Windows explorer disappears when I access my usb 3 hd

[michaelmartin]

Hi all,

I'm having a very bizarre and infuriating problem where windows explorer often shuts down on me unexpectedly when I am accessing information on my usb 3 western digital hard drive that is attached via my docking station. I have spent about 2 weeks trying to work out what is going on and despite my attempts to fix it recurs....

I have the latest updates from Lenovo
I have the latest bios
I have the latest Windows updates (running Windows 7 Professional 64 bit)
I have the latest intel usb 3 driver for my T430 (core i7 3520M)
I have the latest firmware and drivers for the WD My Passport HD
I have had the docking station replaced by Lenovo

None of this has helped, so if anyone can advise that would be really appreciated as this weird windows explorer issue is making things unworkable for me. I am led to believe that this is a usb 3 issue specifically because the windows explorer issues doesn't seem to happen when the WD HD is plugged into a usb 2 port (or at least for the couple of hours I was running it in that port explorer didn't die).

Michael.

[zoltanthegypsy]

Hi,

I don't have an answer for you, but I'd like to understand the situation.

You have explorer open and the contents of your external drive in the right pane?  If you have two explorer windows open - one browsing the external and one looking at something else - does only the window showing the USB 3.0 drive close?

Like what happens when you right-click on the drive and hit "eject" ?

Z.

[michaelmartin]

Hi Zoltan,

Yeah, I'm also trying to understand! It's kind of hard to describe as it's erratic. What tends to happen is that I will try to, for instance, copy files to the usb hard drive and I will get errors that the files don't exist any more (sorry don't have the error word for word) and at other times, for instance, windows explorer will simply shut itself down so it is no longer visible or open (when I reopen it the hard drive shows again until the next error).

If I right click the drive in windows explorer there is no option to eject

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[andyP Community SuperMod]

I'm wondering if Windows is maybe shutting down the USB 3.0 to save power? 

Unfortunately I don't have a system here with 3.0 but maybe you could take a peek in the properties of the controller in device manager to see if there is a power management option to allow Windows to turn it off as with USB 2.0 and other hardware.

[michaelmartin]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the suggestion. I disabled the usb selective suspend setting in power manager but that made no difference either

[andyP Community SuperMod]

Did you look in device manager? This is what needs to be disabled in Win7 for USB 2.0

[michaelmartin]

Yes those are all unticked for the usb root hubs