external hard drive sleep issue

Raccoon1400 · 2009-12-03 01:01:09

My external drive contains my share folder for DC++.
If I leave my computer on when I'm gone, my DC++ shows my share as 0 after a while.
The hard drive seems to unmount after a while, maybe because the enclose sleeps the drive after a while.

Is there any way to fix this?

R00KIE · 2009-12-03 09:08:12

Even if the drive went to sleep it wouldn't unmount. I have an external drive that does go to sleep automatically and it always stays mounted (but takes a while to access when it is spinning up again).

Check dmesg for any errors, my best guess is that something is not working correctly. Have you haver had any problems transferring big files to the drive, problems like getting a connection reset?

Raccoon1400 · 2009-12-03 13:10:37

I haven't had issues like that, but I have had some wierd issues with the elcosure, but only when it's off. It will sometimes stall in various stages in boot.

Next time I'll look at dmesg.
I'm not sure it unmounts, but when I return I've found DC++ showing my share at 0.

Vieira · 2009-12-15 19:47:41

I have the same problem. Sometimes after sleeping for a while I try to access it and it disappears (unmounts) and then if I'm lucky, after some seconds, appears again as if I had plugged it in in that moment.
It started happening sometime ago, then after an update seemed solved, but recently start happening again frequently.
Shall I create a bug report?

rwd · 2009-12-15 23:16:25

You could also take a look at the drives powersaving settings using hdparm. Mabe it is set to turn completely off instead of just gong into stand-by. Be very careful with hdparm though, one wrong command can destroy your data.

Last edited by rwd (2009-12-15 23:17:28)

Vieira · 2009-12-16 01:43:05

hdparm cannot read or set anything, a communication error always occurs.
Also dmesg records some errors on the moment I try to read something from drive and it goes off (always after some period of inactivity) and also logs when it's then detected (some seconds after) and mounted correctly.

EDIT: dmesg output

usb 1-3: USB disconnect, address 41
sd 13:0:0:0: [sdb] Unhandled error code
sd 13:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=0x07 driverbyte=0x00
end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 163055695
sd 13:0:0:0: [sdb] Unhandled error code
sd 13:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=0x01 driverbyte=0x00
end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 163055695
usb 1-3: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 42
usb 1-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
scsi14 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb-storage: device found at 42
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
input: Western Digital  External HDD     as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb1/1-3/1-3:1.1/input/input23
generic-usb 0003:1058:0705.000F: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Device [Western Digital  External HDD    ] on usb-0000:00:1d.7-3/input1
scsi 14:0:0:0: Direct-Access     WD       2500BMV External 1.75 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
sd 14:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
usb-storage: device scan complete
sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] 488397168 512-byte logical blocks: (250 GB/232 GiB)
sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
 sdb: sdb1
sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
EXT2-fs warning: mounting unchecked fs, running e2fsck is recommended

Last edited by Vieira (2009-12-16 02:51:43)

rwd · 2009-12-16 08:08:57

Maybe Western Digital has some (probably windows based) utilities to tweak the drive settings.

Last edited by rwd (2009-12-16 08:09:09)

R00KIE · 2009-12-16 14:42:38

rwd wrote:

Maybe Western Digital has some (probably windows based) utilities to tweak the drive settings.

Not all enclosures allow you to set standby times and other parameters, my western digital external hd allows me send it to standby but other enclosures I have will not allow me to do anything (as far as I can remember), so I guess the WD enclosure has a controller that supports more features than other common controllers.

enrique · 2009-12-17 09:13:38

I used a script written in ruby that calls a program from the sg3-utils package to spin down my usb drive, but I can't find it again, but with a bit of googling you can probably find it.

Vieira · 2009-12-17 15:38:54

Thanks but it already spins downs. I can't change the time it takes for it to spin down (nor do I want to). I just don't want my usb disk to disappear (disconnect-reconnect) whenever I try to access it after some time of inactivity.

Raccoon1400 · 2009-12-21 18:14:14

I think I figured out my issue. The drive is plugged into a usb hub built into my monitor. When I leave, I turn the monitor off, turning the hub off as well. I figured this out while trying to listen to music from the drive in bed with the monitor off.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-12-03 01:01:09

external hard drive sleep issue

#2 2009-12-03 09:08:12

Re: external hard drive sleep issue

#3 2009-12-03 13:10:37

Re: external hard drive sleep issue

#4 2009-12-15 19:47:41

Re: external hard drive sleep issue

#5 2009-12-15 23:16:25

Re: external hard drive sleep issue

#6 2009-12-16 01:43:05

Re: external hard drive sleep issue

#7 2009-12-16 08:08:57

Re: external hard drive sleep issue

#8 2009-12-16 14:42:38

Re: external hard drive sleep issue

#9 2009-12-17 09:13:38

Re: external hard drive sleep issue

#10 2009-12-17 15:38:54

Re: external hard drive sleep issue

#11 2009-12-21 18:14:14

Re: external hard drive sleep issue

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