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[SOLVED] External WD My Book Essential -- Can't get USB 2.0 to work

4079 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  JimE, 
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I have an older model WD My Book Essential 320gb external. It's the "green ring" button version. It is a USB 2.0 capable device. It is plugged into a USB 2.0 port on the motherboard (Biostar TA790GX A3+). Operating system is Win7 Business x64. USB 2.0 is properly setup in BIOS.

Other USB 2.0 devices are operating properly at Hi-Speed, but the hard drive will only work at "Full Speed" (USB 1.1). I have tried every port, I have tried different cables, I have uninstalled/reinstalled all USB drivers, and I'm running out of ideas! Transfer speed is quite slow (800-900 kb/s), which is absolutely brutal when trying to transfer large files. A search of the Western Digital knowledge base is unhelpful, as were my google/forum searches. I've found others with similar problems, but no working solutions as of yet.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. The idea of waiting 5-6 hours for a few gigs of data to transfer isn't pleasant!
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Re: External WD My Book Essential -- Can't get USB 2.0 to work

Has this ext. drive ever worked at at anything approaching USB 2.0 speeds?

Some old drives were designed for USB 1.1. They will still work on a USB 2.0 port but only at USB 1.1 speed.
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Re: External WD My Book Essential -- Can't get USB 2.0 to work

Yes, I seem to recall it working quite a lot faster in the past. I haven't paid as much attention until recently when I needed to move a large amount of data.

A quick check in AIDA64 reports that the device is capable of USB 2.0 speeds, and a look at the product documentation specifically states that it is a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 drive.
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Re: External WD My Book Essential -- Can't get USB 2.0 to work

Update:

Thanks for the advice. However, I have opted for an unorthodox solution. I simply [forcibly] removed the drive from the enclosure and installed it as an internal drive. My need for it as a portable drive is no long extant. Definitely faster now.
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JimE
That is the best solution anyway as internal drives are much faster. They are also much cheaper, but most people simply get externals as they are "easier".
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