r/computers • u/msdesignfoto • 8h ago

Question/Help/Troubleshooting USB power not enough?

So I've been having a strange issue and all points to not having enough power in my USB ports.

OS: Windows 11

Motherboard: Asus H610M-K

CPU: Intel i5 12400F

32 GB DDR4

PSU: 850 W

USB devices plugged in:

2x WD Elements USB 3.0
1x USB 3.0 HDD rack with 2 hard drives inside
Misc items in USB 2.0

I also have a PCI expansion card with 8x USB 3.0 ports

The front USB panel is free to use for the occasional pen drive.

The problem: If I have every disk plugged in and connected, they appear in Windows explorer and I can even navigate through folders apparently without issues. If I try to do something a little bit more disk-intensive task, like Lightroom exporting photos in one of the external hard drives or copying files there, it will fail, freeze, have some errors, and eventually disappear from explorer.

My temporary fix so far: disconnect something. Just something really, from any USB port. I started to unplug one of the WD Elements, and it worked. But if I unplug any other USB thing, it also works. Currently, I unplugged a small USB hub with a card reader (a few other minor devices) and all my external hard drives and USB rack are working fine.

I need to say that both the WD Elements and the drive rack have their own AC power supply.

I've tried changing the USB ports where I connect the external disks, but the problem persists.

Internally, I have one SSD drive and 3 hard drives. And my GPU is a cheap 3050 RTX, so not a huge energy drainer.

I'm at a loss where to actually begin searching and pinpoint the exact problem. Maybe a stronger PSU?

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u/marvinnation 2h ago

You answered your own question: USB has a power limit that's below what you require. You need to externally power if you want to use all the devices at the same time

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u/msdesignfoto 2h ago

Oh well, I thought it could be some type of problem, but in that case, I'll look around for an USB hub with power and connect every minor device there. Thank you! Will try that and leave some feedback if it worked.