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I have a Western Digital WD Elements external hard drive. When I plug it into my laptop, the laptop behaves like there has been a short circuit and restarts immediately. After the restart, everything goes back to normal.

Here are the facts that give me trouble:

  1. If I plug the device into one specific port, the computer does not restart. It happens if I plug the device in the remaining three ports. Those remaining three ports are USB 3.0, USB 3.0 and USB 2.0.

  2. The device does not cause this behavior in any other port of any other laptop.

  3. No other external hard drive cause this problem in my computer.

I am using Windows 10 Pro operating system, and I have tested WD Elements with other computers using Mac, Windows and Linux.

padawan
  • 669

2 Answers2

2

I had the same exact problem and was able to find a one-off fix. You have to do it each time before plugging it in:

  1. go to Device Manager
  2. click View > Show hidden devices
  3. scroll to bottom and open "WD Drive Management devices".
  4. uninstall "WD SES Device"

This is the only fix I have found so far. Hope it works for you!

Bob
  • 36
1

USB 3.0 can handle more power than USB 2.0: 500mA per USB 2.0 port maximum, vs. 900mA per USB 3.0 port. When spinning up, the HDD draws more current than when running, so it appears the USB 2.0 ports (and perhaps one USB 3.0 port) are a bit under-powered for this drive. As @dirkt states, the external HDD would probably work from a powered hub.

However, another possibility is that the Registry USBSTOR key caches information on the HDD that is causing the issue. It is possible to remove those entries using Regedit or, more conveniently, using the free tool USBDeview from Nirsoft.

DrMoishe Pippik
  • 37,887