USB3 Drive Base Disconnecting During Write Cycle

Anonymous
2015-11-29T04:40:25+00:00

OK, this is an interesting problem.

So, I have an external SSD in a USB3 enclosure, and I've been moving my Steam Library onto it.

The SSD is a Samsung EVO 850, 500GB drive. I've tried two different enclosures, a Startech and an Orico. Both behave the same way.

The enclosure is hooked up through the keyboard base of the Surface Book via one of the USB3 ports.

The problem I'm encountering is when the drive is busy writing files the base seems to disconnect and the drive disappears. It eventually remounts, but of course the damage is done... 

To test this issue, I ran Crystal Disk Mark 5 on the external drive, and the read cycle is fine. Once the write cycle begins, it seems to hang up and then suddenly the drive disconnects.

Anyone have any idea what might be going on here?

Surface | Surface Book | Display and screen

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-12-04T03:58:31+00:00

    Gary,

    Please try connecting an external hard disk or SSD and copy a large folder to it from the internal driver or a SD Card. (at least 10GB.

    I would love to hear that you can do that without any hanging or errors, but I have seen enough people on the forum with problems in this area that I am extremely concerned.

    How do you find the lot number? I just got mine last week and it was definitely not a returned item. i7, 16GB, 512GB.

    Kim

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-12-04T00:08:21+00:00

    I always thought that Lot 1542 was the first lot, so your current lot is the earliest I've ever heard of.  A New York Microsoft Store should be moving a lot of Surface Books, so you should find them to be at Lot 1546 or greater.  My Atlanta Store was at  Lot 1546 when I got this one over two weeks ago.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-12-03T23:49:07+00:00

    Wow, my LOT was 1541, so it was REAL early... Maybe I'll look for one with a later LOT number.

    Thanks for that suggestion!

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-12-03T22:39:23+00:00

    Thanks for the info Gary. I'm glad it's working out for you. Maybe mine was just defective. I really want to love this computer. I might go buy another one this weekend and give it another shot. Maybe I'll get lucky this time. Mine was a day one Surface book, maybe later ones are better. 

    I also had a day one SB.

    This is my fourth SB.

    Here is my history.

    Lot 1542 - replaced because of Intel driver error.  I know now it didn't need to be replaced.

    Lot 1543 - replaced because of keyboard light under space bar misplaced and glaring in my eyes.

    Lot 1544 - replaced because of total hardware malfunction releasing tablet/screen.

    Lot 1546 - current SB is working flawlessly and I am very happy with it.

    The odds are that you would get a problem free SB if you tried again.

    You might check the Lot number on the back of the box before accepting it.

    BTW, I subscribe to your YouTube channel.

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-12-03T22:08:25+00:00

    No luck with the Y cable either. I'm close to giving up too

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