USB 3.1 Gen 2 external enclosure troubles

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digitalnut

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Dec 20, 2017
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Is anyone else having issues using USB gen 2 external enclosures?
I use many different external enclosures on many different host mobos or host PCIe cards, using many different cables and many different HDDs, SSDs, and many complete "bought" external devices too.
They mostly have "A" plug at the host, B plugs (full size and flat version) at the enclosure.
Also some C to C.
But all are troublesome, unable to format, and If I format successfully, can't copy files (destination suddenly becomes unavailable and other traumas)

I do seem to have a solid workaround, but am surprised I have to do it... I hand-pick cables (very few cables work, and never the supplied ones!) and also do a an asmedia chip update in appropriate enclosures. And when they work, they are at least 50% faster compared with same disks in 3.1 Gen 1 enclosures.

One Askito 2.5 twin-drive gen 2 did work, as did all the "bought" solid-state externals, though none of these worked with their own supplied cables. With hand-picked cables, these are absolute rockets, achieving 250 on the Askito using raid, and 350 on the solid-state externals.

 
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ArtPog

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Sep 17, 2014
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For some time we've been using three USB external enclosures having USB 3.1 Gen 2 capability, as follows...

VANTEC NST-270A31-BK Aluminum / Plastic 2.5" Black Standard SATA Micro B 2.5” SATA 6 Gb/s to USB 3.1 Gen II Type-A SSD/HDD Enclosure
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817392087

StarTech USB 3.1 docking station
https://www.startech.com/HDD/Docking/2-bay-usb-3-1-gen-2-sata-dock~SDOCK2U313

Nekteck USB Type C to A External Hard Drive Docking Station
https://www.amazon.com/Nekteck-External-Docking-Station-Enclosure/dp/B01GJ1DFD2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471276736&sr=8-1&keywords=3.5"%20HDD%20to%20USB%20type%20C&tag=viglink20237-20

Since the PCs we've been working with are equipped with the USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports we haven't had any occasion to use a Type-C connection at the computer end. All the connecting cables we've used were provided by the units involved.

We haven't experienced any significant problems with any of those three units. We estimate a speed increase over USB 3.1 Gen 1 (which is, of course, nothing more than USB 3.0) of about 15% - 20%. And no problems experienced with backwards compatibility with the USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports.

 
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digitalnut

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digitalnut

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Thanks ArtPog, I have the Vantec and Startech you mention, and yet unlike you I experienced my issues with those! But in your answer I think I see my issue. Once I got those past the crashes by using hand-picked cables I got at least 80% increase in speed. I suspect it was the speed that brought in what I think were cable "headroom" problems with the manufacturer-supplied cables. (I use 2700rpm disks, mostly 3.5, two are 2.5)
 
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ArtPog

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1. Really strange your problem. With the exception of the Nekteck docking station I mentioned, a number of members of my computer club work with the StarTech & Vantec units I mentioned. ALL of us have been using the cables supplied with the units with no problems. My experience with the Nekteck unit has been positive although I don't use it with any degree of frequency because of its bulk.

2. Could you explain more precisely your preference for "hand-picked" cables?
 
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digitalnut

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digitalnut

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BTW, the source of my copy is a Samsung 960pro M2, very fast. I need that speed, but I think the source speed is part of the problem.
With the supplied cables (and any "bad" separately bought cables) I get "Destination unavailable" and other variations shortly after starting a copy, and from then on the disk is unusable. (Formatting using gen 2 also comes up with similar complaints) Initially I fixed this by formatting using ordinary USB 3 G1.
I then discovered that some of my own bought USB3 cables worked (and at very high G2 speed) for copies and formatting, so began a trial and error check of every cable I owned, marking the working ones accordingly. The consistency is total, meaning that bad cables never work on any of the sockets available, while the good cables work on all sockets available (I have many USB 3.2G2 A types sockets and 5 C sockets available over the 3 PCs and 4 G2 add-in cards at my disposal) So it's not the physical plug fit.
I recently read (but can't re-find) a technical article that warned cable-makers had chosen to build to the lower limits of the specs for 3.1, and that this was causing issues to G2 usage. They listed about 3 bottleneck points.
BTW my main usage is storage of (and cyclic backups of) 4k video scene files. With fingers burnt, for safety I no longer "add" to a backup for fear of losing what's already on the disk, it's always a full copy to newly formatted disk, hence my larger number and variety of external disks.
 
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digitalnut

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Issues all explained!
Have established concretely that the spec for cables for 3.1 gen 2 10 Gbps is (contrary to popular opinion) a higher electrical spec that required for 3.1 gen 1, even though physically they are the same.
And that spec is sometimes broadly described as "higher headroom".

And I got a break!
My most three recent (and different) external device purchases in 2018 were all hot off the production line (had to wait on the manufacturers in all 3 cases)
The cables supplied were stated as being to the 3.1 gen 2 spec, a refreshing statement.
All were thicker than normal, and some even had the "10" moulded on the plugs.
- And they all worked fine, and worked the older USB 3.1 Gen2 boxes too.

Like some of my earlier units, all three new ones are raid-0 with two 2700 rpm disks, and all happily copy large files at a minimum of 340MBs if the source is fast enough.
I think the manufacturers have finally "got it"!!
 
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