I have an older Maxtor D3 3TB external HDD which my Windows 10 desktop PC will only recognise if connected to a USB 2.0 port, but not when connected to a USB 3.0 port.

I decided to do a cable swapping test. I did it with the Maxtor and two other external HDDs (a Toshiba 1TB and a Seagate 2TB [model SRD0NF1]), and four different Type-A to Micro USB 3.0 cables (the OEM cables of all three HDDs and a new Hama 0.75 m cable). The results were curious:

Toshiba 1TB HDD: works fine with all four cables
Seagate 2TB HDD: works with all three OEM cables (although detection takes a few seconds with the Maxtor one), but no detection with the Hama cable
Maxtor D3 3TB HDD: works with the Toshiba & Seagate short OEM cables, detection blinks on and off for tenths of a second with its own 0.75 m OEM cable, instant error message about unrecognised external HDD with the Hama cable.

One thing I noticed is that the Micro USB connector of both 0.75 m cables sits a bit loose in the Maxtor HDD's socket, but fixing it manually in any position doesn't change the detection failure.

What could be the issue? And how could I get the Maxtor HDD connected to a USB 3.0 port, without cannibalising the other two HDDs?

could stem from cable quality, a loose Micro USB connector, power requirements, firmware or driver problems, or USB port issues

Or USB bridge board compatibility.

_________________
HDD, SSD, Flash and RAID Data Recovery
Founder of The Data Recovery Professionals Group