I was backing up files from my computer last night onto a variety of passport and element drives. There were some issues with some of the files - the destination was identified as “not available” or something similar during the transfer. I pushed on through and finished the backups. When I went to the drives to check the transfers, they (all 4) now will not connect. They ALL identify as “Local Drive” and will not communicate. I took a drive that I hadn’t used and connected it. IT now identifies as “Local Drive”. This drive was fine several days ago; I haven’t written to it in weeks. What’s going on?
O.K. I did several things. I rebooted the computer - twice. I ran antivirus, it found nothing. I checked one of the drives, still shows as “Local DISK”. I seem to remember seeing this pop up before, but if I remember correctly, it normally switches immediately to the actual drive name. So, I changed the cable… and that appears to be it. I had a suspicion that the cable was getting flakey several weeks ago, when one of my drives kept dropping out. But it was only that drive and no other (at the time). I suspected a bad solder joint on the board (gotta LOVE lead-free solder!!!). It may in fact have been the first sign the cable was going bad. Using a different cable now. And… that drive just disconnected. So much for THAT! But the other drives are now identifying properly, so at least that’s settled. A lesson to anyone with this issue. Time to get in some better quality cables.
It looks like the cable was the main issue, but since one drive still disconnects, you should try a different USB port or computer to rule out port-related problems. Check Disk Management (Windows) or Disk Utility (Mac) to see if the drive is detected but unmounted, and run CHKDSK (Windows) or First Aid (Mac) to scan for errors. Since the old cable was failing, using a high-quality replacement may help prevent further issues. Reliable cables make a big difference, so it’s great that you identified the problem early!
