Portable HD Not 'Seen' on New Laptop

[rjbinney]

I think I need a better vocbulary, I've Google "USB drive won't mount" and "USB drive not recognized", but I don't know that other people's problems are the same as mine.

I haven't done a lot of troubleshooting, as my laptop is literally just out of the box. I wanted to get some opinions before uninstalling/reinstalling/etc.

Here are the details:

When I plug my portable hard drive into my new laptop, it doesn't appear as a drive.

It is a WD My Passport 1TB drive, that does not take external power.

When I plug it in, the light on the drive comes on and is steady, does not flash like it's reading/writing. I received - on one of the ports - a "This device will run faster on a 3.0 port" message, but still it did nothing. The drive does not appear in Explorer or in Device Manager.

This is on my new Dell Latitude E7250; the same drive with the same cable mount immediately (on all ports) on my other Dell Latitude, an E6430. I have tried both with 65W and 90W power supplies, the 6430 work fine with both power bricks, the 7250 with neither. Both are running Win 7.

I'm wondering if it's a matter of the new Dell not throwing off enough power? That it's enough to turn the light on, but not I/O data? But is that even reasonable, that they would make a business laptop that wouldn't work with the most basic of peripherals?

Again, I won't be able to dig into this until Monday afternoon, but I want to dig in with gusto! So what are your ideas, fellow CH Boardsmen?

[Geek-9pm]

... my laptop is literally just out of the box...

You have done enough.
Your external drive requires a small amount of power. The laptop should deliver it. Likely it does. Why it is not seen is a mystery.

Because this is a new laptop, now is the tire to call Dell and tell them. Just because it is new does not mean it is perfect. In fact, new PCs and laptops do fail sometimes. It is a fact. Let Dell figure it out. You should send it back ASAP.  But first talk to them.

EDIT: Here is the manual for the WD drive.
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705063.pdf
The manual indicates the drive will mount before the software is installed. You  will find the setup on the drive itself.
However, did you perhaps reformat the drive? 
If needed:
http://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?DL

[rjbinney]

Great. Thanks. It's a work computer, so it goes through, like, seven gates of Help before reaching Dell. I was on the phone with our external support team when we discovered t he issue (was going to use it for a local move of My Docs rather than OTA.) They seemed stymied, but we had higher priorities at the moment....

I just wanted to make sure that you guys didn't all log on and say, "Duh, everyone knows laptops built after July 2015 don't support WD drives...."

[patio]

WD's enclosures for that drive don't exactly have rave reviews...does it work on other PC's ? ?

[BC_Programmer]

I'm wondering if it's a matter of the new Dell not throwing off enough power? That it's enough to turn the light on, but not I/O data? But is that even reasonable, that they would make a business laptop that wouldn't work with the most basic of peripherals?

It's possible.

When a device is connected to a port, the port, as per the standard, only needs to provide 100mA of current at maximum. This is not enough for any external drive, though. What happens then is that the drive negotiates for more power. According to the USB spec, a USB 2.0 host can only provide up to 500mA of current per-port.

Most external drives require more than that to spin up their drives, except for very low-power versions, mind you. So how does that work?

USB has a separate specification called the Power Delivery Specification. This tends to get supported on the vast majority of devices, and allows a device to negotiate for far more current (I think the limit is up to 2 Amps). However, support is not universal.

It could be the case that the system you have doesn't support the Power Delivery Specification.

Another possibility could be that the in-circuit semiconductor fuse for the USB port(s) causes an effective current limit of less than 500mA. For the device this could be pulling down the voltage, causing the logic board to be unable to do it's work, like a semi-conscious accountant being asked to do taxes.

From what I was able to find, a 2.5" WD Passport drive needs 600mA to function properly. so it is possible this is the case. I was able to find some other references to some laptop systems having issues with devices that require more power, and others not.

One option is a USB Y-Cable. You would be able to connect the drive to two USB Ports, and one is used for more power, allowing for 1A which should be enough for a drive like that.

[rjbinney]

Hm. Wouldn't that be odd that something billed as "for on-the-go professionals" wouldn't support something like a portable drive?

What questions do I need to ask the folks that bought this/specced this to find out if I have the "Power Delivery Specification" protocol described?

And if it does not, is there anything to do - other than buying a new cable?

And, theoretically, there's an "Intel USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller" and "USB 3.0 Root Hub"... So would that mean there's a port that draws more power?

[rjbinney]

WD's enclosures for that drive don't exactly have rave reviews...does it work on other PC's ? ?

This is on my new Dell Latitude E7250; the same drive with the same cable mount immediately (on all ports) on my other Dell Latitude, an E6430. I have tried both with 65W and 90W power supplies, the 6430 work fine with both power bricks, the 7250 with neither. Both are running Win 7.

Only other one I have access to. I may be able to try a similar-to-the-7250 tomorrow.


And, on the Y cable front.... There are three ports on this laptop, one on the side and two on the back. The two on the back are about eight inches apart.... Doubtful I'll find a cable to accommodate that?