Well . . . when does it stop?
I have had to apologise to LaCie about the cable . . . dont know how I got to thinking it was the cable.
I set it all back up and even with just the LaCie Rugged through the hub it doesnt work. I asked LaCie to explain what they thought and I got this:
Hello Roen,
There is no need to return or pay for cable, simply keep it as spare.
Having reviewed your original fault we suspect a compatibility issues between Lacie Rugged unit and D-link hub is present. In most cases a chipset difference may be the culprit, as Lacie device appears to function correct when using directly with your Surface. Lacie unit utilizes Asmedia USB3.0 chipset. Our recommendation is to test useability using an alternative USB3.0 to see if issue persists.
I have responded, asking them why I seemed to have no trouble on the first use.
cheers
grasshopper