12 inches is not enough.

[Shelley]

I just purchased a 1tb USB 3 hardrive which came with no less that a foot length cable from Argos (UK store). Is it normal for retailers (or rather Western Digital) or any HD manufacture to be a little stingy with the cable length?

It's not even going to reach onto my desk.

Just wondering which are the best places to get a longer cable USB 3.0 cable.

 

[Adam Howard]

I just purchased a 1tb USB 3 hardrive which came with no less that a foot length cable from Argos (UK store). Is it normal for retailers (or rather Western Digital) or any HD manufacture to be a little stingy with the cable length?

It's not even going to reach onto my desk.

Just wondering which are the best places to get a longer cable UBB 3.0 cable.

Amazon.com

All 6 FT long USB 3.0 cables with free shipping

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?ie=UTF8&bbn=464394&camp=1789&creative=390957&keywords=usb 3.0 cable&linkCode=ur2&qid=1367158965&rh=n:172282,n:541966,n:172456,n:172463,n:464394,k:usb 3.0 cable,p_85:2470955011,p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin:5462230011&rnid=5462216011&tag=socialuncens-20

To answer your question, yes, HD Manufactures are normally "short" on their cables. Normally that want you to buy a longer cable from them directly, but generally any USB cable will do (they're universal after all)

 

[Shelley]

Amazon.com

All 6 FT long USB 3.0 cables with free shipping

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?ie=UTF8&bbn=464394&camp=1789&creative=390957&keywords=usb 3.0 cable&linkCode=ur2&qid=1367158965&rh=n:172282,n:541966,n:172456,n:172463,n:464394,k:usb 3.0 cable,p_85:2470955011,p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin:5462230011&rnid=5462216011&tag=socialuncens-20

To answer your question, yes, HD Manufactures are normally "short" on their cables. Normally that want you to buy a longer cable from them directly, but generally any USB cable will do (they're universal after all)

I think the length of the cable is the least of my troubles. I've just tried plugging it into the usb 3.0 port and it didn't detect but detected on the 2.0 port.

Thanks for the link Adam I think a 1.5m will suffice wouldn't want wires hanging everywhere.

 

[Adam Howard]

I think the length of the cable is the least of my troubles. I've just tried plugging it into the usb 3.0 port and it didn't detect but detected on the 2.0 port.

Thanks for the link Adam I think a 1.5m will suffice wouldn't want wires hanging everywhere.

First thought is driver issue. Second thought is either the port is bad (on the drive or on your pc) or the cable. It should have found it on the usb v3 port.

 

[Kim]

LOL on thread title

I got a whole metre with mine, but it does have a power supply as well so needs to plug into the powerpoint, the other one I have without power only has about the same as yours Shelley.

 

[Luke F]

I just purchased a 1tb USB 3 hardrive which came with no less that a foot length cable from Argos (UK store). Is it normal for retailers (or rather Western Digital) or any HD manufacture to be a little stingy with the cable length?

It's not even going to reach onto my desk.

Just wondering which are the best places to get a longer cable UBB 3.0 cable.

I've got a cheap 1.5m usb 3 cable that cuts the speed of my external hard disk by up to 30-40% (still above usb2 speeds though) compared with the 30cm cable that came with it (also western digital), so I guess 'long' runs need a fairly decent wire gauge.

 

[Shelley]

LOL on thread title

I got a whole metre with mine, but it does have a power supply as well so needs to plug into the powerpoint, the other one I have without power only has about the same as yours Shelley.

I knew before i even opened the hd box I'd have trouble and who wants to read another boring "I know I'm about to have hd issues" me and hardware always clash.

Well, I'm giving up on it working on the 3.0 ports. It's simply not detecting on them.

 

[Kim]

me and hardware always clash.

*snap* I am the same, I swear some days that I killed a TechnoFairy once accidently

 

[Luke F]

Well, I'm giving up on it working on the 3.0 ports. It's simply not detecting on them.

Have you got a driver for your usb3 controller installed? I think only windows 8 has built in usb3 support.

 

[MattW]

If it won't work on the USB 3 port, just take it back. Argos should have no problem swapping it

 

[Ingenious]

It's annoying. I bought Argos's value steamer and it won't reach the plug socket without an extension - that's safe for a kitchen near the sink with water

 

[Shelley]

Have you got a driver for your usb3 controller installed? I think only windows 8 has built in usb3 support.

I don't have any usb 3 drivers installed Luke I figured it would be plug in and work.

I'm using win 7 64 bit if that sheds any light, This is the hardrive i just got if it needs anything specific

 

[Biker]

I don't have any usb 3 drivers installed Luke I figured it would be plug in and work.

I'm using win 7 64 bit if that sheds any light, This is the hardrive i just got if it needs anything specific

You'll need to go get the actual USB 3 drivers for your system. Intel drivers are a little easier to find (if you have an i3, i5 or i7). Otherwise, you'll have to search for drivers that are for your specific motherboard.

 

[Shelley]

You'll need to go get the actual USB 3 drivers for your system. Intel drivers are a little easier to find (if you have an i3, i5 or i7). Otherwise, you'll have to search for drivers that are for your specific motherboard.

Thankyou Biker. I checked the motherboard box and I didn't seem to get any cds (drivers) so I checked the gigabyte site and found some usb 3 drivers and that fixed the issue. Now detected and running off the usb 3 port. Thanks again.

 

[Biker]

Awesome.

Ya know? There's really no need to have the drive sitting on your desk. The cable should be long enough to reach to the top of your case. Just set the drive on top of the case.

 

[Shelley]

Awesome.

Ya know? There's really no need to have the drive sitting on your desk. The cable should be long enough to reach to the top of your case. Just set the drive on top of the case.

Yeah that's exactly what I've done. It's not really going to be going anywhere so I'll just leave it on top of the case. Thanks again for the help, now to backup my psds.

 

[SilverCircle]

I just purchased a 1tb USB 3 hardrive which came with no less that a foot length cable from Argos (UK store). Is it normal for retailers (or rather Western Digital) or any HD manufacture to be a little stingy with the cable length?

Yup, pretty normal nowadays. The main tech argument is that a long cable may cause a too high voltage drop to ensure safe operation of the device, which is - of course - a huge pile of bs and only true for cheap, low quality cables. A good cable could be 10 feet long and still be safe (longer is going to be problematic, not because of voltage drop but because of signal delays).

 

[DRE]

Was about to say...

 

[dutchbb]

Some of us would be more than happy with 12 inches (well a lot less actually).

OT: the majority of people probably don't even need a longer cable as the device is close enough to the computer, if they did it would make more sense to satisfy that customer need, even if it costs a bit more. Having said that, less than a foot is ridiculously short.

AFAIK these very short cables do not have a speed advantage, usb 3 does not require this, they can be 3 meters long.

 

[=MGN=RedEagle]

I just purchased a 1tb USB 3 hardrive which came with no less that a foot length cable from Argos (UK store). Is it normal for retailers (or rather Western Digital) or any HD manufacture to be a little stingy with the cable length?

It's not even going to reach onto my desk.

Just wondering which are the best places to get a longer cable USB 3.0 cable.

Yes, short cables = faster transfer.