Problem with file transfer on WD Elements Portable HD

[Jaa-Yoo]

I have a 500gig WD Elements Portable HD connected through USB that ive been trying to transfer files to for the past few hours. When trying to move a folder full of avi files or a single file, it would start, then after a minute, appear to stop, and then the drive appears to power off, disconnect and then reconnect.
Ive tried different ports and different cables, but still no results.
I also tried my WD Essentials Portable HD and it works just fine.
I thought the Elements HD might be dieing but ive had it plugged in for almost an hour, playing movies off it and deleting a few files and didnt have any problems. So i tried to transfer a file and again it stopped after a minute and then disconnected again.
Im guessing something is wrong with the controller, but wanted an opinion before i popped it open and moved the drive to a different enclosure.

 

[Jaa-Yoo]

So ive plugged the drive back in and transferred over 52gigs to it and moved files back and forth between it and my computer. It seems to be working perfectly fine now, but why?
The only thing different is the drive letter. Windows assigned it a new one since my Essentials drive took the old one. I tried to get the old letter back but it wont reassign. Hmm. Anyway, its working again... for now.

 

[ghost6303]

drive letters are released back in to the pool of available numbers when you remove a drive. it always chooses in alphabetical order.

im guessing you are doing this over USB connection? what OS you using? try using a file transfer program that alows you to resume if the drive keeps dropping out. could be any number of reasons, check loose connectors first.