Arch Linux

steve900

Member

Registered: 2014-10-31

Posts: 4

Problem running multiple external devices

I use a collection of external harddrives and usb mem sticks for primary storage and for backups.  For no reason apparent to me sometimes I can see all (as primary storage - a Seagate Free Agent 250GB, an IOmega RPHD-UG 250GB I think, a 320GB Toshiba, a nameless 32GB mem stick and finally as backup - a 3TB Seagate) and sometimes only some of them.

cat /proc/version gives this:
Linux version 3.17.1-1-ARCH (nobody@var-lib-archbuild-testing-x86_64-tobias) (gcc version 4.9.1 20140903 (prerelease) (GCC) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Oct 15 15:04:35 CEST 2014

The PC is Dell E4300, 2 MB of RAM I think.

             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          1958       1883         74        170          4        268
-/+ buffers/cache:       1610        348
Swap:         9956       1089       8867

I suspect that the KUser settings are important (wheel etc) but I have never been able to find a KDE list of exactly what does what.

I have them all connected via a Sitecom hub model CN-052.   (And quite often I need to charge my mp3 player and get access to the SD card from the camera.  I think that Linux and Arch should handle this without any problem? 

I have tried various file managers such as Dolphin and Nemo.

The transfer speeds are usually slow.  This would not be a big problem if I could consistently see the devices and the contents. 

I only have two usb ports, one for the hub and one for the wireless mouse. 

Any suggestions?

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: Problem running multiple external devices

I think you have 2 GB, not 2 MB of RAM :-)

Update your system. If the kernel has been updated, reboot.
If you run into problems, check the logs, systemd's journal and dmesg.

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: Problem running multiple external devices

Maybe your USB hub is faulty. Does each device work as expected when connected directly to the PC?

steve900

Member

Registered: 2014-10-31

Posts: 4

Re: Problem running multiple external devices

Problem solved by going from 2GB (thank you for correcting me) to 4.  The PC will not take more but it works quite well.  I should have tried that a year ago ... Thanks for your suggestions.