USB 3.0 Puzzlement

[flowrider]

I've had two USB 3.0 Cards. I just replaced an Inateck KT4004 with a RocketU 1144C. The puzzlement is, I have a Fantom USB 3.0 1GB external HDD and Pluggable USB 3.0 powered Hub plugged into the card.

With each of the cards, the Fantom HDD sometimes shows up (under System Information) as a USB 3.0 Hi-Speed Device with 480 MB/Sec speed and sometimes as a USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Device with 5GB/Sec speed. The Hub always shows as a SuperSpeed device as do the USB 3.0 Flash Drives I plug into it.

Anybody know why the Fantom HDD flip flops?

Lou

 

[crjackson2134]

Does it act the same inconsistent way when plugged directly into the card?

1) cable issue

2) Drive enclosure issue (Going bad, internal connection, or narrow compatibility band)

3) Hub issue (compatibility problem with particular drive electronics)

* Try a different cable

* Try a different computer and also try direct connect to current system

* Try a different hub if possible

* Try powering on the drive with no USB connection at the Hub side of the cable, then plug it into the hub after
full spin up.

 

[AidenShaw]

Anybody know why the Fantom HDD flip flops?

Because Apple wants you to use 1394?

/jk

 

[flowrider]

Charles, sorry if I wasn't clear, it's not a hub problem. The Fantom is plugged directly into the card, as is the hub.

Lou

----------

Because Apple wants you to use 1394?

/jk

Why would Apple want me to use Firewire????

Lou

 

[crjackson2134]

Okay, so you are saying the problem only occures when both the drive and the hub are plugged into the PCIe card at the same time?

If you leave the hub out of the mix and plug in more drives (spinners not thumbs) along with the Fantom does it still do this? I'm trying to see if the wildcard is the drive or the hub. For clarity (I'm heavily sedated at the moment so bare with me), it exhibits the same behavior on both the Inateck & the RocketU?

 

[flowrider]

No, I guess I'm still being unclear. Everything is plugged in ALL the time. I have two USB 2.0 devices and the USB 3.0 Hub and Fantom HDD drive plugged into the RocketU Card ALL the time.

When I boot at the beginning of the day, the Fantom will show up under USB, as being either a Hi-Speed or a SuperSpeed Device. Yesterday it showed up as a Hi-Speed Device, today as a SuperSpeed Device.

There is no consistency and it makes no sense. Nothing is changed except how the drive is being reported by System Profiler. And yes, both the Inateck and the RocketU.

Lou

 

[crjackson2134]

If the cable to the drive is good, then it sounds like the enclosure electronics is flakey. I did some googling last night and it seems many others are experiencing poor performance with the the GreenDrive version. I don't know if that's what you have or not. The drive case is really nice looking from what I've seen online, so I understand the desire for this thing to work right. Can you plug it in to another computer with USB 3.0 for a few days and see what happens?

You might even consider removing the drive and testing it out in a different external enclosure. In the end, I'm thinking the enclosure probably has issues. I have many external drives/enclosures I've tested and I have seen a similar issue a few years back on a PC. In the end, the fix was to demote the drive to USB 2.0 ports, and get a different USB 3.0 drive for the primary.