Not really sure how to pose this question but I’ll try. I bought a WD My Book Duo, 20Tb external drive. It’s hooked up to my Windows 10 machine. And it’s noisier than I anticipated. It’s a backup drive as I have plenty of drive space on the system itself. So, when I’m not actually using the drive, I disconnect it (?) using the “Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media” button under the little up arrow on the right side of my task bar. All well and good. It disconnects and quiets right down. But when I want to access the drive again, I find myself unplugging the power and plugging it back in, and the drive shows up in Windows Explorer and I can use it. My question is, is there another easier way to get the drive up and running and recognized by Windows, or is unplugging the power and plugging it back in the only way. I don’t unplug the USB cable because of the positioning of the drive makes it difficult to get to that cable. Thanks for any help.
Rick47…let me take a stab at a comment.
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first, I had a reply to a user about Safe Eject, where user was getting warning messages when ejecting and was wondering…I posted something that worked for me. My adding this here was that you never had any warning when you did the Safe Eject? We and others did, so I was curious that you may not have a warning. Maybe its the drive itself or the surrounding WD software that runs in the background, when viewing the Task Manager. Anyway, here is the post/reply that I used to explain…Unable to safely remove My Passport
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now as to your physical disconnect…I believe that re-inserting is the only way to reactivate the USB port normally, HOWEVER…I have a 3.0usb hub that has 4 power on/off buttons that I connect to one of my PC’s 3.0usb port. I use this for other external printers and flash drives that I regularly insert and remove.
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here is what I tried just now. Did a Safe Eject of a connected Flash drive. Got message to remove and did not see the drive on my File Explorer. Next, I pressed Off button next to that usb, heard a chime that indicates a port removal. I still no longer see a Filemanager entry. Next, without removing the drive, I pressed the button back On, heard the chime and now see the drive in Explorer…So, it’s possible to turn on/off the port without removal of usb.
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now, here is a sticking point. I have read on this Forum, that one should use the direct usb connection instead of a hub. I’m not exactly not sure why, especially if it’s a 3.0 or higher hub and when you do connect, you see positive activity of that device. I see that when users have connectivity issues, one of the things posters/WD will say is to us a direct connect… since most of these newer drives are usb3.0 or higher, you PC and associated ports should be the same. Some PC’s have 3.0 and 2.0 mixture of usb. Anyway, you could consider this. After you eject, toggle the hub button off then toggle back on before you want to connect. Check the active connections and you are good to go…I think.
Thanks for that reply. But reading it twice, unless I’m missing something, is seems to be addressing drives plugged into a hub. Mine is plugged directly into the computer USB on the motherboard. I’m using a USB A/C cable, with the USB-C plug plugged into the drive and the USB-A end plugged into the 3.0 port in the back of the computer. So there’s no USB hub involved. I’ve been playing around here and see no option to get the drive back online short of powering it down then on again. Maybe that’s the only way to do it. Thanks again for your time. I appreciate it. By the way, are you aware of any other good active forums like this for general Windows and other software questions? I’d love to find something like that. Rick.
Rick47…sorry, my configuration that I was testing was for you to purchase a 4port hub that has on/off switch next to each usb plug. Plug the hub into you computers free 3.0 hub if you have one. A 3.0hub is compatible with a 2.0 pc one if you don’t have one available on none on the PC. Since the drive is a 3.0, thats the best transfer path.
Unfortunately, mine is china made, but it works. I now have additional usb ports for other usb devices… I have a Passport that connects directly to the PC, but used the hub concept to test out your problem…at least it gives you a physical option and worked for this test.
As to other forums…since this one is for WD related, it depends…many hardware/software produces provide forums or QA knowledge base setups…just a basic internet questions sometimes pops these up.
Finally, about the safe eject…did you get a warning message about programs running in the background when you used the trays safe eject…which I believe is always a good way to protect. I had a bad experience, and corrupted a movie that I had minimized.
Thanks again. hear you on the hub, but I had bad experiences with hubs in the past and just prefer the direct connection. This is a new computer and came with six USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0 plus a USB-C port. I also dropped a five port USB PCI-E card in it so I have PLENTY of places to plug anything in. Actually more than I need at the present time. So I’ll just be content with the power on/power off thing. Kind of like the Karate Kid! Wax on, wax off. Thanks again for taking the time to reply. I appreciate it. Rick.
No Problem Rick47…looking at your initial post, you implied that noise from the device caused you to want to Safe Eject…or maybe you only periodically wanted it online for backups…yeah, as best as I can find, pulling the USB and re-inserting is the only way…but it was awkward for you.
The Hub…now what was your bad Experience? No connections or lower transfer speed or something else? Maybe you could expand the thought.
Also, I asked if you had any warning msg when you went to safe eject. Many users got something, as I, when I posted my fix in my initial post to you. I’m just curious, unless you don’t install any WD background software, like Discovery or Desktop Apps that could interfere. Seems like these would be the only apps that are interfacing with the WD devices when you eject.
Actually I did have a problem shutting it down, with a message saying the drive was in use, which it wasn’t. I couldn’t figure it out. But then I opened the Task Manager and saw some WD utility running which I didn’t start. I just ended that task and the error message went away and I was able to disconnect the drive. I seriously wonder if I even need those WD utilities at all. I might uninstall them. If I find I need or want them again, I can just download them.
As for the hubs, it was so long ago I honestly forget what the problems were. But I didn’t like them. I found it easier to just drop a USB extension card into the computer and that gave me the extra USB ports I needed. I’ve always had more than enough.
Rick47…aha, you did get the message when Safe Ejecting…that’s like many of us. The method I earlier posted with the Device Manager eliminates the need to shut down the WD utilities in Task Manager…I believe that I found similar solutions in the Windows search. Anyway it works on all my ejects, whether it is the thumb drives or Passport (although I leave mine always connected…I use one for also downloading of Utube, movies misc besides backup…should I run into a file issue, the problem would not affect my PC drive)
As to the Hub, yes having many more available ports is great. I have 4 3.0usb’s in the front of the PC, so insert/remove is not too bad. The 3.0 Hub adds flexibility, plus for you, an easy way to not have to re-insert in-order to activate an ejected device since it has a on/off switch… thanks for the interesting conservation
I was reading another post about Hub usage today and made me think about my comments in this post…about using a 4port hub with on/off switches. What I failed to mention is that if the connected devices to the hub need lots of power and if you have multiple devices that need power they all end up getting power from a single PC usb port. A external powered hub would make sense. If you are trying to power higher amp units, a non-powered hub should not be used. I only use mine for thumb drives, and to send signals to my printer.
Rick, I’m not sure what amp requirements your disk requires, but if you get a powered hub, it could accommodate your turning off/on after you safe eject.