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    X220 or any Thinkpad - USB 3.0 question

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by shazzoz, Jun 11, 2011.

  1. shazzoz

    shazzoz Notebook Consultant

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    Has anyone else had issues with the USB 3.0 connection when using it with an external USB 3.0 hard drive?

    I'm having a heck of a time with two new WD My Passport Essential SE 1tb USB 3.0 drives. They work just fine in one of the 2.0 ports, but are often not recognized when I attach them (using one at a time only) to the 3.0 port.

    Can usually get them to be recognized in the USB 3.0 port after a fresh boot, but not always.

    I've tried lots of things - about the only thing I can think of is to update the BIOS - my X220 came with 1.12 and that's what's still on there. I'm hesitant to mess with it since I don't have any fan or other problems.

    Any feeback is appreciated - even if it's just to say things work fine for you.
     
    shazzoz, Jun 11, 2011
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  2. kirayamato26

    kirayamato26 Notebook Deity

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    Did you do a clean install? If you did, you need the drivers.
     
    kirayamato26, Jun 11, 2011
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  3. shazzoz

    shazzoz Notebook Consultant

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    I haven't yet done a clean install - I have, however, uninstalled the USB 3.0 drivers and installed updated ones.

    I do realize it could be a problem with my passport drives, but they both behave the same, so that seems unlikely (but certainly not impossible).
     
    shazzoz, Jun 11, 2011
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  4. david1274

    david1274 Notebook Evangelist

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    I seem to remember hearing the same complaints from other notebook owners, such as Dell XPS. Possibly, it's to do with the fact that USB 3.0 is not currently supported by intel and comes by way of a third-party chipset.
     
    david1274, Jun 11, 2011
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  5. Sally4

    Sally4 Notebook Geek

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    shazzoz,
    Mine works fine with no driver changes. I actually use a cheap USB3-SATA dongle that plugs onto any SATA disk. That gives me USB3 file transfer speeds on all my old SATA HD's
     
    Sally4, Jun 11, 2011
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  6. shazzoz

    shazzoz Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks for the feedback.

    So far, I am still hit or miss with the My Passport drives being recognized at USB 3. I've tried lots of things - even reformatting one of the My Passports. I'll do a clean install on the X220 later, but doubt that will help.

    I think the root of the problem may be related to the fact that I also used the drives in the USB 2 ports - I didn't have an issue until I used it to transfer files to my desktop which only has USB 2.

    I've googled and read what I can about USB 3 issues, but no real solution.
     
    shazzoz, Jun 12, 2011
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