Annoying External HDD problem

Okay I have a Titan XS 500GB External Hard drive. Now for months now its been working fine but for the past 2 months everytime I've been trying to use it its been malfunctioning.

I would plug it in and it work fine for a few minutes then for some reason my computer would stop recognize it, then a message would come up saying that it needs to be formatted and then a smaller message would come up saying that it would work better with a High-Speed USB 2.0(something like that).

Anyway, its really annoying and I have no idea how to fix it. I've tried the other 2 USB ports and the same problem.

I'm planning on maybe buying external USB port adapters but is there anything I can do?

Why the computer wants to format the drive is confusing, but the message that it would work better with a USB 2.0 is clear, just look at the speeds differing:
USB 2.0 High-Speed: 480 Mb/s (max).
USB 1.1 Full Speed: 12 Mb/s.

Got any screendump of the whole ordeal? What OS are you using?

Windows 7

Its been happening off and on. And like I've said I've tried all 3 USB ports and even a different USB cable.

Sounds like one of three things:
1. The drive itself is failing. Not much you can do save getting everything off it ASAP.
2. The drive enclosure is failing. Not as serious, you'd just need to buy a new one and move the drive into it.
3. Your computer's USB host controller is failing. Since it'll almost certainly be part of the motherboard replacing it will involve buying a new Mobo and moving all your internal parts over.

Do you have trouble with any other USB devices and does switching to a different USB port fix it?

Originally Posted by John

Sounds like one of three things:
1. The drive itself is failing. Not much you can do save getting everything off it ASAP.
2. The drive enclosure is failing. Not as serious, you'd just need to buy a new one and move the drive into it.
3. Your computer's USB host controller is failing. Since it'll almost certainly be part of the motherboard replacing it will involve buying a new Mobo and moving all your internal parts over.

Do you have trouble with any other USB devices and does switching to a different USB port fix it?

Well my mouse is USB and it works fine. And when I'm not using my HDD its usually connected to my PS3. I also connected to another laptop and it worked fine.

It sounds weird, but it may be your old USB-ports unable to support the drive.
I could be wrong, but as John said, save everything on another computer for the time being to make sure you have everything safe.

Well I am planning on getting another external HDD and I already backed-up some of the files already so Ill just work the backups for now.

Thanks.

Sounds like either your USB Controller is failing or your OS is. If it's only that drive that ever gives you trouble though, then I honestly couldn't say.

Do you use two USB ports at the same time with it, or just one?

Originally Posted by Tesla

Do you use two USB ports at the same time with it, or just one?

I have 3 in total. One for my mouse, another for my external HDD and the last one for my cooling pad.

Originally Posted by John

Sounds like either your USB Controller is failing or your OS is. If it's only that drive that ever gives you trouble though, then I honestly couldn't say.

Sounds about accurate. I'm a Mac technician but computers are computers. It depends on how your computer is actually built but it screams hardware to me. It could be the ports (perhaps too much power is being drawn). Now it all depends if those ports are on their own board or if they're connected to the motherboard.