Windows 7: USB 3.0 port won't recognize USB 3.0 hard drive

Hi everybody,

I have an Asus U46e-BAL5 and was really happy with the USB 3.0 port as a future proof technology. I didn't get to use it until I purchased a Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1TB USB 3.0. Everything ran smoothly the first few months, but recently, things have been strange. The USB 3.0 port seems to recognize USB 2.0 drives just fine. I plugged in my Patriot Xporter XT into that port, and the drive was recognizes just fine. But my Western Digital drive won't work in the USB 3.0 port for some reason. It works in any other USB 2.0 port, and it works on my desktop's USB 2.0 ports. I tried reinstalling the drivers for the hard drive, but that didn't fix anything. Does anyone have suggestions?

If you are using the front panel USB 3.0 ports on your case, check the USB 3.0 cable where it plugs into the motherboard. If you are using the rear panel ports from the motherboard, check device manager, and expand USB ports and find the USB 3.0 controller, go to properties and see if there is an error code or a yellow triangle over the icon for USB 3.0. failing that I would check the hard drive itself. You can run diagnostics by downloading Windig, Western Digital's diagnostic tool.

I'm using a laptop, so I'm not sure if I can get into the case to check the USB 3.0 cable. I checked device manager and it says the device is working properly. Will that diagnostics work for external drives as well?

EDIT: Nvm, I see that it works for both external and internal. sorry!

I ran the diagnostic, and got a PASS for the test results. So it looks like my hard drive is working fine?

Yes, it will work for internal or external drives.

If you can, try another USB3.0 device of any kind to test the port. It could be the USB 3 cable id bad too, try another one.
If you have access to another computer with USB 3, try the drive there.

So it looks like the diagnostic came back fine. Is there something I can run to test the USB 3.0 capability of the drive? Thank you for your help!


I don't have another USB 3.0 device unfortunately, but I think I can try testing with another computer that has USB 3.0. Will have to get back to you later today on that. Thank you for the reply!

I haven't had a chance to test my hard drive on another USB 3.0 port, but here are screen shots of my device manager when there is no hard drive connected to any port, when my hard drive is connected to a USB 2.0 port, and when my hard drive is connected to a USB 3.0 port.

Western Digital's site lists drivers and software downloads as well as a knowledge base. I'm just not sure which version you have. If it does not have it's own power source, the laptop may not provide the power to run it. If your USB 3.0 drivers for your laptop are up to date and western Digital's web site can't provide any information, I'm not sure what to do. If you can find a friend who has USB 3.0 and connect it to their computer, it may tell you whether the problem is with your laptop or the drive.

Ah, I figured it out. Something's wrong with my cable; for whatever reason, my cable will work only with USB 2.0 ports, not USB 3.0. I borrowed my friend's hard drive, who has the exact same model as mine. Both of our hard drives worked through the USB 3.0 port when using her cable, and her hard drive didn't work through the USB 3.0 port using my cable either, so something must have happened to my cable. Guess I need to find a replacement...