External HDD in enclosure disconnects after some time

Question

I have an external hard drive in a SATA/USB 3.0 enclosure. It usually works fine, but if I plug it in my Windows 10 laptop for too long, it briefly disconnects after some time. It's not mounted anymore and any read/write operation that was underway shows an error message (usually something like "Drive not found") and stops. Any explorer window that was showing its content closes.

If I then open explorer or type list disk in diskpart, the drive will show as if I had just plugged it in: it won't be selected anymore in diskpart for example. I can start over any operation that was underway when it disconnected, but the same thing will happen eventually.

This prevents me from doing anything too long, like erasing the drive with diskpart's clean all feature (I've tried 5 times already, the operation always stops after a few dozens minutes).

I thought about a Windows power-saving feature killing my drive after a bit, but my laptop is charging and in "High performance" power mode. Furthermore, it would be weird for such feature to kill a drive that's in use.

Why is my drive disconnecting after some time, even in use ? How can I prevent that ?

Answer 1

I've had this happen today (12/18/2017) after Windows 10 update. It also happened when I updated to Windows 10 from Windows 7. I used the following solution both times and it worked for me. I have a External USB HDD that is constantly running for the Windows Files backup. After the Win 10 update it would get disconnected after a certain amount of time. It started doing it again after this mornings Windows 10 feature update. Here is how I fixed the problem.

Summary Instructions (for experienced): 1)Find the device ID of your External USB HDD in device manager under USB Mass Storage Mine was USB\VID_0984&PID_0310 Use the device ID "09840310" to add a new reg entry.

2) Run Regedit and enter the information you obtained as follows: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\usbstor Add Key 09840310 In key add DWORD DeviceHackFlags Set value to 400 ﴾hex﴿

Step by Step for people like me (same procedure more details): 1)Type Device Manager in windows command box bottom left of your screen. Click and run Device Manager Go down list and expand Universal Serial Bus Controllers Right click on USB Mass Storage Device and select properties Select Details Tab Use Property Drop Down to select Hardware IDs Copy this information - all you need is the device id numbers USB\VID_0984&PID_0310&REV_0305 = "09840310" If you have 2 hardware ids copy both and do the regedit for both. I have a WD USB hard drive I attach for backups and it has a separate hardware id. You are done with Device Manager. 2) Regedit: Type Regedit in the Windows command box at the bottom left of your screen. Right Click on the Regedit Command and run as administrator. Yes to allow Click the ">" next to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to expand the list Click the ">" next to SYSTEM, Click the ">" next to Control Click the ">" next to usbstor The Hardware IDs we obtained in step 1 should be listed under usbstor but probably are no longer listed or have only part of the hardware id such as "0984xxxx" Add them as follows: Right Click on usbstor, select New, KEY and enter your hardware id 09840310 Rick Click on that folder, 09840310 and select New, DWORD. In the right screen name that DWORD entry "DeviceHackFlags" If you messed up, just right click on it and select rename. Right Click on DeviceHackFlags and select Modify. Change the Value data to 400 and Hexadecimal selected, click OK Close Regedit You are finished.