has anyone had this with an External HDD?

BW-userx · 04-20-2017, 11:13 AM

I got a WD My PAssport Ultra 3TB 3.0 USB external HDD.

it has been going "off line" randomly. File manager sees it, mounts it, then just having it hooked up. using it or not. then if I ever look at the file manager, I will notice that the Ex HDD is no longer there. (stopped being recognized).

it did it again. So I unplugged it then pluged it in. it mounted. then disaperied.

So I grabbed the HDD itself, to unplug it from that end.
Have you ever had one of the little gyros in your hand spinning, and when you hold it just right and move it around you can feel the effects of the gravitational pull or whatever it is called?

well that is what this External HDD feels like a gyro when the platters are spinning.

any one experience this before?

another hdd going bad.

cheep crap.

I remember back when they made HDD's - sure they cannot be guaranteed to never break. but they seemed to have lasted a lot longer then the WD external hdd's I've had. including this one, even the laptop internal hdds suck too for lasting a long time.

I think this external HDD is maybe no more than 3yr old and it is already useless?

John VV · 04-20-2017, 11:20 AM

you did reformat it to remove the default ntfs format and the microsoft tools partition

if not reformat it to ext4 and use gpt

BW-userx · 04-20-2017, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John VV

you did reformat it to remove the default ntfs format and the microsoft tools partition

if not reformat it to ext4 and use gpt

ooh stop that... I got all kinds of stuff on it already. where to put that to reformat it just to see if that works.

besides it is already mbr ext4

it is currently working (again) but it has been doing this disappearing act for a few weeks now. when not in use it just is no longer there in the file manager even though it is still plugged in.

(thanks for the idea though )

michaelk · 04-20-2017, 11:46 AM

Gyroscopic effect i.e. The resistance felt when moving a spinning object perpendicular from its rotational axis.

You might be able to run smartctl on the drive but if it used to work as expected something is probably failing. It could be the electronics i.e USB SATA interface and not necessarily the hard drive itself.

In the past some external drives would automatically go sleep but linux could not "wake it up". My last external drive purchase was Seagate...

BW-userx · 04-20-2017, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

Gyroscopic effect i.e. The resistance felt when moving a spinning object perpendicular from its rotational axis.

You might be able to run smartctl on the drive but if it used to work as expected something is probably failing. It could be the electronics i.e USB SATA interface and not necessarily the hard drive itself.

In the past some external drives would automatically go sleep but linux could not "wake it up". My last external drive purchase was Seagate...

smartctl check. Prob not a good idea to run it when it is in use, yes?

michaelk · 04-20-2017, 12:06 PM

You should be able to get the status versus running a test.

BW-userx · 04-20-2017, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelk

You should be able to get the status versus running a test.

Looks like this device has S.O.L. and not S.M.A.R.T.

Code:

bash-4.3# smartctl --all /dev/sdc1
smartctl 6.5 2016-05-07 r4318 [x86_64-linux-4.4.38] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-16, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Vendor:               WD
Product:              My Passport 0827
Revision:             1012
Compliance:           SPC-4
User Capacity:        3,000,558,944,256 bytes [3.00 TB]
Logical block size:   4096 bytes
Rotation Rate:        5400 rpm
Serial number:        WXF1E55F2RDX
Device type:          disk
Local Time is:        Thu Apr 20 12:35:14 2017 CDT
SMART support is:     Unavailable - device lacks SMART capability.

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
Current Drive Temperature:     0 C
Drive Trip Temperature:        0 C

Error Counter logging not supported

No self-tests have been logged


bash-4.3# smartctl --smart=on /dev/sdc1
smartctl 6.5 2016-05-07 r4318 [x86_64-linux-4.4.38] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-16, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF ENABLE/DISABLE COMMANDS SECTION ===
unable to fetch IEC (SMART) mode page [unsupported field in scsi command]
A mandatory SMART command failed: exiting. To continue, add one or more '-T permissive' options.
bash-4.3#

273 · 04-20-2017, 01:09 PM

Back it up -- it will die.
Everything dies so just plan for it and hope it happens later rather than sooner.
this could just be USB3 driver issues or similar, I know hdparm can set my USB drive's spindown time but does not see it hass been done, for example.

BW-userx · 04-20-2017, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 273

Back it up -- it will die.
Everything dies so just plan for it and hope it happens later rather than sooner.
this could just be USB3 driver issues or similar, I know hdparm can set my USB drive's spindown time but does not see it hass been done, for example.

yesh I got it plugged into a 2.0 port right now and it seems to be "working", even the port on a laptop can get worn out...

and them 64 chevy impala's just keep on running.

dave@burn-it.co.uk · 04-20-2017, 01:34 PM

HAs it got a seperate power supply. Many externaal drives draw close to the maximum power for a USB port and therefore tend to stuggle.
I always try to provide extra power, either as an external supply or as a "y" cable.

BW-userx · 04-20-2017, 04:21 PM

i'm now thinking it is my 3.0 ports as in two ports

my 2.0 and eSata ports work
I plug in to the 3.0 I get a light - spin up but that is it.

Code:

userx%slackwhere ⚡ ~ ⚡> sudo dmesg | grep -i usb
[11092.642156] usb 2-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci-pci
[11092.809788] usb 2-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=1058, idProduct=0827
[11092.809807] usb 2-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=5
[11092.809811] usb 2-1.2: Product: My Passport 0827
[11092.809815] usb 2-1.2: Manufacturer: Western Digital
[11092.809818] usb 2-1.2: SerialNumber: 575846314535354632524458
[11092.810464] usb-storage 2-1.2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[11092.811107] scsi host8: usb-storage 2-1.2:1.0
[28769.095484] usb 2-1.1: new high-speed USB device number 6 using ehci-pci
[28769.183108] usb 2-1.1: New USB device found, idVendor=19d2, idProduct=0307
[28769.183119] usb 2-1.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[28769.183135] usb 2-1.1: Product: Android
[28769.183138] usb 2-1.1: Manufacturer: Android
[28769.183141] usb 2-1.1: SerialNumber: f3ccd8d8

syg00 · 04-20-2017, 05:57 PM

Could be just a crappy connection. I had a brand new disk (as in opened the anti-static bag and plugged it in), and it showed similar disconnects when in an external caddy. Stuck a piece of cardboard in to secure it properly, problem went away (caddy is just slots you stick disks in vertically).

Try mounting it internally to real SATA connectors in a PC case to check if you can. I can't believe a 3T disk doesn't have smart capability.

BW-userx · 04-20-2017, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by syg00

Could be just a crappy connection. I had a brand new disk (as in opened the anti-static bag and plugged it in), and it showed similar disconnects when in an external caddy. Stuck a piece of cardboard in to secure it properly, problem went away (caddy is just slots you stick disks in vertically).

Try mounting it internally to real SATA connectors in a PC case to check if you can. I can't believe a 3T disk doesn't have smart capability.

well that 3TB is got that funny new 3.0 connector on it. whereas my eSATA port I use the ATA standard internal HDD plug with the other end eSATA / usb ( unqualified) Port connector

but yeah lose connection or somwthing.

I booted into windows to see if the 3.0's would work and they did, now back to linux VOID Linux first to see if it worked in that Linux distro - yes -

then rebooted back into Slack and checked it again and Murphy's law

it is working again.

....

mrmazda · 04-20-2017, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BW-userx

besides it is already mbr ext4

If this is true, then you are only able to access approximately 2/3 of the space on the disk. MBR disk partitioning is unable to address more than 2TB. To use your entire 3TB you should be using GPT.

syg00 · 04-20-2017, 11:22 PM

That's not entirely true. Very nearly not true at all actually.
It can't be one large partition over the entire disk, but multiple partitions can be arranged to use the entire disk. For example on one of mine I use 500G, 500G and 1.9T.
Works fine.