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Problem with USB drives

  • 29-05-2012 5:29pm
    #1
    shayser
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,650 ✭✭✭


    I have a 2TB powered USB drive plugged into a Windows XP machine, more or less permanently. If I plug in a 1TB portable drive while the 2TB is connected I lose the 2TB drive. Gone from Explorer and Disk Management. Rescanning doesn't make any difference. Any ideas why this is happening?


Comments

  • #2
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,017 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    shayser wrote: »
    I have a 2TB powered USB drive plugged into a Windows XP machine, more or less permanently. If I plug in a 1TB portable drive while the 2TB is connected I lose the 2TB drive. Gone from Explorer and Disk Management. Rescanning doesn't make any difference. Any ideas why this is happening?

    Try assigning both drives different letters, may solve the issues. You can do this under disk Management (Right click my computer>properties>Manage Disk drives)

    Nick

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  • #3
    coylemj
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,626 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    To correctly diagnose the problem, I'd connect the drives in the reverse order and see what happens.

    If you can see both drives, it means that the smaller drive is set to take the drive letter that is by default currently being assigned to the 2TB when it (2TB drive) is the only or first drive attached.

    You say that the 2TB drive is more or less permanently assigned so I'd leave it at it's default setting and give the 1TB drive a letter like 'M' or 'N' so it doesn't clash with the 2TB or any other drive.


  • #4
    shayser
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,650 ✭✭✭shayser


    Thanks for the replies. Gave the 1TB the drive letter M: but still losing the 2TB (E) drive, when I plug it in. There was also a pop up message from the connected devices icon in the taskbar saying there was a problem writing to $mft on the M: drive, even though I wasn't writing to it.


  • #5
    coylemj
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,626 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    Not suggesting for a second that this will fix the problem but from a diagnostic perspective you really need to connect the drives in the reverse order to see what happens....

    Leave the 2TB drive disconnected, boot the machine, connect the 1TB drive, see if it is recognised as the 'M' drive, then connect the 2TB drive and report back with the results....


  • #6
    Cork24
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,663 ✭✭✭Cork24


    It just could be the the computer doesn't not have enough power to run both USB drives at once this is a common problem with USB disk drives if one takes a lot of watts to run the computer will. Not pick it up.

    Disk letters is not the probl win xp and 7 will choice the next letter that is free so it's not that.


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  • #7
    coylemj
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,626 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    Cork24 wrote: »
    It just could be the the computer doesn't not have enough power to run both USB drives at once this is a common problem with USB disk drives if one takes a lot of watts to run the computer will. Not pick it up.

    Read the first post, the 2TB is a 'powered' drive, the 1TB drive is a 'portable' drive so if there's any problem with power, it should manifest itself by the laptop refusing to power up the portable drive, not by bouncing out the 2TB drive which by the OP's description has it's own independent power source.


  • #8
    Cork24
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,663 ✭✭✭Cork24


    Then he could have a faulty port when the metal touches it short circuit and cut out wear and tear on the USB ports

    Or could be the USB ports are right next to each other when he plugs in the other USB cable he's tipping off the other cable


  • #9
    coylemj
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,626 ✭✭✭✭coylemj


    Cork24 wrote: »
    Then he could have a faulty port when the metal touches it short circuit and cut out wear and tear on the USB ports

    Or could be the USB ports are right next to each other when he plugs in the other USB cable he's tipping off the other cable

    It would pretty bizarre if it happened consistently every time he connected the portable drive and either of those issues was the cause.


  • #10
    CreepingDeath
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,015 ✭✭✭CreepingDeath


    Are you using a USB hub or connecting each drive directly into separate USB ports at the back of the PC?


  • #11
    shayser
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,650 ✭✭✭shayser


    On the off-chance that it's a drive problem, before I do anything else, I'm copying everything from both drives to another location as it's important data. I'll do the port swap-around then.

    It's a Dell Optiplex 780 PC. I'm using two of two front-facing ports.

    If it matters, there is 6 USB ports at the back, 4 in use. Two for keyboard and mouse, one for a UPS and one for a USB to PS/2 and AT converter cable going to a KVM switch.


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  • #12
    Cork24
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,663 ✭✭✭Cork24


    Have you got a USB hub with 8-ports or less ?

    plug that into the Computer and then plug in the 2 hard Drives and see, if still the same problem that You computer is not outputting enough power to power the 2, even tho you have one that uses its own power the computer still needs some power to make the connection to the drive.


  • #13
    CreepingDeath
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,015 ✭✭✭CreepingDeath


    shayser wrote: »
    It's a Dell Optiplex 780 PC. I'm using two of two front-facing ports.

    If it matters, there is 6 USB ports at the back, 4 in use. Two for keyboard and mouse, one for a UPS and one for a USB to PS/2 and AT converter cable going to a KVM switch.

    Typically the back USB ports are more reliable as they're mounted directly on the motherboard.

    But that's a lot of USB devices you're using.
    I've got the impression in the past that older motherboards only have maybe 2 USB channels and split them off to multiple ports.
    So your USB ports may not be getting enough power or too many devices fighting for the same channel.

    If possible, use a powered hub for at least one of those drives and maybe connect some of the smaller device like keyboard and mouse off it.

    But if you want to go through all the free options first, then go to the Dell Update site and update your BIOS and all the system drivers for your machine first. Just in case there's some firmware fixes in there.


  • #14
    shayser
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,650 ✭✭✭shayser


    I swapped the two front connections, same problem. Then I put the powered drive into a rear port and that seems to have done the trick.


  • #15
    CreepingDeath
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,015 ✭✭✭CreepingDeath


    shayser wrote: »
    I swapped the two front connections, same problem. Then I put the powered drive into a rear port and that seems to have done the trick.

    Yeah, I'm guessing that there's a usb channel for the front and a separate usb channel for the back ports.
    Separating the drives into different channels stops the bottleneck/conflict.


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