eSATA HD randomly disconnects/disappears

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NagromNniuq

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Feb 26, 2003
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I have 2 Western Digital external hard drives. 500GB each. One is hooked up through USB2 and the other uses eSATA. I'm running Vista 64bit Ultimate and my mobo is an Asus A8N32-Sli.

My problem is that the eSATA HD randomly (it seems) disconnects or disappears from My Computer after a while (anywhere from 1hour to over 24 hours) of being plugged in. If I unplug and replug it in it is recognized and works fine. If I use USB2 there are no problems.

I have power management set to never turn off the HDDs and I have a brand new cable on it. I haven't cut or trimmed it yet as I want to make sure there isn't something else I'm missing.

Why is it doing this and how can I fix it? Thanks for your time and advice.
 
Solution
R
I found a solution for WD MyBook disconnecting from the eSATA port. The eSATA port in my computer is a JMicron type on a Gigabyte board.
When I used the stock JMicron drivers from JMicron website I found the drive would always disconnect after a period of time even if I had made adjustments in the Windows Control Panel Power Management settings.
I then decided to remove this JMicron driver and install the specific Gigabyte driver for the JMicron controller. The drive no longer disconnects!

In Device manager > Storage Controllers, The Jmicron controller will now be named as the Gigabyte GBB36X Controller.

Therefore, if you have a Gigabyte board then I strongly recommend you use the Gigabyte specific driver which is normally included...
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N

NagromNniuq

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Ok, I bought two new HDDs and they still have the same problem. When connected via eSATA they randomly disconnect themselves. I have to power off and then on again and then they work fine again for some random period of time.

I get 3 different event messages in the event viewer when this happens.

First I get a, "The device, \Device\Scsi\SI31321, did not respond within the timeout period."

Then I get, "The device 'WD My Bo ok SCSI Disk Device' (SCSI\Disk&Ven_WD_My_Bo&Prod_ok&Rev_01.0\5&193467b2&0&000000) disappeared from the system without first being prepared for removal."

And at the same time I get, "The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR1, is not ready for access yet."

Any further ideas on how or if this can be fixed? I'm beginning to think this is purely an ASUS mobo issue or an issue with the Si controller.
 
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8mm8mm

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I am having the the exact same problem but with a Seagate 1TB Free Agent extreme. I'm running Windows XP Pro - 32 bit, Intel SE7525 GP2 of a on a PCI express card. Different HDD, MB, OS - same problem. I ran SeaTools DX but nothing came up. I don't have a clue as to what is going.
 
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Cant_drive_55

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We are having this same problem with WD MyBook 1TB drives and a SIIG eSATA PCI express card. This is happening on two different computers. I called SIIG and they haven't heard of it. I put in a ticket with WD and I got the expected, "make sure the power settings in Windows are not set to power down the drives". I am using XP, by the way. And so what if the O/S powers the drives down? They should kick right back up when I want to access the drive.

This is a big problem and I cannot find out the answer.

I don't think the problem is drive or controller specific.

You are not alone!

Randy
 
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schreinereiner

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I'm having the same problem running Vista 64 Ultimate on a Shuttle Barebone with nforce 630 chipset and a Hitachi 1TB drive in generic eSATA/USB enclosure. It's maddening and I can't seem to find a solution.

The stupid enclosure I have my drive in unfortunately doesn't support spin down on inactivity via USB so that's not an option since the box is running 24/7 as a home server. Grrrr.
 
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semsch

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Having the same problem with Vista 64 Home Premium, WD my book 500GB drive when connected to esata - works fine connected to USB.

If I find an answer I'll post it and will be checking back to see if anybody else finds it.
 
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semsch

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I was able to fix my problem of the external eSATA HD disconnecting. Using Vista HOme Premium SP2 in power options there is an advanced screen which has a menu similar to device manager. under 'hard disk' there is a 'turn off disk after'
option which was set to 20 min. I set it to never and have not had a problem since. It originally looked like the disconnect of the HD was random but I guess it was always 20 min after the last access. This migh not work for all problems listed here but it did fix it for me. good luck LArry
 
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semsch

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I noticed your post was a little before mine so thought I'd reply

I was able to fix my problem of the external eSATA HD disconnecting. Using Vista HOme Premium SP2 in power options there is an advanced screen which has a menu similar to device manager. under 'hard disk' there is a 'turn off disk after' option which was set to 20 min. I set it to never and have not had a problem since. It originally looked like the disconnect of the HD was random but I guess it was always 20 min after the last access. This migh not work for all problems listed here but it did fix it for me. good luck LArry

 
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jonatj

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I have the exact same issue happening with a new HP Pavilion, WD 1TB Caviar Green and a StarTech SATADOCK22UE external eSATA dock. Windows 7 64-bit recognizes the disk at boot up and performance is great. I primarily use this disk for backups so I kick off a Windows backup and anywhere between a couple hours to just a few minutes, the drive stops responding with the Event ID 15 message "the device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR3, is not ready for access yet". Sometimes a rescan in device manager will wake it up but usually only a reboot will.

The first thing I checked was the Windows "turn off disk after" setting in Power Options. That has been set to Never for a few weeks now but I still get the problem. I've tried setting the BIOS from IDE disk mode to AHCI mode which hasn't helped or hurt. Of course I get better performance in AHCI mode, but the drive still randomly disconnects. I thought it was the StarTech dock, but I can see from this thread and others that it occurs with eSATA conntrollers everywhere.

Anyone continue to have this issue after the suggested Power Option fix mentioned above?

Thanks
Jon
 
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Denzo7

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Thought I should mention my story since I found this site looking for an answer. I have a DELL XPS730 Q9450, SLI D*** extension of a computer.. So I bought this MY BOOK 1TB to do my back ups.. Im running WINDOWS 7 64bit and yes via USB it is fine which I found out my self (which took ages!!).

When I use ESATA it just disconnects and is such a pain in the backside to get reconnected again. And when it does finally reconnect, It lasts for
2-10mins. Then the Joy ends.

I thought maybe my format was all wrong (not NTFS or something but it all looks ok.) ESATA is active in BIOS.. ANY Ideas or solutions welcome.. cause I paid for eSata speed not USB 2.0..
 
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sminlal

sminlal

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I use a number of VanTech external enclosures that have both USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces. I was experiencing slow performance and random disconnects with one of them. I swapped the enclosure (ie, put the disk that I was having problems with into a different enclosure and tested that combination) and the problem went away.

So I've assumed the problem is with the circuitry associated with the eSATA port in the enclosure. I've put duct tape over that port so that I won't be tempted into using it again...
 
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Moti Mitteldorf

Moti Mitteldorf

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the only time i have seen this is
1. faulty cables
2. drives over heating
3. seagate - i believe it was the 1.5 drive had a weird firmware issue - which they fixed that caused drive to act up... (i happen to be a big seagate fan)
Moti Mitteldorf - Good Luck!
 
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T

toosloow

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Same problem here with a HP M9450F... My e-sata drive disconnect after 1 minute. Also the transfer speed is slow

e-sata 2or3Mb/s
USB2 700Kb/s
FireWire 300Kb/s

Why it is so slow ? I can't find any solutions for months...

My external drive is ok, i've plug to another computer with WinXP and the speed was about 35Mb/s

The Cable is okay.
The HD too.
 
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B

bungee

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Exact same problem: WD My Book 1TB with Win7 64bit on an AMD 780G board. Disconnects after a while on eSata. Fine on Firewire and USB (but slower). I'm still looking for a solution.
 
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wslx

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Well, I kinda have the same problem but weirder. I just can't get through!
I got a LaCie d2 Quandra 1TB external HD, with USB, Firewire and eSATA interfaces. When I use USB, it's all fine. But with eSATA, my VAIO can detect it, and I have no problem reading any kind of files on it. The external HD won't be disconnected until I try to copy files from VAIO to LaCie or the other way around, it would start the copying process and I can feel the SPEED! Unfortunately, after just a couple of seconds of joy, the external HD disconnnects, EVERYTIME!
I contacted LaCie, they told me to try the HD on other computers, I did, it turned out there's no problem on my friend's DELL which also has eSATA port.
Then I contacted SONY, online, emails, telephones, I did everything they told me to, nothing's got better. I'm LOST! If someone would help me out on this, I'd be willing to pay for it...cos eSATA definitely is way faster than USB.
Now it's not accessible for me to try another eSATA external HD on my VAIO, I dont even know which one is wrong here, VAIO or LaCie :(
 
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ZoSo232

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I'm having the same problem as wslx. I have the exact same external but I'm using a Toshiba Satellite A505-S6960. The HD stays connected until I try to transfer to or from it, disconnects, and then reconnects. I contacted LaCie and they suggested I look for BIOS updates and sent me new esata cable in case it was the cable. I haven't received it yet, but I'm doubting it is the source of the problem now that I see other people are having the same problem. Have you figured anything out, wslx?
 
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B

Batavian

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I am having the exact same problem. I've got a Western Digital 750GB green caviar hooked up to an eSATA port and running Windows 7 64. Random disconnects. Only solution is to reboot. What's the common thread here? Is it Windows 7 64?
 
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lisaellen

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Have you found a solution to your problem yet? I have the same LaCie Quadra. I am connecting it to my HP Pavillion Dv7 (Windows 7, 64 bit) via e-Sata. It worked for a short while (couple of weeks) then started to disconnect. I sent it back to LaCie. They did some firmware updates and replace a board on it. It worked for a few video editing projects. Today I was trying to copy about 300 jpegs off a DVD and it kept disappearing. I copied the files to my internal hard drive then tried to copy them to my external LaCie with the same results (worked for about 1 minute then disconnect). I also tried to use the firewire port with the same annoying disconnect problems. Here is what I am going to try now:
1. copy my project and files onto my WD e-sata drive and see if it works with the laptop
2. take the LaCie to my desktop (HP XW workstation running Windows XP) and see if it has any problems over there.

Any other ideas for me? The drive is less than 6 months old.

Regards,

Lisa
 
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R

Richo

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I found a solution for WD MyBook disconnecting from the eSATA port. The eSATA port in my computer is a JMicron type on a Gigabyte board.
When I used the stock JMicron drivers from JMicron website I found the drive would always disconnect after a period of time even if I had made adjustments in the Windows Control Panel Power Management settings.
I then decided to remove this JMicron driver and install the specific Gigabyte driver for the JMicron controller. The drive no longer disconnects!

In Device manager > Storage Controllers, The Jmicron controller will now be named as the Gigabyte GBB36X Controller.

Therefore, if you have a Gigabyte board then I strongly recommend you use the Gigabyte specific driver which is normally included on the CD that came with your motherboard.

If you have another brand of motherboard you should investigate whether the company has their own driver for the JMicron controller and if they do use that one.

Good luck and Happy Easter!
 
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Solution
SirGCal

SirGCal

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I have the same problem; but the other way around. I have an eSata dock that works fine. I've transfered multiple Terabites over it without issues. I got a few USB2/eSata enclosures to give my father a few of my older 1TB HDDs and was using them to do some transfer-shuffles of my data around before I gave him the blank drives. Using 1TB WD Green Drivea and ByTecc HD-35 enclosures, both of them drop out and I get the "An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk5\DR10 during a paging operation." (and DR# gets one higher each time it happens)...

My other way around; I have these working on USB, not eSata... My eSata drive is peachy. Normally I wouldn't care that much but my father is going to only have USB so... These have to be reliable.

Running Win7 64

Junk enclosures? Or windows bug? I'm going to try them in one of my other computers soon so perhaps I'll get a few answers that way.
 
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Sunaj

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I had the same problem. I have the gigabyte ga-p55a-ud7 with built in external esata ports. My wd drives worked fine with usb2 but with the esata they disappear while transferring data after between 5-30 seconds. The engineer tech at Western Digital told me that there are NO compatible esata connectors out there by wd that are compatible with 64-bit. He forwarded me to WD's usb 3 new hard drives. It looks like it's usb 2 or nothing for these "older" externals.
 
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Neebers

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Mine drops out after an hour or so. I changed the power settings to never turn off. I also updated my JMicron drivers as suggested. Still drops out.

WD My Book Home 1TB on Windows 7 32-bit.
 
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T

tcs-daemon

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P::: - If you still got the problem with the eSATA dropping out and the VAIO, send me note to my website I had the same problem with the eSATA drive disconnecting frequently and I just fixed it after 3 days.
In my case I have a LaCie d2 Quadra (1TB) running on a Toshiba A500 laptop, and i experienced all the same problems as you and pretty much everyone else on this thread.

Drop me a line to my e-mail tcs@totalcomputersolutions.org if you still have the problem or visit me on www.totalcomputersolutions.org and send me an email there.
:sol: :hello:

 
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