External drive not recognized at a different USB port

[olli4740]

Folks,

 

this computer hardware stuff is not my strong point and probably there's just some sort of omission on my end:

 

Got myself an external Western Digital MyBook USB 3.0 HDD drive, plugged it into some USB port on my desktop PC and started installing it, configuring and backing up data (cloning the internal drive to be precise).

This has worked out well, no issues so far.

 

Just yesterday I noticed that the USB drive was plugged into a 2.0 USB port, instead of the faster 3.0 type. Thought I could just plug the drive into a different port - to my surprise this didn't work. The drive is only recognized when plugged into exactly the same port I started this backup/cloning stuff with. No other 2.0 port would work, and no 3.0 port either.

 

I tried updating the Intel chipset drivers, reinstalling the Western Digital drivers and utilities, checked the BIOS (no BIOS update, though), uninstalled the drive from the Windows device manager and tried to plug it back in - all to no avail.

 

System is a W7 64bit Professional, fully updated.

 

After checking the Western Digital manual, their knowledge base, Microsoft support database and a couple of sites via a Google search I am now at my wits' end.

 

Any hints are welcome - thanks!

[Guest]

Hi Oliver,

Your external drive's firmware has certainly a protective embedded component after installation on a PC. That prevents data hijack by securing the flow but can be annoying if changing port.

Here is a technical way to solve it if you dare.

You can reset the assigments of USB port by the Peripheral Manager (access by Configuration Panel/System):

- Unplug you drive

- Go to USB bus controller

- Select an internal USB hub

- Right clic and uninstall.

- Go to the root of the hardware tree

- Right click to choose Search for hardware modification

 

Make it for all USB hub but beware you are not resetting the one assigned to the mouse in case you use an USB one. No problem if yours is under PS2 or laptop pad.

 

After that plug your drive to the new USB port of your choice as for the first time using

[olli4740]

Thanks, Richard.

 

I'll check it out this evening and will report back.

[olli4740]

Hmm, found out tonight, for the Western Digital SmartWare utility there's an updated version available. Installation required a restart of my PC anyway, so I checked the BIOS again, and changed USB legacy support from 'active' to 'auto'.

 

Now the external drive is recognized on seven different ports; two them are 3.0.

 

Thanks for your suggestion, Richard; I'll keep that in mind in case I will experience issues again.