.0. Power cycling means to turn off then turn on. Operating system is on internal hard drive. I doubt the hub is underpowered - as the only device I have connected to it that doesn't have an external power supply is the mouse - both the ipod and the sound card are externally powered.

I don't think it's a bandwidth problem - as I had the usb HD connected to the usb port on my computer, and then all the other devices connected to the hub, which was connected to the other port on my laptop. I tried it both with my ipod connected and not - and the problem persisted. That's really the only thing that would be using much bandwidth. Anyways - it was fine when I just had my sound card connected to one usb plug and the hard drive connected to the other.

Can't get a pci card - this is a laptop. Also I don't want to get a PCMCIA card - that would just make my life complicated.

The hard drive is in perfect condition. I can run it without any trouble without the hub attached.

I will do some further experimentation tomorrow - I'm still pretty lost as to what is going on here.
 
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