With no motherboard USB 3 support, I installed a Renesas card. One of the two USB 3 ports feeds a drop-in two-HDD drive array and the other port feeds a hub for all other USB devices. I often use a pocket-size drive for my sophisticated sneakernet file transfer system to another computer. I use the taskbar's "safely remove" function before disconnecting the drives.
The problem is that using that safe-removal tool often seems to mark the entire USB hub for disconnecting. Even though the USB wifi antenna continues to work, as does the dongle for mouse & keyboard, Windows won't recognize a drive that's plugged in. In Device Manager, the hub has a warning icon saying it's been marked for removal but not removed yet. I have to disconnect and reconnect the hub to get things going again.
Renasas refers me to the card manufacturer, which is apparently a back-alley shop in Taipei that replies in delightfully fractured but unhelpful English.
I've tried disabling disk caching on the external drive, but it does seem to affect system speed. If that's the only answer, though, it's better than constantly unplugging and replugging the hub.
Are there any alternatives that I can try? Thumb drives seem to have an "Eject" option in their context menu, but the external USB drives don't. Is there any way to get Windows to treat my drive like a thumb drive so I can (I hope) eject only the drive and not the hub it's connected to?
Any way to tweak the safe removal routine? For what it's worth, on this computer "safe removal" shows all my installed drives as available for removal, including the system drive. I don't see that on other computers.
Tips, comments, etc. are very welcome. Thanks.
The problem is that using that safe-removal tool often seems to mark the entire USB hub for disconnecting. Even though the USB wifi antenna continues to work, as does the dongle for mouse & keyboard, Windows won't recognize a drive that's plugged in. In Device Manager, the hub has a warning icon saying it's been marked for removal but not removed yet. I have to disconnect and reconnect the hub to get things going again.
Renasas refers me to the card manufacturer, which is apparently a back-alley shop in Taipei that replies in delightfully fractured but unhelpful English.
I've tried disabling disk caching on the external drive, but it does seem to affect system speed. If that's the only answer, though, it's better than constantly unplugging and replugging the hub.
Are there any alternatives that I can try? Thumb drives seem to have an "Eject" option in their context menu, but the external USB drives don't. Is there any way to get Windows to treat my drive like a thumb drive so I can (I hope) eject only the drive and not the hub it's connected to?
Any way to tweak the safe removal routine? For what it's worth, on this computer "safe removal" shows all my installed drives as available for removal, including the system drive. I don't see that on other computers.
Tips, comments, etc. are very welcome. Thanks.