You've gotta go with what works. Who would've thought such an outdated driver would be the solution? I have to wonder what's going on with Fresco Logic Quality Assurance testing. The WD USB drives represent a significant market share of the products the driver supports and the disconnection issue appears to be quite widespread. It's hard to see how it could slip through Q/A....
G74SX-A1 - stock hardware - BIOS 202 - 2nd Monitor VISIO VF551XVT