[RESOLVED] PSU Disconnects SATA HDDs

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March 5th, 2014, 08:47 PM
Falcon Speed

[RESOLVED] PSU Disconnects SATA HDDs

OCZ Mod Stream Pro 700watts

Is this normal for a power supply unit?

I have a sata hdd which I ran a sata cable and powerline from the case to outside to the drive. When copying small files TO it, it does fine. When copying large files (more than 5 gb) TO it, it disconnects the drive. Read operations seem to be fine. It is the Write operations to the drive that is coughing up.

I know you probably thinking it is the HDD. Nope, it can't be, because it is happening to all drives that I plugged into it, including a brand new one that I recently bought.

One more thing, the drives are TRUECRYPT which means that when copying to, it would required heavy usage of the CPU to encrypt. Can this be something related to the CPU?

I tried modifying things in BIOS, from increase the RAM Voltage to QPI. I even tried different sata POWER cable slots. It still kept disconnecting on large files unless if I move 1 large file at a time and that is only sometimes it would work.

So just now, I decided to power the drive up with an external power supply unit and copied large files to it. It worked! I just would like to understand what is going on.
March 5th, 2014, 11:22 PM
Train

Put a house fan to blowing into the case. My bet is if you monitor the cpu temp it will flat scare you.
March 5th, 2014, 11:33 PM
Falcon Speed

I use RealTemp for years and it has been reliable. It did not show anything out of the norm. I still wonder why using an external PSU would work.
March 6th, 2014, 02:03 AM
Train

I all ways use a external power supply with a external hdd.
Safer and does not tax the internal power supply. Yours maybe getting close to its final legs. Awful close at that.

Sorry missed this edit the first time.

Quote:

So just now, I decided to power the drive up with an external power supply unit and copied large files to it. It worked! I just would like to understand what is going on.

WD Caviar Blue 500 GB SATA Hard Drives (WD5000AAKX)
Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s
Read/Write: 6.8 Watts
Idle: 6.10 Watts

WD Caviar Blue 500 GB SATA Hard Drives (WD5000AAKS)
Interface: SATA 3 Gb/s
Read/Write: 8.77 Watts
Idle: 8.40 Watts

WD Caviar Blue 500 GB PATA Hard Drives (WD5000AAKB)
Interface: PATA 100 MB/s
Read/Write: 8.77 Watts
Idle: 8.40 Watts

Maybe to close to the onboards power limit too.
March 6th, 2014, 11:29 AM
SpywareDr

Sounds like your externally connected drives are not getting enough power. What size and length is the power lead?
March 6th, 2014, 04:47 PM
Midknyte

Quote:

I have a sata hdd which I ran a sata cable and powerline from the case to outside to the drive.

How did you do that? Did you have to use some power cable extensions?
March 9th, 2014, 01:42 PM
Falcon Speed

SpywareDr and Midknyte, I bought extensions for both the sata power and input. Like Spyware said, it does have something to do with the power because when I use an external power supply source, no problem at all. Also, it is off and on. Sometime, I don't need to do that.

Have you heard of any settings in BIOS or Windows 7 that limits copy or move action of large files? Or is it overload of CPU since the HDD are Truecrypt?
March 9th, 2014, 01:45 PM
Train

Sounds like the PSU is overloaded.

Or that line you tapped into is overloaded.
March 9th, 2014, 02:11 PM
SpywareDr

As you can tell, not enough power corrupts data ... and the poor computer keeps on trying repeatedly to copy and verify that the data has been copied across correctly ... which is wasting electricity, generating excess heat, and wearing out computer components.
March 9th, 2014, 10:00 PM
Shinma

Quote:

Originally Posted by Falcon Speed

... Have you heard of any settings in BIOS or Windows 7 that limits copy or move action of large files? ...

No such thing.
March 10th, 2014, 04:40 AM
Midknyte

Quote:

I bought extensions for both the sata power and input

Did you use the extension on the external PSU as well? If it has the same problem, then it's probably the extensions causing the problem.
March 13th, 2014, 11:31 AM
Falcon Speed
Hi,

So, it turns out that is NOT the Power Supply Unit or cable extensions after all. I have been using an external power supply source for the extra external hard drives.

Here is a recap:

The external sata HDD (copy to) disconnects when I copy or move multiple large files (more than 4 gb). It does not happen to files (truecrypt files or even regular files) smaller than 4gb. I thought it was the power so I plugged the HDDs to external power supply unit. That worked off and on just like the usage of the internal power supply unit.

Two things that I noticed:
- The HDDs that are NOT disconnecting and working fine when I copy or move these files are 1.5 tb and below. They use MBR.
- The HDDs that are disconnecting and NOT working fine when I copy or move these files are 2.0 tb and above. They use GPT.
- The HDDs that are NOT disconnecting and working fine when I copy or move these files are TRUECRYPT with single or double encryption with AES and TwoFish.
- The HDDs that are disconnecting and NOT working fine when I copy or move these files are TRUECRYPT with triple encryption with Serpent, AES and TwoFish.
The power supply and cable extensions seem to be NOT the problem but something with the CPU and TrueCrypt. The drives that are copying or moving FROM are SSDs and they are not TrueCrypt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shinma

No such thing.

I google Windows 7 and there seems to be something related to caching when copying or moving large files. The solution that they provided is RoboCopy.

Also and again, I wondered if it might be settings in the BIOS because I avoid overclocking my computer and keep it at default with energy saving power options and life extension options for the CPU.

Here is the MB:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128422
Here is the CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115225
Here is the RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220543 I DRAM voltage it at 1.60 instead of 1.65.

Thank You so far, for your participation everyone!!!
April 12th, 2014, 03:31 AM
Falcon Speed

Here is an update on this. I got it resolved but I am not sure why it is acting like this.

When I plug my SATA drives in Intel Controller ICH10R (SATA2 3gb/s), everything is fine.

When I plug the exact same SATA drives in MARVELL (SATA3 6gb/s), it will fail on large file copy/move actions. If I plug an external power into the drives on large file copy/move actions, then it is fine. Obviously, there is not enough power from a 700W PSU? I have the basic equipment.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9SIA4H81E87131
April 17th, 2014, 05:32 PM
Shinma

OCZ has a mixed reputation for their power supplies since they are rarely the oem.
April 17th, 2014, 06:18 PM
Falcon Speed

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shinma

OCZ has a mixed reputation for their power supplies since they are rarely the oem.

Tell me about.

Tell me about it.
:d
April 18th, 2014, 07:51 AM
Derp

Buy a quality power supply

I personally prefer Seasonic as they also build high-end power supplies sold under the Corsair and other labels. The Corsair HX series is also a very good choice. OCZ has sold some very questionable hardware and earned the bad reputation they ended up with. OCZ is now owned by Toshiba.
March 3rd, 2015, 11:13 PM
Falcon Speed

It has been a year that when I started this thread. I want to update. The cause of the problem was because of a eSata adapter. As soon as I removed it last year and replaced it with a long SATA extension cable, the HDDs never disconnected again when copying large files.

Therefore, it was not a Power Supply Unit or any other issue. Don't use the eSata adapter that comes with the Gigabyte motherboard.