Hey guys, I use Windows 10 Pro with an external USB 3.0 hard drive for storage and backup purposes. I've seen some strange behavior lately. When I plug in the external drive, there is a long delay in Windows recognizing the drive. The LED for the C drive stays on for about 30 seconds and the computer is basically locked up while this is happening. The C drive does not have any issues, I tested it and it is working correctly. The motherboard has Intel and Renesas USB built in, this happens on both controllers. If anyone has a fix for this, please share. Thank you!
I assume that its connector makes good contact. Try other ports too. Then check its driver in Disk Management and try to update it.
If the external HDD is a 'normal' SATA HDD, it will need some time for to be fully recognized if plugged into a running Computer/Laptop, which is depend on the speed of that HDD (RPM) and seek time, which differs by brands! If you run AV etc. which is set to auto scan attached external storage, the time to have access to that drive is even longer, as well as that time may even extend on 'age'!
My, now crashed, external usb2 hdd (and the previous one before that) did the same, it spinned up and for 20-30sec it was busy connecting while the LED flashed blue/red. My new usb3 drive almost instantly connects.
I would recommend you check the Device Manager to see if you can get a compatible device driver information on it. Sometimes it could be a driver issue that needs to be installed manually.
test it on other computer [ask for a second opinion] if the behavior is the same buy other external hdd. anyway backup your data ASAP on other device. also you can test the hdd with [hdd sentinel]/[hd tune] or else for health . [crystal disk info] is not so good for me . c
It could be failing logical board, broken cable or just something else. I would rather try all means possible to make sure all culprits are eliminated from the list before opting for a replacement(with regard to the USB 2.0 Ext.HDD).