What can I do about my external hard drive disconnecting after a Windows update?

[JamesMM]

I just installed the latest Windows update, and now my external hard drive keeps randomly disconnecting and reconnecting every few minutes. I’ve tried different USB ports and the cable seems fine, but the drive just drops out, especially when I’m transferring files. Has anyone else run into this kind of instability after an update?

[James.M]

Yep, I had something similar after a big Windows update. It would drop the drive as soon as I started a large transfer, then reconnect a few seconds later. I poked around in power settings and turned off USB selective suspend, and after that it stopped dropping out for me. Still not totally confident it won't come back, but it feels better.

[Andrew81]

Could be the drive itself or the USB hub, not the OS. I tried a different drive and it behaved the same way, so I started thinking it’s either power draw or a flaky controller in the drive.

[James70]

In Event Viewer I saw a lot of USB errors like device descriptor request failed, which pointed at the controller or hub. I tried installing newer motherboard chipset USB drivers and that helped for a while, but it wasn’t a clean fix.

[Aaron.M]

Sometimes I wonder if we’re chasing the real problem; maybe it’s not the software at all. Could be a flaky USB port or cable, or a power issue with the hub. I keep thinking maybe a powered USB hub would help, but I haven’t tested it long enough.