USB HDD & Extension Cable = Problem - Device Too Slow
I'll try to make this short. I have a 160 GB & a 750 GB HDD, both 3.5 Seagates, that I swapped out to test in the same self powered external enclosure.
I also have a Hitachi Simple Drive Mini 2.5 500 GB HDD that I obtained a power cable for. It will not run on the S9 without a power adapter but works just fine on the laptop & desktop with only the USB cable.
All drives worked on the S9 with an extension cable until yesterday. I have read that the S9 won't work with an extension cable. Mine did for a year...I was happy.
I have a 8GB USB stick I use for FW updates ONLY (Had all my S9 stuff on it). It has a LED that blinks when accessed. I plugged it into the desktop and the LED faded from bright to dim when I tried to read it...not normal. Should blink and not freeze the computer.
So, being the genius I am, I plugged it into the S9...and I know you see where I'm headed now so stop laughing!
The S9 couldn't read it either, duh. It had not been used since the last FW update I done around new years. Well I plugged in the 750 and got device too slow after a few minutes. Ok, just reboot it...no good. I put the 160 in it...no good...
I flashed with older known good FW, factory default, etc...no good.
I then copied the 750 to the desktop and formatted it and tried it in the S9 again. No good. I then deleted the partitions & formatted it and all was good on the S9, for 24 hours.
So, tonight it started the device too slow message again. I cleaned all connectors with tuner cleaner. Checked that they were tight enough...Did it all. No good.
Then I remembered people saying not to use an extension cable. I tried a different extension cable. No good.
Removed the extension cable and it has been running about 3 hours on the Hitachi. Other drives were tested a few minutes.
It seems to me I may have damaged the S9 with the bad USB stick. Not sure. Maybe weakened its power output...maybe the extension cable acts as an antenna and picks up noise and corrupts the data...don't know.
Maybe it is because it is a year old and it all just happened on the same day...don't know.
What I believe is that it did corrupt the partition table which is why it ran 24 hours after re-partitioning.
My data is fine except for the USB stick. I will report back and plan to check the voltage of the S9 USB to see if it is 5v or 4.6 etc. I also plan to test the extension cable on the S9, desktop and laptop.
Now for what I do know, finally. Don't plug a known broken device into a known working receiver!
The USB stick was on the shelf, not moved or in my pocket...just laid there and died. That is the second one that has done that. First one was a whopping 128 MB in the desk drawer...plugged it in one day...no good.
If this post seems long, remember, it ain't near as long as all that testing I did before I took the advice I had already read. I hope this helps some of you...that is why the title of this post has all the key words to do with USB, HDD, too slow etc.
If you have an S9 that never worked with an extension cable, well, don't know, mine did. It was 36". I say "was" because I'm gonna modify it to be a dog leash!
One more thing I do know. I looked on a lot of forums and found the most common problem of "too slow" to be recording HD to USB stick. Then there was the "too slow" in HD on any device.
I never had any of these problems on HDD's until the bad USB stick.
One more thing I know for sure...I hope It keeps working! I really don't need the extension cable for convience...that is why the drive was 750 GB...Only move it once in a while...not every day.
And, the bad USB stick didn't seem to hurt the desktop (I HOPE). I know, inquiring minds want to know.
