How do I make my Seagate 2Tb usb hdd work in Linux?

winger9 · 01-20-2018, 11:03 AM

Summary:

I've just bought a Seagate 2Tb "expansion portable drive", model STEA2000400,
with USB 3 connection, formatted as ntfs. The documentation says "System
requirements: Windows 7 or 8" but I assume it should work with Linux (I really
like the neat design of the drive).

My system is Live Knoppix 7.0.2 installed on hard drive, with kernel 3.3.7.

So far, the Seagate drive has only worked once, when I first plugged it in* (usb
3 slot). (*After boot). It automounted, and its files were displayed in the
pcmanfm file manager. By automount, I mean when the small window appears and
says something like "Do you want to open this device in file manager".

But since then, each time I plug it in, it doesn't work (it works OK in Windows
7). When I plug it in, sometimes it gets mounted by the system (even if the
automount dialogue doesn't appear), and sometimes it doesn't get mounted.

When it's not mounted, the dmesg command says

Code:

[ 9134.211695] sd 8:0:0:0: sense urb submission failure

and the message repeats continuously (with different "[...]" nos.) and repeats
across subsequent dmesgs and across logging out and in.

When I plug the drive in BEFORE booting, the system mounts the drive, and dmesg
gives the following message continuously (it gave the same continuous message
when I repeated the dmesg command):

Code:

[ 105.827668] sd 8:0:0:0: rejecting I/O to offline device

My humble questions are:

Could you tell me why the drive isn't working in Linux, and what I need to do
to get it working? I really like the neat design of the drive and would very
much like to keep it and get it working.

Should I look for another usb hdd that specifically says it works with Linux?

Full Details:

Knoppix is a slightly customised version of Debian.

When the drive worked that first time, and its files were displayed in pcmanfm,
the mount command showed

Code:

/dev/sdb1 on /media/sdb1 type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=
1000,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096)

AND dmesg showed

Code:

[ 3104.772532] usb 4-2: new SuperSpeed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[ 3104.789326] usb 4-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0bc2, idProduct=231a
[ 3104.789336] usb 4-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 3104.789342] usb 4-2: Product: Expansion
[ 3104.789347] usb 4-2: Manufacturer: Seagate
[ 3104.789351] usb 4-2: SerialNumber: NA8PEPNV
[ 3104.791381] scsi8 : uas
[ 3104.793020] scsi 8:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Seagate  Expansion        0708
PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[ 3104.793363] sd 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0

Also when the drive worked that first time, and its files were displayed
in pcmnfm; about 15 minutes later, when I reselected the drive in pcmanfm, no
files were displayed, and pcmanfm said

"The specified directory is not valid".

I then opened the nautilus file manager, and when I selected the drive, nautilus
said

"Could not display /media/sdb1. Error: Error when getting information for file
/media/sdb1: Input/output error. Please select another viewer and try again."

On the occasion when I plugged the drive in BEFORE booting, and the system
mounted it, I can't remember if the automount dialogue appeared or not.

Emerson · 01-20-2018, 11:36 AM

Probably the USB power is not sufficient. Or at least this is what your kernel XHCI driver thinks. You may want to use a powered USB hub to work around this.

TB - terabyte(s)
Tbit - terabit(s)
Tb - terabars ?

BW-userx · 01-20-2018, 01:36 PM

every external hdd I got is wd but it is basically the same I just plug them in and gpart them to ext4.. as far as extra power to run them, I do not think that should be an issue. if you have that as a windows format do you have ntfs-3g installed to see windows formats?

check for loose connections. try a different usb port.

plug it in open pcmanfm and look for it in the side bar, sometimes it just gets it but does not completely mount it until it has been selected within pcmanfm by clicking on it. then the hdd spins up and mounts.

Brains · 01-20-2018, 05:02 PM

Well, my WD external will stop spinning if not used after a bit. It appears this is the issue, getting it to spin up again after it goes idle.

BW-userx · 01-20-2018, 06:02 PM

yeah I just open a file manager pcmanfm for example find it in the side bar click on it and wait for it to spin up again. it spins down to save the heads.

winger9 · 01-22-2018, 01:22 PM

1. I've looked at what sounded like a good solution at

https://unix.stackexchange.com/quest...-work-in-linux

under "Answer 1". I believe his first method stops the "uas" module being loaded.
But lsmod on my system doesn't list uas, and it doesn't appear to be on my
system anyway because I can't find a "/lib/modules/...uas.ko".

So I tried his second method, and added the following parameter to the end
of my kernel command in /boot/grub/menu.lst, namely

Code:

usb-storage.quirks=0bc2:231a:u

So I changed the kernel command
FROM

Code:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda6 rootwait lang=us apm=power-off nomce
libata.force=noncq tz=localtime loglevel=1  rw

TO

Code:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda6 rootwait lang=us apm=power-off nomce
libata.force=noncq tz=localtime loglevel=1  rw usb-storage.quirks=0bc2:231a:u

(The kernel parameters are ALL ON ONE LINE.)

I rebooted but this makes no difference to the problem.

2. So I looked at

http://www.kernel.org/doc/html/lates...arameters.html

under "usb-storage.quirks=", and thought that adding the "b" flag might make a
difference. So the kernel line now becomes

Code:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda6 rootwait lang=us apm=power-off nomce
libata.force=noncq tz=localtime loglevel=1  rw usb-storage.quirks=0bc2:231a:ub

But this made no difference.

3. I'm wondering if I need to create a udev rule of some kind as well, in order
to make things work. But I'm out of my depth with udev rules.

Question: Can you suggest what udev rule might help, or whether I've missed something re my above efforts here.

BW-userx · 01-22-2018, 02:26 PM

polkit might be your issue as well.

Code:

#goes here
#/etc/polkit-1/localauthority/50-local.d/automount.pkla
[Allow Automount]
Identity=unix-group:plugdev
Action=org.freedesktop.udisks2.filesystem-mount*
ResultAny=yes
ResultInactive=yes
ResultActive=yes

[Allow Eject]
Identity=unix-group:plugdev
Action=org.freedesktop.udisks2.eject-media*
ResultAny=yes
ResultInactive=yes
ResultActive=yes

[Allow Mounting of fstab]
Identity=unix-group:plugdev
Action=org.freedesktop.udisks2.filesystem-fstab*
ResultAny=yes
ResultInactive=yes
ResultActive=yes

Rickkkk · 01-22-2018, 09:18 PM

Hi Winger9,

Actually, I think Emerson might have this one sussed ... see post #2. Last time this type of behaviour happened to me, it was indeed insufficient power (or interpreted as such). Mine was a USB 3.0 device, but I was plugging it into a USB 2.0 port ... Solved the problem with one of those cables that lets you plug the device into 2 USB ports on the computer, simultaneously. Worth experimenting ...

Cheers !

fatmac · 01-23-2018, 06:46 AM

USB2 supplies 500ma, USB3 supplies 700ma, so you could be right.

Edit: Correction to say USB3 = 900ma, but it is a lot more than USB2, which was my point.

onebuck · 01-23-2018, 08:03 AM

Hi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by BW-userx

yeah I just open a file manager pcmanfm for example find it in the side bar click on it and wait for it to spin up again. it spins down to save the heads.

No, the HDD is powered down to save power. The heads fly over the platter surface therefore no contact. When powering down the heads are moved to a safe area for parking. If any contact with the spinning platter then the heads will crash into the platter thus making the system inoperable. For some additional information then look at flying height, floating height or head gap

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

BW-userx · 01-23-2018, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onebuck

Hi,

No, the HDD is powered down to save power. The heads fly over the platter surface therefore no contact. When powering down the heads are moved to a safe area for parking. If any contact with the spinning platter then the heads will crash into the platter thus making the system inoperable. For some additional information then look at flying height, floating height or head gap

Hope this helps.
Have fun & enjoy!

thanks for the clarification in jargon, in whatever I said. mine stop spinning, and all that it does to do that.

WD external hard drive spins down after several minutes of inactivity

BW-userx · 01-23-2018, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatmac

USB2 supplies 500ma, USB3 supplies 700ma, so you could be right.

Quote:

How many watts are in a Volt?
Using Ohms law, you would multiply amperage times volts to get watts. For
instance a 12 volt circuit drawing 2 amps would consume 24 watts of power
(12*2=24). A 60 watt light bulb powered by 120 volts in a house would draw
.5 amp of current (60/120= .5).

FYI 700mA = .7A

either way when I was looking up on this a while ago for my own benefit I could find all of the information I needed. nonetheless, it is a long shot that it is a power issue, if it was a 3.5 internal hdd for a desktop then yes another power source is needed.

Edit (MOD)
found something

Quote:

Note that the initial specification for USB only had provisions for 0.75
watts of power – 150 mA at 5 V. USB 2.0 bumped that to 500 mA, or 2.5
watts, and USB 3.0 specified 900 mA at 5 V, or 4.5 watts.

kilgoretrout · 01-23-2018, 09:49 AM

Quote:

wattage is what you need to be looking at here

Watts = Volts x Amps. Voltage is the same on USB2 and USB3, i.e 5 volts. According to Wikipedia, USB2 is 500ma and USB3 is 900ma which gives USB3 4.5W and USB2 2.5W. See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Power

BW-userx · 01-23-2018, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kilgoretrout

Watts = Volts x Amps. Voltage is the same on USB2 and USB3, i.e 5 volts. According to Wikipedia, USB2 is 500ma and USB3 is 900ma which gives USB3 4.5W and USB2 2.5W. See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Power

yeah that is why I edited that part because it just takes math to get back to watts. Electricity that is, not the city. That takes money.

either way the external hdds are made to not pull a lot of watts, volts, amps, or whatever to work off a usb port. that should have come with a 3.0 cable. I use mine in a 2.0 USB Port (sometimes) and it works fine. No I do not always get a pop up telling me it is seen and mounted.

most of the time I have to open a file manager and click on it to get it to fully mount it. as I said before. sometimes I got to make sure it is plugged in all of the way. one cable I have is loose so I stop using that one. I have to have a file manager already open (first) then plug in then more then not I get that message about plugging in something to the USB Port.

my bet is that it is more a connection or polkit issue or the file manager is not configured to hot plug off usb ports.

DVOM · 01-23-2018, 03:02 PM

My system is Live Knoppix 7.0.2 installed on hard drive, with kernel 3.3.7

That OS was released in 2012.

Edit: Other than that, when I have problems mounting drives, I check to see if I've got "gvfs", "autofs" and "udisks2" installed.