[Video Editing] How to Deal with Frequent Disconnections of External SSDs on Windows 10

I was really stumped.

While editing a video in Adobe Premiere Pro, the cursor suddenly turned into a spinning wheel and froze! Afterward, all the links to the video assets were broken, and the screen turned red (the screen turns red when asset links are broken).

Huh?

Well, I thought, maybe that happens sometimes, it's probably just a fluke. So I restarted. Then, while editing a video in Adobe Premiere Pro again, the spinning wheel started suddenly! At first, I thought it was a problem with the external SSD, but even when I connected the same SSD to my Mac and edited, there were no issues at all. Just to be sure, I tried switching to another SSD of the same type, but the result was the same. So,

This might be a Windows 10 problem.

I thought, and searched extensively.

Suspecting Power Options

The first thing I found was "How to fix external hard disk drive disconnections in Windows 10"
https://fickleblog.com/windows10_hdd_cut/

This article mentioned hard drive settings related to the PC's "Power Options." It also suggested settings like disabling USB selective suspend in "Power Options" to prevent it from going to sleep unnecessarily. In short, I changed the settings to prevent it from arbitrarily going into sleep mode! However, it didn't improve the situation.

I also went through Device Manager, opened the properties of each device under "Universal Serial Bus controllers," and unchecked the mysterious option "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" in the "Power Management" tab.

Phew, I'm safe now.

That thought lasted only a moment. The situation didn't improve at all.

Suspecting Virus Buster

So, the next thing I suspected was "Virus Buster Cloud." My grandpa used to say, or maybe not, that if there's ever a problem with a drive, suspect the security software. Anyway, it was Virus Buster. Looking at the settings, I found an option that proudly stated, "Protect all connected external storage devices such as USB memory sticks"! I thought, "It's definitely you!" and turned off the setting. Then, for the third time, I started video editing...

Oh nooooo, it's still disconnecting!

I'm at my wit's end. I have no knowledge left. I thought about giving up and just editing on my Mac! But if I leave this as is, I'll never edit on a PC again. So, I decided to stick with it and research a little more. Then, I found...

Micro-freezes due to LPM

"Windows 10 Micro-freeze Causes and Solutions Summary [2021] Gaming PCs (GALLERIA XF etc.) are now commonly equipped with SSDs as standard, and the micro-freeze issue is also mentioned in reviews!"
https://gamingpcs.jp/knowledge/trouble_taisaku/putifreeze/

I found an article like this! "Micro-freeze" is a term I'd never heard before. However, the symptoms are similar! Moreover, the PC I use for video editing is a top-of-the-line gaming PC. According to this article, problems with LPM settings can cause the SSD to disconnect. The power-saving function's communication commands for the SSD are not working correctly, resulting in freezes (disconnections).

Change the setting for AHCI Link Power Management – HIPM/DIPM to Active from [Change advanced power settings]

As a result, this change stopped the arbitrary SSD disconnection phenomenon. It might seem like it was resolved in about an hour when written down, but that's not the case at all. I'm conveying the results of struggling for several days in this amount of text.

By the way,

Other sites (especially those selling SSDs, etc.) only offered information like "Is the cable bad?" or "Is the power supply faulty?" or "What about the drivers, did you update those?" None of it was helpful.

I think quite a few people use gaming PCs for video editing because they are high-spec, but I couldn't find this kind of information online. Therefore, if anyone is having trouble with a similar phenomenon related to video editing, I would like to recommend trying this.

Some people might say, "Editing data from an external drive in the first place is a bad idea." However, I don't edit on a single computer. I edit while moving around like a nomad, using both my Mac and PC. For someone like me, an external SSD is an essential item.

Or rather, what is this Windows 10 that even gives such errors in the first place?

That's the story. I don't think anyone who isn't very knowledgeable about computers could solve it. Also, even if a problem occurs, if you don't know how to search for it (what keywords to use), you'll never find the answer you're looking for. In this case, knowing the word "puchifuri" might have solved it instantly, but it was a word I'd never heard before. Searching for "disconnection" or "freeze" didn't yield any results.

I spent valuable editing time troubleshooting, so I can only hope this doesn't happen again in the future.

*Added 9/4/2021

Actually, the story continues after this. That's because the "puchifuri"-like phenomenon recurred. I contacted PC repair services, but they couldn't solve it at all. I was at my wit's end, thinking the only option left was to request a repair from the company I bought the PC from, when new information came in. It was about a motherboard issue. Indeed, the SSD was external, and it was a USB-related phenomenon, so a motherboard problem was a very plausible cause. So, while I was investigating the motherboard-related aspects of my PC,

"USB connection frequently drops"

This result came up. It suggested that updating the BIOS might fix it, so I went to the website for the ROG Strix X570-E Gaming, found the BIOS update information, and successfully updated it. After the update, it started running smoothly again, as if nothing had ever happened (lol). Looking at the BIOS log information on the website, it stated that version 3603 (3/20/2021) improved USB connection issues. I regret not knowing this sooner.

Still, it was a long ordeal.

Nevertheless, this case taught me a lot of things. I truly realized that solving problems on my own is the most fundamental skill.

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