External USB Drive Seagate Expansion 2TB random disconnects during file transfer

I received a Seagate Exapansion 2TB USB 3.0 external drive to backup some files on it. The problem is that i get random disconnects during file transfers.
I am trying to copy a large file of 280GB, but the drive disconnects and immediately it’s detected again by Windows after 5-10 minutes of copying.
I tried the drive on 2 different computers, both using USB 3.0 ports, one of them with Windows 8.1 PRO x64 and the other with Windows 7 PRO x64.

The info provided by SeaTools for windows is :
The drive :
Serial Number: Z1E5RVXL Part Number: 1E6164-570
Model Number: ST2000DM001 Family: BARRACUDA 7200.14 FAMILY

The enclosure :
Serial Number: NA4MG4J8 Part Number: 1D7AD2-570
Model Number: STBV2000200 Family: SEAGATEEXPANSIONDESK

Firmware versions are : 0711 and SC48

I’ve scanned the drive with SeaTools quick test but it passed the test.
I’ve searched Seagate site for firmware updates but there aren’t any for this drive.
Seagate Drive Settings cannot detect the Seagate Expansion 2TB USB 3.0 drive on Windows 8.1 PRO x64. It seems the latest version 2.1.902 does not suport Windows 8/8.1

Seagate Drive Settings

Seagate Drive Settings

I’ll try another USB cable / power adapter, but I won’t try a USB 2.0 port. Transfer speed with USB 3.0 is ~ 80 MB/s.

UPDATE 1 : Changing the cable has no effect. Drive still disconnects and immediately is detected by Windows after ~ 10 minutes of copying a large file.
UPDATE 2 : The file that I was trying to copy was a 280GB file from a network server. I managed to create a windows backup file of 120GB on it. Now I am testing a 2.5 inch drive on USB 3.0 (WD) with the 280GB network file. It worked on the WD drive !

UPDATE 3 – February 2015
I still have issues on My Lenovo E440 laptop when copying large files from network to the USB drive.
The file that I am copying is a 250GB file and the average speed is 45 MB/s. The drive disconnects after a few minutes.
In the Event Viewer Log i see the following :

The IO operation at logical block address 0x51938400 for Disk 2 (PDO name: \Device\0000009d) was retried.
Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort2, was issued.
The system failed to flush data to the transaction log. Corruption may occur in VolumeId: D:, DeviceName: \Device\HarddiskVolume8.
(A device which does not exist was specified.)

Volume D: (\Device\HarddiskVolume9) is healthy. No action is needed.
I’ve installed SeaTools 1.4.0.2 and the drive is successfully detected. See the pic below.

Seagate_2TB_USB
The short drive self test does not report any errors.
The short generic test is OK.

1 comment

    • Mick on September 28, 2014 at 6:20 pm
    • Reply

    Mine will randomly disconnect during the file writing process too. I notice this because the Windows copying progress bar does not change (as well as the size of remaining files). After disconnecting the cable and restarting Windows, it may finish copying (but I have no idea under what circumstance). The USB port I use is USB 3.0 (SS) and the speed is usually 150MB/s for any successful copying.

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