USB 3.0 drive connecting at USB 2.0 speed

I have a Western Digital 1TB USB 3.0 external drive. I am connecting it to the correct (blue) USB 3.0 port on my Acer Aspire 5755-6647 laptop which runs Windows 7 x64.

Upon connection, I get the "This device can perform faster: This USB Mass Storage Device can transfer information faster if you connect it to a Super-Speed USB 3.0 port" message. When copying files off the drive, I get about 32 MB/s, which corresponds to USB 2.0 speeds.

I have tried disabling USB power management in the USB 3.0 Host Controller Utility. I have tried uninstalling the device and reinstalling it. The cable I am using came with the drive and is a USB 3.0 cable. I have the newest Renesas USB 3.0 driver installed (2.0.34.0). I have also tried using an older Renesas driver. My BIOS is up to date (P5WE0121).

I can't figure out what else to do. If it helps, the first time I connected this drive to my laptop, it was on a USB 2.0 port (I had for some reason misremembered which side of the laptop had the 3.0 port and didn't check for blue). As I said, though, I've uninstalled the device completely. I suspect that Windows may be "remembering" the device and installing it with the 2.0 driver.

Accepted answers

astaroth

Update: I ended up trying one last thing before going to Acer for support. I thought that perhaps not enough power was being supplied by my USB 3.0 port to the drive, forcing it to "downshift" to 2.0. So I bought a Y-cable for $5 to provide auxiliary power from the adjacent 2.0 port. Result: IT WORKS. Immediately connected as a USB 3.0 device and transfer speeds are USB 3.0.

Solved. Kinda disappointed in Acer/Intel for the sub-par USB 3.0 port, though.

All comments

marcof11

just bardging into this thread, since I am a HP Elitebook 1040 user.

I have similar situation with my WD My passport USB disk. I noticed that I get that message if I have connected something else earlier to the same port. ( in my case a wirelesss Logitech USB keiboard mouse hub.

It seems that the system has downgraded that port to USB 2, until I power the computer off and reboot.

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