Question Issues with USB HDD enclosure

ramki89

Junior Member
Jun 22, 2024
7
1
11
Hi All,
I have one USB HDD enclosure (Orico brand). It has one USB 3 cable to be plugged into a USB 3 port.
I use it to connect my SATA SSD as well as Laptop HDD (2.5" SATA) as an external USB drive.

I have a Windows 10 Desktop PC as well as a Windows 10 Laptop.
The enclosure works fine on Windows 10 Desktop PC for both Read as well as Write operations. However when connected to Laptop, while copying files to it, speed drops to zero and it stalls. The indicator on it just blinks but data transfer fails. Then only a disconnect & reconnect detects it.
I am clueless where the issue is. My laptop has 2 USB 3 ports and on both the same issue occurs.
If I assume that the enclosure is faulty, then it works fine on my desktop PC. A friend suggested not to use extension cables but I am not using any such extension cable and using the original cable supplied by the enclosure.
So any help is much appreciated.
Thanks.
 
Last edited:

Paperdoc

Platinum Member
Aug 17, 2006
2,381
310
126
There are two possible causes of failure for your laptop machine: device driver software, and power.

For any USB port on a computer the mobo chip that manages the port (connector socket) must he capable of performing at the standard rate for that port - in this case, of communicating at a max data transfer rate of 5 Gb/s for a standard USB 3.2 Gen1 port. Of course, the device plugged in (in your case, a SSD OR a Laptop Hard Drive unit inside the Enclosure) also must meet those requirements, and apparently they do since the system DOES work with your desktop machine. In addition, that mobo uses software called a device driver to direct exactly what the mobo chip does and how its data are interpreted by the computer into data it can use. That driver normally is supplied by the maker of the connected device (the enclosure in this case), but very often that software is widely used by many such devices so the maker of the Operating System (Windows) has included some common drivers with their OS. The maker of a device (your enclosure) may NOT supply custom driver software, and rely on what is already included with the OS. Bear in mind that the driver software included with Windows for your laptop is likely NOT the same as the driver in use in your desktop machine because the mobo components in each machine are different. So it is possible that the problem here is that the laptop machine is using driver software that does NOT suit the devcice (the enclosure) you have. In that case a different driver might ne needed. For that you might ask Tech Support at Orico if this is the case and whether they can supply a driver they believe will work.

Power is a different issue. The older USB2 ports can deliver power to a user device at 5 VDC and up to 0.5 A current. There are NO hard drives capable of running with this power limit. Old "Laptop Hard Drive" units came with special cables to allow you to connect to TWO USB2 ports simultaneously for them to work OR with their own "wall wart" power module that you MUST use to get power to the drive unit. The newer USB3 systems (now all called USB 3.2 Genn) supply power at 5 VDC again but up to 0.9 A current. The new "Laptop Hard Drive" complete units sold for use with USB3 come with only a single normal-looking cable to connect to the USB3 port, and are designed specifically with hard drive units inside that CAN work properly within that power limit although they perform at somewhat lower data transfer rates to do that. It is not common to buy such a hard drive module by itself and then install it in your own enclosure, but that can be done. Alternatively you might have obtained a hard drive unit intended for use in a laptop machine that is NOT designed for that power limit and installed that in your enclosure. So, where did that HDD unit come from? What is its power requirement spec? It is possible that your laptop computer does provide standard power at its USB3 port that is not sufficient for a drive that needs more power, whereas your desktop machine's USB3 ports can supply MORE power than the USB3 standard.

It also is possible that your laptop computer's USB3 port does NOT supply power at the normal standard USB3 max current and that is why it does not work. In that case there is a work-around although this might not suit you. For this you need to buy a POWERED USB3 HUB - one that comes with its own power supply module that you must connect to it to supply power to connected devices. You connect that to your laptop computer's USB3 port, then connect your enclosure to the Hub. In this arrangement the enclosure is supplied power by the Hub and is not limited by what the laptop's port can supply. IF that works, you know the cause and the solution.

All of this power discussion assumes a factor you have not told us. I assumed that this enclosure allows you to connect only ONE device at a time. That is, you may use it with the SSD installed, OR with the laptop hard drive installed, but never with BOTH. Is that right or not? IF this enclosure is being operated with BOTH devices installed, that increases the current required and VERY likley that requirement exceeds the USB3 standard power specs. IF that is the case, you can verify by removing one of the devices so that only ONE item is installed in the enclosure. If it works that way with your laptop computer, you know the cause of your problem. In that case you might "get away" with using the enclosure with both items installed IF you also use the powered USB3 Hub added into your system. OR, IF that enclosure comes with its own power supply module that you have NOT been using, try that.

On the other hand, IF the encolsure does contain TWO devices but removing the hard drive module leaving only the SSD installed still does NOT allow it to work with the laptop computer, then we're back to the likelihood that the laptop is using a driver that is not suited for that encolsure. An SSD only in the enclosure certainly should not exceed the 0.9 A limit.
 
Last edited:

Tech Junky

Diamond Member
Jan 27, 2022
3,790
1,322
106
Laptops are finicky as they have a battery and if you're not plugged into the wall the power scheme maybe powering down to save battery. There's usually one port that is always powered on even if the laptop is sleeping to charge devices.

Check the port settings in device manager under advanced and uncheck any power saving options. Also, go into the power plan settings and check what's set.
 

ramki89

Junior Member
Jun 22, 2024
7
1
11
Orico confirmed that there are no separate Windows device drivers for this enclosure. It's plug-n-play. I have set windows 10 power plan to performance mode, earlier it was balanced.
 

Jimminy

Senior member
May 19, 2020
393
142
116
@ramki89 , try a new high quality cable. It will be thicker and maybe stiffer than the one that came with your orico enclosure. (and don't go much over 3 ft length)

I've seen a lot of problems with the cables supplied with enclosures (even the expensive name brands).

As far as orico, best I can tell they are selling the exact same stuff as the cheap chinese $5 enclosures on ebay. I've bought several oricos. One was dead out of the box. One worked, but had a flakey cable. Orico mostly supplies the branding and a slick web page, but not much else.

The cheap $5 ebay no name chinese USB3 enclosures have worked as well or better than orico (and all the other name brands I've used). They all use the same chips: asmedia, jmicron, realtek, Via labs, etc.

But They ALL came with crappy el cheapo cables. Some might work for a while, but only a few worked as much as a year. The cable seems to be the achiles heel for all of them. Try that first before you pull all your hair out and throw the orico away!

Hope this helps.
 
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