Iomega Prestige 1TB portable USB 2.0 hard drive keeps getting randomly disconnected in Windows 8

Question

I have an Iomega Prestige 1TB USB 2.0 portable hard drive with its own external power source that worked fine for several years on my old 2003 Dell desktop running Windows XP.

I bought a new Dell Windows 8 desktop about 4 months ago and plugged the portable hard drive into a USB port on the back of the computer. Since then the portable hard drive keeps randomly disconnecting. Sometimes when it’s writing a file, but more often when it’s on and connected, but not in use. I hear the Windows notification sound and the drive has disappeared from “My Computer,” but the light on the hd is still on.

I have looked at a number of posts on various different sites about what appear to be similar issues with portable hard drives, but none of the answers I’ve seen have helped. I checked all the drivers and they were all up to date. One post suggested disabling auto power off for the USB ports. I tried that and it didn’t seem to make any difference.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

I had this problem a few days ago.

It was driving me crazy, as it seemed the only way to be sure to bring the drive back online was to reboot the PC.

The solution for me was to plug it in to a Powered USB Hub.

Previously it was plugged directly into a Front USB Port.

In my case it is a Slim Seagate 2TB drive that is powered only through USB.

A 'Magic' Drive, it never heats up, and is totally silent in operation.

Since the swap-over to a Powered Hub I have not had a single issue with it, and peace has returned!

In your case it might not make a difference, what with having your own external power source, but it is worth trying, if only for the peace of mind that may ensue!

Answer 2

Open Event viewer and locate services that report changes in their state at times that closely match the times the hard drive "randomly disconnects"...resolving this intermittency issue might solve this problem...an I/O problem, if you must. Also check the write-caching settings of your drive. Bonne chance!