USB External Enclosure works after FEW tries.

[asnowfall]

I have to plug USB External Enclosure HD(SATA 2.5") several times (avg
3 times), for XP OS to recognize. OS fails by showing "device wizard"
dialog and expects me to point it to driver location. I have
reproduced this problem on several machines(at home and in office) and
various OS(XP 32bit & 64bit, Win 2003). I contacted manufacturer of
External Enclosure and they even replaced the device but this problem
still comes back randomly.

Some time OS fails to assign drive letter, and I am not complaining
about that, and that is rare, at least has a workaround. I have
several other External Enclosure HD's(SATA 3.5") and they all work
fine.

Is this problem with External Enclosure or OS? I believe culprit is
External Enclosure because nowdays product quality is dismal and more
over my other External Enclosures work fine.

I have tried using Hitachi & Seagate 2.5" drives, same problem.
External Enclosure is made by Azio.


I do not mind buying another External Enclosure, but before that I
should know what is wrong with this one, so that I do not another
c**p.

Please help me solve this problem.


Thanks
Ramesh

 

[JS]

Sounds like a hardware problem with
the external drive enclosure. The USB
to SATA drive interface hardware to be specific.

Does this enclosure have it's own power supply
or does it run from your USB port's power?

 

[Ramesh]

This External enclosure could work off of USB port's power and there is also
option to take power from external power source, and powering through
external power supply does not help.

Once OS fails to recognize, if I make another attempt immidiately then
chances of succeeding is far less, but if I give few minutes(<5minutes)
between each attempt, chances of recognizing is more. So I think this due to
firmware on External enclosure.

Thanks
Ramesh

 

[smlunatick]

This External enclosure could work off of USB port's power and there is also
option to take power from external power source, and  powering through
external power supply does not help.

Once OS fails to recognize, if I make another attempt immidiately then
chances of succeeding is far less, but if I give few minutes(<5minutes)
between each attempt, chances of recognizing is more. So I think this dueto
firmware on External enclosure.

Thanks
Ramesh

It might not be any firmware problem but a general USB power.
Enclosures are not all made the same and some tend to fail because the
internal components can be flaky.

 

[Ramesh]

Last night I was going through, users' experience with this External
Enclosure, in newegg.com, and at least 2 users reported same problem.

I agree what is not flaky these days. Companies seem to be QAing for best
use-case scenario.

Thank you all for responding
Ramesh

 

[JS]

You're welcome.