[GTALUG] war story: Seagate portable USB3 disk vs USB 2 port

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

My daughter has been using a 2T 2.5" external Seagate Disk.  It has a USB3 
interface, compatible with USB2.  She uses it with her ThinkPad T520 which 
has only USB2 ports.

A couple of weeks ago, the disk stopped working.  The disk would power up 
but it would not show up.  Oh oh, another disk failure.

But it worked when I plugged it into my computer.  In fact, it worked with 
any USB3 port and no USB2 port (even with a powered hub).

I thought that this was impossible.  So did Seagate support (I was talking 
with them on another matter -- two dead drives, one of which they had 
claimed was out of warranty when it was not).  The support guy suggested 
trying a different cable, but neither of us thought that it was likely to 
work.

Changing cables did work.

So: a cable can fail in such a way that a USB3 device won't work with a 
USB2 port but will work with a USB3 port.

The connector on the drive itself has a funny B shape.  It is called a USB 
3.0 micro-B socket.  Apparently a USB 2.0 micro B plug can fit in half of 
it!  Curiouser and Curiouser.

I wonder if an ordinary micro USB 2.0 cable, as used with cell phones, 
would connect the drive to a computer's USB 2 port.