Seagate external hdd problem

StriickeN

Performance Junkie
Member
Messages
60
Every since I updated to Windows 8.1 my seagate external hdd has been randomly turning off and coming back on when I start to use it or open a program again, do you know what this could be maybe? Thanks. :cool:
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom build
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-4770K
    Motherboard
    Asus z87-Pro
    Memory
    G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (Dual Channel) (1866)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon R9 290x
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster Audigy
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2x ASUS MX279H Black 27" IPS
    Screen Resolution
    3840x1080
    Hard Drives
    SAMSUNG 840 Series 256 GB SSD (old ssd failed), Seagate external 3tb, & Seagate barracuda 1tb
    PSU
    Corsair AX1200i ATX PSU
    Case
    Corsair Obsidian 750d
    Cooling
    Black Ice Gtx 240
    Keyboard
    Ducky Shine 3
    Mouse
    Corsair M95
    Internet Speed
    15 Mb/s
    Browser
    Chrome/Firefox
    Antivirus
    Norton 2014
    Other Info
    PC used mostly for home theater and gaming.
People have been reporting this sort of issue since upgrading a lot.

The only things you can try is making sure your power options don't have 'turn hard drive off' set to anything but 'never' and that the system properties for the drive don't allow it to be powered down , other than that there doesn't seem to be anything that helps.

Many people have checked these options and their external drives STILL power down after a period of non-use.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Memory
    6 GB
    Screen Resolution
    1280 x 1024
    Hard Drives
    12 TB in 6 disks
    PSU
    TX650
    Keyboard
    G15
    Mouse
    Intellimouse 3.0
    Internet Speed
    100 Mbits
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Trend Micro
Yeah I did that same thing and it still does it, maybe there will be an update that fixes it soon or something. :)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom build
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-4770K
    Motherboard
    Asus z87-Pro
    Memory
    G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (Dual Channel) (1866)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon R9 290x
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster Audigy
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2x ASUS MX279H Black 27" IPS
    Screen Resolution
    3840x1080
    Hard Drives
    SAMSUNG 840 Series 256 GB SSD (old ssd failed), Seagate external 3tb, & Seagate barracuda 1tb
    PSU
    Corsair AX1200i ATX PSU
    Case
    Corsair Obsidian 750d
    Cooling
    Black Ice Gtx 240
    Keyboard
    Ducky Shine 3
    Mouse
    Corsair M95
    Internet Speed
    15 Mb/s
    Browser
    Chrome/Firefox
    Antivirus
    Norton 2014
    Other Info
    PC used mostly for home theater and gaming.
Which Seagate external model do you have?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-2670QM
    Memory
    Samsung 8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GT 555M
    Hard Drives
    Intel 525 120GB | HGST Travelstar 1TB
    Mouse
    CM Storm Xornet | Microsoft Sculpt Comfort
    Internet Speed
    25 Mbps | 600 Kbps
    Other Info
    Seagate Backup Plus 1TB

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom build
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-4770K
    Motherboard
    Asus z87-Pro
    Memory
    G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (Dual Channel) (1866)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon R9 290x
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster Audigy
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2x ASUS MX279H Black 27" IPS
    Screen Resolution
    3840x1080
    Hard Drives
    SAMSUNG 840 Series 256 GB SSD (old ssd failed), Seagate external 3tb, & Seagate barracuda 1tb
    PSU
    Corsair AX1200i ATX PSU
    Case
    Corsair Obsidian 750d
    Cooling
    Black Ice Gtx 240
    Keyboard
    Ducky Shine 3
    Mouse
    Corsair M95
    Internet Speed
    15 Mb/s
    Browser
    Chrome/Firefox
    Antivirus
    Norton 2014
    Other Info
    PC used mostly for home theater and gaming.
Download Seagate Dashboard from the following link by selecting your Seagate external's model (number): Downloads: Hard Drive Installation and Computer/PC Diagnostic Software | Seagate

Once you've completed downloading the software, navigate to your download folder and install Seagate's Dashboard (reboot if required).

Once you have the software installed connect your Seagate external to your computer and load up the Dashboard software, navigate your mouse to the top of the software where your drive is represented {ex. Seagate (E:} and click on 'Drive Settings'.

Under Power Settings change the power save mode from minutes to 'Never" and click 'Save' then Close. You can also turn off your drives status LED (operation light) and test if your drive is functioning correctly in 'Drive Settings' using Seagate's Dashboard.

Hope this helps,
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-2670QM
    Memory
    Samsung 8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GT 555M
    Hard Drives
    Intel 525 120GB | HGST Travelstar 1TB
    Mouse
    CM Storm Xornet | Microsoft Sculpt Comfort
    Internet Speed
    25 Mbps | 600 Kbps
    Other Info
    Seagate Backup Plus 1TB
Download Seagate Dashboard from the following link by selecting your Seagate external's model (number): Downloads: Hard Drive Installation and Computer/PC Diagnostic Software | Seagate

Once you've completed downloading the software, navigate to your download folder and install Seagate's Dashboard (reboot if required).

Once you have the software installed connect your Seagate external to your computer and load up the Dashboard software, navigate your mouse to the top of the software where your drive is represented {ex. Seagate (E:} and click on 'Drive Settings'.

Under Power Settings change the power save mode from minutes to 'Never" and click 'Save' then Close. You can also turn off your drives status LED (operation light) and test if your drive is functioning correctly in 'Drive Settings' using Seagate's Dashboard.

Hope this helps,

It was already set on never, I set it to 5 hours and it still turns off after 5 minutes. :(
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom build
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-4770K
    Motherboard
    Asus z87-Pro
    Memory
    G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (Dual Channel) (1866)
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon R9 290x
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster Audigy
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2x ASUS MX279H Black 27" IPS
    Screen Resolution
    3840x1080
    Hard Drives
    SAMSUNG 840 Series 256 GB SSD (old ssd failed), Seagate external 3tb, & Seagate barracuda 1tb
    PSU
    Corsair AX1200i ATX PSU
    Case
    Corsair Obsidian 750d
    Cooling
    Black Ice Gtx 240
    Keyboard
    Ducky Shine 3
    Mouse
    Corsair M95
    Internet Speed
    15 Mb/s
    Browser
    Chrome/Firefox
    Antivirus
    Norton 2014
    Other Info
    PC used mostly for home theater and gaming.
Try turning off USB selective suspend:

Control Panel > Power Options > Change plan setting > Changed advanced power settings > navigate down to and expand USB settings turn off USB selective suspend.

Also make sure you download the latest USB 3.0 driver and firmware for the USB 3.0 controller on your motherboard, going by your system specs your USB 3.0 controller is not natively supported by Windows 8.1.

Here's a link to the latest driver and firmware for your USB 3.0 controller (just make sure you know the exact model of the USB 3.0 chipset you have): Station-Drivers - Asmedia

Depending on your USB 3.0 controller, there maybe an option to enable/disable USB 3.0 power save in the driver software settings (mine has this setting).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-2670QM
    Memory
    Samsung 8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GT 555M
    Hard Drives
    Intel 525 120GB | HGST Travelstar 1TB
    Mouse
    CM Storm Xornet | Microsoft Sculpt Comfort
    Internet Speed
    25 Mbps | 600 Kbps
    Other Info
    Seagate Backup Plus 1TB
I do not think that will fix his problems. @Striicken Check your Event Viewer. Are there read error at about the time of the hard drive turning off? If yes you probably have the same 8.1 bug that others have reported.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3
    Memory
    4xG Skill Sniper F3-14900CL9-4GBSR
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus GTX660 TI-DC2 Series
    Sound Card
    Creative CA0132 @ Intel Panther Point PCH - High Definition Audio Controller [C-1] PCI
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 2709W (Digital)
    Screen Resolution
    1920*1200
    PSU
    Enermax EMG700AWT
Same thing with me

Every since I updated to Windows 8.1 my seagate external hdd has been randomly turning off and coming back on when I start to use it or open a program again, do you know what this could be maybe? Thanks. :cool:

I just wanted to add my voice to this conversation. I'm having the same problem since updating to Windows 8.1. My Seagate Backup Plus 2TB drive now randomly disconnects and reconnects. It is very annoying.

I have not yet gone in and tried to modify any power settings per the advice above. At some point I will have the time to do it and will try.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 3770K
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3
    Memory
    4xG Skill Sniper F3-14900CL9-4GBSR
    Graphics Card(s)
    Asus GTX660 TI-DC2 Series
    Sound Card
    Creative CA0132 @ Intel Panther Point PCH - High Definition Audio Controller [C-1] PCI
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell 2709W (Digital)
    Screen Resolution
    1920*1200
    PSU
    Enermax EMG700AWT
I just fixed (I think!) my daughter's Win 8.1 laptop using an external USB3 Seagate 3TB drive. It had become flaky and wouldn't allow her to save files to the external USB 3 drive. I tried to copy the files to her laptop HD but that would fail shortly after beginning and the external drive would disconnect with a USB error (some sort of USB set address failed, iirc).

I found this solution:
Windows RT 8.1, Windows 8.1, and Windows Server 2012 R2 Update: April 2014

And in particular:
Download Windows 8.1 Update for x64-based Systems (KB2919355) from Official Microsoft Download Center

On her laptop (fully updated drivers and chipset insofar as I know.. Slim Drivers and Win Update), there were several KBs that were not installed. I had to snag:
clearcompressionflag.exe
KB2932046
KB2937592
KB2938439
KB2934018

The laptop already had 2 of the KBs already installed, KB2919355 and KB2959977. The download instructions at the above linked site said they had to be installed in a particular order, so I installed the missing ones in the order provided. After that, I was able to copy all the files from the external drive without issue.

Seems like a Windows update broke something affecting the USB 3 drive. This had been a problem for my daughter for quite some time and I finally was able to get her laptop and investigate the issue. I'm not sure when the issue began.

Previous to this fix, I tried the registry fix using the last known parent, disabled USB selective suspend, etc. ... all to no avail. I am encouraged by my success in copying files back to the laptop HD without the USB drive losing connection. If my daughter has any more issues, I'll repost here. But otherwise, I am hopeful this has fixed the issue.

**************
Interesting note: I just looked at Event Viewer and found under Setup, 4 recent error entries (error 2359302) that correspond to the 4 above mentioned KBs that I tried to install. Apparently, only clearcompressionflag.exe ran. And maybe that was the fix. ??

Example error detail:
Windows update could not be installed because of error 2359302 "" (Command line: ""C:\WINDOWS\system32\wusa.exe" "C:\Downloads\Windows updates\Windows8.1-KB2932046-x64.msu" ")
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1x64 pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Homebrew
    CPU
    i5-2500k
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z68-V Pro
    Memory
    16 GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2x 19 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    256 GB SSD
    1.5GB
    2 GB
    3GB external
    Case
    Antec Solo
    Antivirus
    Avast free
Hi there speedlever.The mentioned "clearcompressionflag.exe" KB,is the stand alone update that triggers the installation of the above four updates(should be five,2937592KB is missing).You are right about the specific order of installation,had troubles myself,could not proceed,downloaded a 600+ MB update and got stuck at a tiny,less than 0.3 MB one,server issues,my fault,who knows,finally got through.Ready to operate 8.1?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W8 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home...made ®
    CPU
    Intel i7 2600k
    Motherboard
    GA-Z68X-UD3P-B3
    Memory
    Corsair Vengeance 4x4Gb 1600 Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS GTX 680 DirectCU II SLI
    Sound Card
    onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG Flatron W2240S PN
    Screen Resolution
    1920X1080
    Hard Drives
    SanDisk Ultra Plus SATA 3 128GB X2

    Western Digital Caviar Blue 2x1TB + WD Caviar Black 1TB
    PSU
    Corsair RM 850 X
    Case
    Chieftec Dragon
    Cooling
    Thermalright Macho HR-02
    Keyboard
    Ivation mechanical backlit
    Mouse
    MS Optical 6000
    Internet Speed
    24 Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    ESET NOD32 8.0.312.0
Well my celebration was premature. Even though after my "fix", I was finally able to empty the recycle bin on the external drive (it kept generating errors as above), and also was able to copy the contents of the external USB 3 drive to the laptop's HD, it didn't last long before I saw the same error (USB set address) again in Device Manager and the external drive was no longer connected.

I have tabled the issue for now and switched the external drive to a USB 2 port and thus far, that seems to work fine. But she only has 3 USB ports on the laptop, 1 USB 2.0 and 2 USB 3.0 ports.

I'll keep an eye on the issue and hopefully someone will provide a means to fix the faulty USB 3.0 implementation of Win 8.1 (my humble assessment of the problem).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1x64 pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Homebrew
    CPU
    i5-2500k
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z68-V Pro
    Memory
    16 GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2x 19 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    256 GB SSD
    1.5GB
    2 GB
    3GB external
    Case
    Antec Solo
    Antivirus
    Avast free
Hi there speedlever.The mentioned "clearcompressionflag.exe" KB,is the stand alone update that triggers the installation of the above four updates(should be five,2937592KB is missing).You are right about the specific order of installation,had troubles myself,could not proceed,downloaded a 600+ MB update and got stuck at a tiny,less than 0.3 MB one,server issues,my fault,who knows,finally got through.Ready to operate 8.1?

KB2937592 is the 2nd one in my list above... except that I switched the 5 and the 9 when I wrote it down. Sorry 'bout that. I'll edit the post to correct the entry. ;)

Edit: Actually, I like Win 8.1 pro for the most part. It runs on some pretty archaic equipment (my old Pentium M 1.6GHz laptop with 2 GB ram, for instance). I've also installed it on a number of older Dells with various 6-8 year old processors and it runs fine. I install 64 bit where the mobo will support more than 4 Gb ram and 32 bit for mobos that are limited to 4GB or less. My old laptop lacks a proper video driver, but the screen is still usable with the Win driver and perhaps more important, the OS is not abandoned like XP.pro.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1x64 pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Homebrew
    CPU
    i5-2500k
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z68-V Pro
    Memory
    16 GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2x 19 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    256 GB SSD
    1.5GB
    2 GB
    3GB external
    Case
    Antec Solo
    Antivirus
    Avast free
updating chip set did not work

Updating the chip set seemed at first to work but nope ... nada... when will microsoft and segate get their act together.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    windows 8.1
Since this thread was brought back to my attention by the most recent post, I thought I'd update. My daughter has not had any more issues with the external drive connected to the USB2 port. But it would really be nice to be able to utilize a USB3 device on a USB3 port in a Win 8.1 x64 laptop.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1x64 pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Homebrew
    CPU
    i5-2500k
    Motherboard
    Asus P8Z68-V Pro
    Memory
    16 GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2x 19 inch
    Screen Resolution
    1280x1024
    Hard Drives
    256 GB SSD
    1.5GB
    2 GB
    3GB external
    Case
    Antec Solo
    Antivirus
    Avast free
Back
Top