Could a Faulty/Damaged USB Port Cause Transfer Speed Issues w/ an External HDD?

[Mastermmm]

I currently have a Macbook Pro Retina 15", which has two USB 3.0 ports, one on each side of the laptop casing. The laptop has encountered some slight drops and possible liquid or particles that may have come in contact with the left USB port, although it is hard for me to say.

With that said, it seems whenever I plug in my external HDD's to this port, and attempt transferring information from either one external HDD to the other, or from my internal SSD itself, several issues tend to arise. I will either have the HDD simply disconnect, receive an error 36 (when using OSX, I have a dual boot with Windows 10 as well), or very slow or occasional pausing with transfer speeds. I have the same issues, minus the specific error on OSX, when using Windows 10 on this computer. Note: I have tried this with multiple different External HDD's, so I can assume it is not the HDD's that are faulty. They are all in exFAT format, with a 1024kb File Allocation Size.

Today I tried using the other USB port on the right hand side, and I immediately saw a difference. The files started transferring immediately without any delay, and at an alarming speed while using USB 3.0. Usually, the speed ranges from 10-30mb/s, which I know is quite slow, but slow is better than none. Now, it appears to be from 45-85 mb/s.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[mrmez]

Definitely a hardware issue then.

Not much you can do but avoid using that port.
Surprising if it was just a few drops of water. I've poured beer over an on, open MBP once. Shut it off immediately, cleaned and dried it, no issues.

 

[Mastermmm]

Definitely a hardware issue then.

Not much you can do but avoid using that port.
Surprising if it was just a few drops of water. I've poured beer over an on, open MBP once. Shut it off immediately, cleaned and dried it, no issues.

Thanks! I assumed as much, considering when I plugged it into a different USB port, I automatically saw a difference with no disconnection issues. I also had a similar issue even when plugged into the good port when using a USB 3.0 splitter which I bought from eBay (probably a knock off, hence the issues). I just purchased this spliter from Amazon, thinking it would more reliable and of better quality:

http/www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XMD7KPU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

Now my question is, do you think I will have any connection or transfer speed issues with this splitter, considering it is getting all its power from the laptop?

Thanks!

 

[mrmez]

Anker are good quality. I have a bunch of their stuff.
Regardless of the machine, USB 3 only provides 900mA of power. So long as the sum of connected devices doesn't exceed that, you should be fine. If it does, one or more of your devices will disconnect.
Transfer speeds shouldn't slow with low power, they kind of work 100% or not at all.
Most of the no name brand electrical stuff on ebay is complete garbage and shouldn't be trusted.

 

[Mastermmm]

Anker are good quality. I have a bunch of their stuff.
Regardless of the machine, USB 3 only provides 900mA of power. So long as the sum of connected devices doesn't exceed that, you should be fine. If it does, one or more of your devices will disconnect.
Transfer speeds shouldn't slow with low power, they kind of work 100% or not at all.
Most of the no name brand electrical stuff on ebay is complete garbage and shouldn't be trusted.

Good to hear. I hate wasting money on shit that breaks weeks later and am unable to return (usually eBay stuff). What would you say the average External HDD is? Before when I had 3 or 4 HDD's connected, they would frequently disconnect. From my Google search it would appear that the mA usage when transferring is between 10-12 Watts, or 10,000 to 12,000 mA.

 

[mrmez]

10,000 mA is a heck of a lot for a portable device.
You'll likely only be able to run a single hdd from a usb port. Flash drives you'd be able to run quite a few.
If you do need to run multiple ext HDD's, you'll need a powered hub.

 

[Mastermmm]

10,000 mA is a heck of a lot for a portable device.
You'll likely only be able to run a single hdd from a usb port. Flash drives you'd be able to run quite a few.
If you do need to run multiple ext HDD's, you'll need a powered hub.

Just got my Anker 4 way USB 3.0 splitter in a day or so ago, and I've been transferring large amounts of files at a time from one External HDD to another without a problem (for the most part). Just recently, though, I've been getting an error code when transferring files, as it cannot locate the file and/or freezes. On Windows 10, the error reads: "Error: 0x80070079: The semaphore timeout period has expired. On OSX Yosemite 10.10.5, it reads something along the lines of 'Could not find file, error 36. Any ideas of what may be causing this? One of the drives seems to shut off on it's own after a short period of time but I could be wrong. If this is the case, how could I change this?

Thanks!