So I have a bunch of extra 1TB WD USB 3.0 HDD's and a few 3TB USB 3.0 Drives. Somewhere in the area of about maybe 20 or so. Only maybe 2 or 3 are directly plugged into the back of my ASUS Pro WS X570-ACE Motherboard. The rest are plugged into 1 or more AC Powered USB 3.0 Hubs. Some 7 Port, some 5 Ports. The Data on them is not critical. I have backups of what I truly care about incase the USB Drives to actually fail. That all being said, Every now and again one or more drives between the hubs/direct mobo connection will randomly start to disconnect and reconnect as if I unplugged/plugged back in. Sometimes non-stop for mins on end before chilling the heck out. I have noticed this same between the last few ASUS Motherboards I have got my hands on. But TBH I don't think its so much an issue with the Motherboard or the USB HDDs as much as the power draw that is being put on the USB BUS or interface itself or something! Could maybe be that I only have a 700 WATT 80+ (something or other) Thermaltake Smart Series power supply? With that being said, Does anyone know the theoretical limit of Power or Amps I can expect on something like this before the USB BUS or HUB or something just cant handle that much mechanical draw or whatever? How many USB HDDs or otherwise power hungry USB devices do you all tend to get away with without going too crazy? Thanks in advance for any feedback! ~MC
I own three WD 1TB and two 3TB but i don't have them plug in all the time, maybe they lose connection to the mobo after a while of no activity the HD go into sleep mode setting to preserve power consumption or to extend the life of the drive itself....have you run a diagnostic on the drives to see if their healthy?
Thanks for the reply. Yes I have run a few different tests on the Drive(s). Overall they seem to be fine (S.M.A.R.T) etc.. I event went as far as doing a sector by sector scan/zero of some of the drives that do randomly disconnect to see if maybe when hitting a certain sector or something that it would disconnect or something but doesnt seem to matter/help much. TBH I dont know what's up. I was just thinking that maybe too much power draw on the USB BUS or HUB or something. ~MC