I have two identical Elements SE 5TB drives, as well as a Seagate Ultra Touch 2TB, whereby I use one Elements drive for daily use (let’s call it drive “A”), and then at times I back up to the other Elements drive and the Seagate drive (we’ll call them drives “B” and “C”, respectively) for data redundancy. From the first time I ever used any of these drives individually they have never given me issues, and for months when I backed up from drive A to drives B and C the data transferred without a hitch. Now, within the last few weeks, when I attempt to back up data from drive A to either drives B or C, the transfer is extremely slow and drive A clicks occasionally during the process. Naturally I thought at first drive A was mechanically failing, but not only has it checked out as physically fine when testing for drive integrity, but when I transfer files to any thumb drive of any size this same issue does not crop up, nor under typical daily usage of reading or writing to drive A does it operate slowly nor does it ever click.
I can’t figure out what is going on, either why the slowdown or clicking issue started in the first place, nor why it only affects hard drives but not thumb drives. If anyone has insight or suggestions I’m all ears. Thanks so much!
Update: Now the slow transfer and clicking of drive A occurs even during transfers to thumb drives of any size. BTW, I forgot to note earlier that I’m running Windows 10, and also using a USB hub to connect the different drives. Only thing I can figure so far is that the problem lies with the USB hub somehow interfering with the data transfer. Ideas, suggestions?
Through sheer trial-and-error I have determined that it was a recent Windows update that has caused this problem. All the hardware related issues I eliminated, including replacing my USB hub with a top-of-the-line model, to no avail. At this point I believe it can only be a software issue due to a Windows update, since I have not added any software to this computer in the last calendar year, and I only connect this computer to the internet twice a month for Windows updates. If I can’t figure out which update caused this problem I don’t see any alternative but to reinstall Windows and start from scratch. Any insight or suggestions would be welcome.
Personally, i would try a System Restore aka. Rollback to an earlier time before the Windows Update … before taking the time consuming process of a complete Windows re-install
Windows System Restore has got me out of trouble on numerous occasions.
