I just bought a WD 1tb external hardrive today. After getting it home and installing the software onto my laptop I tried to copy and paste a bunch of files over from a different external but after a minute or two of data transfer the new hardrive would disconnect from the computer halting the transfer and forcing me to restart. After playing with the hardrive I noticed that if it is bumped or tilted at all it disconnects instantly but also disconnects even when on a flat, still surface after a minute or two. My other, older, passports didn’t have this problem at all. Is this just a bad lemon that needs to be returned or some other issue?
Hi, might be a low power problem, be sure to use the USB cable that came with the Passport and avoid using USB extension cables or USB hubs.
I am also having this problem. Not sure who is at fault (my laptop, WD, or Windows 7), but I just spent a bit of time writing down my problem on an ASUS help forum, which I’ll reproduce here:
Hello,
First of all, thank you to anyone willing to take the time to help me out.
I recently tried to create a system image of my laptop on a Western Digital My Passport Essential via a USB 3.0 connection. The image gets about 1/3 of the way done, and then I hear the “device disconnected” chime go off (like if you unplug a USB key or device), and I get a message saying the backup failed because Windows can no longer find my external drive, which tells me that the drive is disconnected. The drive re-connects right after, as AutoPlay opens up for the drive, but by then the backup has already failed.
This only seems to happen with portable external hard drives (powered through the USB port), as I’ve been able to make system images using two external hard drives (one of them a WD MyBook) that have their own power supply plugged into the wall. I did some research, and it seems this is a common problem, not just with ASUS laptops, where the hard drive draws too much power from the USB port and disconnects (or something like that), which would explain why the external drives with their own power sources work.
I found an update for Windows 7, KB976972, that addresses an issue very similar to this; however, this update only works with nVidia chipsets, and I’ve been informed I’m running an intel chipset, and thus the update doesn’t install on my computer (I get a message along the lines of “This update is not for you computer”).
I’ve been to the ASUS download site for my laptop here:
http://ca.asus.com/en/Notebooks/Superior_Mobility/ASUS_ZENBOOK_UX31A/#download
…and have downloaded and installed all the recent drivers, as well as upgraded the most recent BIOS version 212. Furthermore, I’ve run ASUS live update, which detected no new updates for my computer, suggesting to me all my drivers are up to date.
I’m running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit edition w/ SP1, which has been fully updated (Windows Update detects no new updates).
The WD My Passport I tried to use is also fully up to date, with the most recent firmware and driver.
I don’t know if this is a WD problem, Windows 7 problem, Intel problem, or ASUS problem, but I’m just trying to cover all my bases here.
Thanks again for the help, and looking forward to some answers!
-MN
Found a solution for anyone using an intel (specifically HM76) chipset!!
