[Solved] Maxtor Basics 1 TB USB External HD

whaler · 2009-04-19 08:53:13

After I got this drive yesterday I have read a lot about negative experiences with it. Typically me to do things bassackwards...

Anyway, after placing this line in /etc/fstab:

/dev/sdf1 /media/usb ntfs-3g defaults,users,umask=000 0 0

it mounts beautifully and seems to work fine.

However, when I boot Arch, I get this message:
"Probing EDD (EDD=off to disable) ... ok
Undefined video mode number: 305
Press [Enter] to see video modes available, press [Space] to continue, or wait 30 secs."

This doesn't seem to be anything serious, but I'd like to get rid of it.

The disk comes preformatted NTFS. This seems to work fine with Arch, but I wonder if there are any good reasons to reformat it to a more 'linuxy' fs?

Any advice or tips would be welcome.

Last edited by whaler (2009-04-24 16:10:17)

tomk · 2009-04-19 09:41:08

That error has absolutely nothing to do with your external hd. You have entered an invalid video mode number in the kernel line of your grub config.

The only reason to stay with NTFS on the disk is if you need to access it from Windows as well. Otherwise, choose a 'linuxy' alternative.

mikesd · 2009-04-19 09:52:59

That drive is a budget model but I own one myself and have been quite pleased with it. Does everything it should. Auto spins down when not in use and responds to the sdparm --command options. That's all I need.

whaler · 2009-04-19 10:16:43

tomk wrote:

That error has absolutely nothing to do with your external hd. You have entered an invalid video mode number in the kernel line of your grub config.
The only reason to stay with NTFS on the disk is if you need to access it from Windows as well. Otherwise, choose a 'linuxy' alternative.

Thanks for the reply.

The error message during boot must have something to do with the new external harddisk, given that it only appears when the disk is attached.

Here is the line in GRUB's menu.lst:
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda3 ro vga=773

I have had the same line for about a year, and use a similar one for other distros...

I also just found out that restart no longer works - neither from Arch nor from a live distro. The system freezes early on during POST.

Last edited by whaler (2009-04-19 12:10:40)

whaler · 2009-04-19 10:35:17

mikesd wrote:

That drive is a budget model but I own one myself and have been quite pleased with it. Does everything it should. Auto spins down when not in use and responds to the sdparm --command options. That's all I need.

Hmm... Are there any sdparm commands that would be useful in ordinary use? I plan to use the disk only for backup/storage. I don't suppose sdparm will let me increase the transfer rate?

Dheart · 2009-04-19 13:52:04

If you need permissions for different users/or owners of the files in the hdd, you should reformat in linuxy FS, because NTFS/FAT32 don't support linux permissions and you get only default 777 (which works fine for the most part)

whaler · 2009-04-19 18:24:02

Dheart,
I am the only user, but it is a valid point anyway, so I will probably choose ext3 while we are waiting for the full features of ext4. I believe ext3 is a little bit safer than reiserfs. Not so sure about jfs, although my own experience with it has been only positive.

Meanwhile I am more concerned with the errors during boot and reboot...

Last edited by whaler (2009-04-19 18:27:30)

Procyon · 2009-04-19 18:33:55

If it's a 1TB drive, you should definitely go with something other than ext3, and I recommend XFS because it has worked very well for me. It won't bother you with Forced check after x mounts (which would take nearly an hour for ext3 for 1TB right?) and it is much faster than ext3 in accessing and removing and such.

whaler · 2009-04-20 01:31:13

I had forgotten about XFS. Probably because I've never used it. I guess an hour's forced periodic file system check is a good enough incentive to read up

mikesd · 2009-04-20 07:05:22

whaler wrote:

Hmm... Are there any sdparm commands that would be useful in ordinary use? I plan to use the disk only for backup/storage. I don't suppose sdparm will let me increase the transfer rate?

The only one I use occasionally is --command=stop. Comes in handy in when you don't want to wait for the drive to spin down after using it. man sdparm will give you the complete listing.

whaler · 2009-04-21 06:31:14

mikesd wrote:

The only one I use occasionally is --command=stop. Comes in handy in when you don't want to wait for the drive to spin down after using it. man sdparm will give you the complete listing.

Thanks, but I don't understand... When do you want the disk to spin down or stop sooner than default? I thought I could just forget that the disk is there and go on working with other things regardless of the state of the external disk. Perhaps you mean the situations when you want to disconnect it for some reason, like taking it with you elsewhere? Or do you stop it before shutting down/rebooting?

BTW, I decided to format the disk JFS. 67% finished after 14 hours

Last edited by whaler (2009-04-21 06:33:01)

mikesd · 2009-04-21 07:32:00

whaler wrote:

Thanks, but I don't understand... When do you want the disk to spin down or stop sooner than default? I thought I could just forget that the disk is there and go on working with other things regardless of the state of the external disk. Perhaps you mean the situations when you want to disconnect it for some reason, like taking it with you elsewhere? Or do you stop it before shutting down/rebooting

True. I sometimes spin it down in a backup script after the backup is done. It does spin down automatically after 3 minutes I think but I do it in the script simply as I know the file system is unmounted and won't be used in the short term. It's not necessary but I do it anyway.

whaler · 2009-04-23 19:01:25

Thanks for the explanation, mikesd - I can stop worrying

Update:
My original problem - error message about VGA resolution during boot - was solved by disabling all support for _Legacy USB_ i BIOS.

Last edited by whaler (2009-04-24 16:09:22)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-04-19 08:53:13

[Solved] Maxtor Basics 1 TB USB External HD

#2 2009-04-19 09:41:08

Re: [Solved] Maxtor Basics 1 TB USB External HD

#3 2009-04-19 09:52:59

Re: [Solved] Maxtor Basics 1 TB USB External HD

#4 2009-04-19 10:16:43

Re: [Solved] Maxtor Basics 1 TB USB External HD

#5 2009-04-19 10:35:17

Re: [Solved] Maxtor Basics 1 TB USB External HD

#6 2009-04-19 13:52:04

Re: [Solved] Maxtor Basics 1 TB USB External HD

#7 2009-04-19 18:24:02

Re: [Solved] Maxtor Basics 1 TB USB External HD

#8 2009-04-19 18:33:55

Re: [Solved] Maxtor Basics 1 TB USB External HD

#9 2009-04-20 01:31:13

Re: [Solved] Maxtor Basics 1 TB USB External HD

#10 2009-04-20 07:05:22

Re: [Solved] Maxtor Basics 1 TB USB External HD

#11 2009-04-21 06:31:14

Re: [Solved] Maxtor Basics 1 TB USB External HD

#12 2009-04-21 07:32:00

Re: [Solved] Maxtor Basics 1 TB USB External HD

#13 2009-04-23 19:01:25

Re: [Solved] Maxtor Basics 1 TB USB External HD

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