USB HDD keep disappearing

A

AirCool2

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I have a 1TB WD USB HDD that I use for backups.

https://www.newegg.com/model-wdbpck0010bbk-nesn-1tb/p/N82E16822136996

Recently, I switched my main PC to a Lenovo M93p Tiny. But I noticed that my WD external HDD does not work properly with it. The M93p has 6 USB 3.0 ports. The WD is also USB 3.0. But plugging the WD to the M93p, the drive just disappears from time to time. It seems that it is lacking power. The drive works fine on my other desktop and laptops. It is powered by USB and it has no external power input. Tried changing the USB 3.0 cable too.

I am at lost here. What could have gone wrong? The HDD or my SFF desktop? I tried changing the P/S for my M93p (it uses standard Lenovo laptop P/S) and same result.
 
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AirCool2 said:
I have a 1TB WD USB HDD that I use for backups.

https://www.newegg.com/model-wdbpck0010bbk-nesn-1tb/p/N82E16822136996

Recently, I switched my main PC to a Lenovo M93p Tiny. But I noticed that my WD external HDD does not work properly with it. The M93p has 6 USB 3.0 ports. The WD is also USB 3.0. But plugging the WD to the M93p, the drive just disappears from time to time. It seems that it is lacking power. The drive works fine on my other desktop and laptops. It is powered by USB and it has no external power input. Tried changing the USB 3.0 cable too.

I am at lost here. What could have gone wrong? The HDD or my SFF desktop? I tried changing the P/S for my M93p (it uses standard Lenovo laptop P/S) and same result.
Click to expand...
Try other devices on that port, see if it's faulty.
 
This really sounds like what happens when the USB port is not supplying enough power. How much power a USB port can supply can vary greatly. Most USB 1.1 and 2.0 ports will supply at least 500mah, while USB 3.0 ports usually supply at least 900mah, but either of those minimums would probably not be enough for the drive to work correctly. Some ports can supply 2+ amps (2000+ mah). I think that your best bet would be to run the drive through a powered USB hub, so that it's getting it's power from the hub instead of the USB port on the computer. Most monitors have built-in powered USB hubs that would probably work for this.
 
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Thanks for all the replies. I don't have a powered USB hub. I got myself a USB power tester and tried to hook it up in between the USB drive and mini desktop. But for some reasons, I can no longer reproduce the problem. Everything seems to be working fine. Current draw is always below 0.4A.

I thought maybe it dropped from USB 3.0 to 2.0. So I removed the tester and directly plug in the drive. Once again it seems to be working fine. Now I am rather confused. Prior to that, I went into the BIOS and looked around but I only changed some basic stuffs like boot order. I guess I need to keep an eye on it happening again.
 
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