External USB drive problem

Todd Stout · 03-07-2007, 01:54 PM

I have a Western Digital 500GB SATA drive in an Azio external enclosure. I have been using this set up for months with no problems until last night. I plugged it into the USB port on the front of my PC and nothing happened. I then noticed I had somehow managed to plug the USB cable into the enclosure upside down (I'm talking about the square connector on the enclosure end). I'm not sure how that happened since I didn't use much force to push that connector in. I then unplugged the cable and reinserted it in the proper manner and the "New USB device" message popped up in XP. I then got an error that the USB device may have malfunctioned and may need a driver installed. The driver was already installed and the drive was operating properly at one point so I don't think that is the problem.

I then tried the external drive with my laptop and had exactly the same result. I was told by XP that a new USB device was found but then got a message that it may have malfunctioned or a driver may need to be installed.

Did I fry my external enclosure or worse yet, my 500GB hard drive? Could there possibly be an easy fix for this error? I certainly hope there is an easy way out of this since I have about 50GB worth of TV shows on that drive.

Tekara · 03-07-2007, 05:26 PM

hrm, sounds more like the USB plug on the enclosure ate it. I suppose the easiest way to make sure the hard drive is still good is to remove it from the enclosure and connect it to directly to the motherboard of a computer. That way you know if the hard drive is good or not.

Todd Stout · 03-07-2007, 06:12 PM

I was thinking that would be my next step. Oh man I hope that drive is okay still. If something in the external enclosure is dead that thing was only $30. That hard drive was $160 on sale a few months back.

I still don't quite understand how that USB cable actually fit in the socket upside down so easily. You'd think they'd make it a bit more difficult to put those in the wrong way.

Tekara · 03-07-2007, 06:17 PM

Well, the connector is off-center to prevent improper connection. So if the connector fails, it's probably due to the center part breaking which would allow the plug to fit in upside down. And considering that all the contacts are on one side (excluding the surrounding ground) plugging the cable in upside down shouldn't cause any problems. So I would initially speculate that the usb plug is damaged causing a bad connection between the cable and the plug.

Todd Stout · 03-09-2007, 02:13 PM

I was just looking at the connector again and there are contacts on both sides. What I plugged in upside down is the square connector on the external enclosure end which I guess is called a USB type B connector according to this page. Looking at this page, it appears as though the 5V pin made contact with the data pin and I assume that's a bad thing. As soon as my PC is done processing a video file, I'm going to try connecting the drive directly to the motherboard and see if the drive is okay still.

Edit: I was just comparing the USB type B socket on my Azio external enclosure to the USB type B socket on my older Western Digital 160GB external hard drive and noticed a difference. The Azio enclosure has what appears to be a larger or more sloppy opening and it's quite easy to plug in a USB cable in either direction. The WD external drive only allows the USB cable to be inserted in one direction only. I appears to me that Azio has a bit of a design flaw in their enclosure. I should probably post that caveat in a review post on NewEgg.com which is where I bought it a few months ago.

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Todd Stout · 03-09-2007, 07:39 PM

I cracked open my PC, plugged in the SATA cable, booted up, and the drive wasn't recognized (or even making any noise for that matter) so I broke out the installation instructions. That's when I found out that the supplied SATA cable doesn't actually supply power (it just covers the SATA power connection) so I need to find an ATA power connection somewhere. I have two optical drives and two hard drives already so I think that all of the power connections are being used. I have room for four hard drives so there must be a way connect them to the power supply.

I did find one power connection that is dangling around the video card area that comes down from the rear fans (I assume it's for the more power hungry cards). Is that the same voltage as the hard drives and optical drives? Can I use that temporarily to power my 500GB drive to see if it still works?

Todd Stout · 03-09-2007, 11:19 PM

Okay, one more update.

I went to Best Buy and picked up an ATA power cable Y adapter and hooked my 500GB Western Digital drive up directly to the PC's motehrboard. I powered up my machine and the drive was recognized almost immediately. The drive still works fine and all of my data is still intact thankfully. It appears as though that all that I managed to kill was the $32 external enclosure. Whew...



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