External HDD 3.5 WD RED NAS Enclosure Keeps Ejecting

I have a Sabrent 3.5 external enclosure. It keeps ejecting itself from one of my Windows 10 computers running build 20H2 19041.804. The 3.5 HDD is a WD Red NAS HDD 4TB. The ejecting of the drive happens frequently. I use this drive to continually read/write data for various server related jobs. When I plug it into another computer it works fine. I swapped out the enclosure and the problem occurs again on the same problematic computer. There are 4 USB 3.0 ports on the machine and I've tried all of them with the same results. I have 2 USB ports being used by two other NAS's and they work fine. So the problem seems to be specifically related to the drive in this specific computer. The computer just stopped liking it one day and it's been plugged in for a couple years without a problem.

1. I've tried chkdsk and it is getting stuck at about 80% on the problematic machine yet it completes just fine on other machines.
2. HD Tune Pro shows that the interface CRC Error count is current 200, worst 195, threshold 0, data 435 and status attention. This makes me think the HDD is starting to show signs of failure if I am interpreting the numbers correctly.
3. HD Tune Pro finds no errors in its deep scan error scan.
4. WD Dashboard fails on the problematic computer because it keeps ejecting but passes on other machines.

So the pattern I am seeing is that the HDD fails and ejects constantly on the one machine I need it on but when I test it on other machines it passes except for the CRC error count with HD Tune Pro which stays consistent across the board because it is the S.M.A.R.T. data. Could anyone provide some advice on what my next steps should be other than backing up my data?

Thanks!

Does the enclosure use a separate power supply, or does it rely upon the USB port for power?

NavyLCDR said:

Does the enclosure use a separate power supply, or does it rely upon the USB port for power?

Yes. The enclosure has it's own power supply. And I've been using the current setup for over a year as is with no issues until recent. And I tried another enclosure that also requires its own power supply that I used and same problem.

Berton said:

What NavyLCDR asked. Most 3.5" drives require self-power as the USB supplies only 5V DC but the larger drives need both 5V and 12V. It could be the USB ports are having an issue and disconnecting themselves. I use 2 USB WD MyCloud 4TB drives and have the Power Options set to never turn the ports off, don't have an issue.

This enclosure is unmanned so to my knowledge there is no UI to go into and set it to never turn off like a WD MyCloud would have.

idgat said:

Assuming ejection caused after some inactivity period, short term solution - free software called KeepAliveHD. Runs in the background and writes a small text file to the drive every x seconds (user settings)

Good idea. However, the drive is in constant use in the original machine that keeps ejecting it. And when I hook it up to another machine it never gets ejected and no data is being written to it. So I don't believe this would be a solution but it is a good tool to have.

idgat said:

Interesting phenomenon. On the offending machine, tried all/different USB ports? Tried turning off the power saving options for the USB controller(s) through Device Manager?

As of now when plugged into the machine that is having problems with it, it now constantly loads then unloads the drive as soon as it's plugged in. And when I look into Computer Management it asks me to initialize the drive. But every scan that I have performed on a different machine tells me the drive is fine and can access the data off it just fine. So there is something wrong between this drive and the computer. Even WD Dashboard reports no problems.

I am thinking I may back up the data, initialize the drive in the problem computer and then see where that gets me.

What type of USB port is the HDD plugged into? Is it a port on the front of the computer, or on the back of the computer directly off the motherboard. If you have a black, USB 2.0 port available on the back of the computer directly off the motherboard, try using that port. That would be the most reliable USB port and it will tell you if it is a USB port/driver problem or not.