[SOLVED] External USB HDD drive gets disconnected randomly

jakub · 2015-02-22 19:43:49

Hi,

I'm encountering problem with external HDD drive. Recently I've installed a new drive and reinstalled Arch. I use my old disk as external one connected by USB. Unfortunately it get's disconnected randomly. This is what I found in journal:

journalctl

lut 22 17:06:39 t61 kernel: usb 2-1: USB disconnect, device number 2
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 udisksd[346]: Cleaning up mount point /run/media/kuba/ExtStorage (device 8:19 no longer exist)
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 systemd-udevd[165]: error opening USB device 'descriptors' file
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 kernel: Buffer I/O error on dev sdb3, logical block 33062912, lost sync page write
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 kernel: JBD2: Error -5 detected when updating journal superblock for sdb3-8.
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 udisksd[346]: Cleaning up mount point /run/media/kuba/ea5c6a7b-1f73-4527-b99c-29920084bd42 (device 8:17 no longer exist)
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 kernel: Buffer I/O error on dev sdb1, logical block 5275648, lost sync page write
lut 22 17:06:39 t61 kernel: JBD2: Error -5 detected when updating journal superblock for sdb1-8.
lut 22 17:06:40 t61 kernel: usb 2-1: new high-speed USB device number 4 using ehci-pci

uname -a

Linux t61 3.18.6-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Feb 7 08:44:05 CET 2015 x86_64 GNU/Linux

smartctl -a /dev/sdb

smartctl 6.3 2014-07-26 r3976 [x86_64-linux-3.18.6-1-ARCH] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-14, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Western Digital Scorpio Blue Serial ATA
Device Model:     WDC WD3200BEVT-00A23T0
Serial Number:    WD-WXG1AB002023
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 2054a2f6c
Firmware Version: 01.01A01
User Capacity:    320,072,933,376 bytes [320 GB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Rotation Rate:    5400 rpm
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   ATA8-ACS (minor revision not indicated)
SATA Version is:  SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s
Local Time is:    Sun Feb 22 20:46:13 2015 CET
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x00)	Offline data collection activity
					was never started.
					Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0)	The previous self-test routine completed
					without error or no self-test has ever 
					been run.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection: 		( 7800) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: 			 (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
					Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
					Suspend Offline collection upon new
					command.
					Offline surface scan supported.
					Self-test supported.
					Conveyance Self-test supported.
					Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)	Saves SMART data before entering
					power-saving mode.
					Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01)	Error logging supported.
					General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time: 	 (   2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: 	 (  93) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time: 	 (   5) minutes.
SCT capabilities: 	       (0x7037)	SCT Status supported.
					SCT Feature Control supported.
					SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x002f   200   200   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       1
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0027   152   147   021    Pre-fail  Always       -       1375
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       4249
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   087   087   000    Old_age   Always       -       9983
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   096   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       4032
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       113
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   162   162   000    Old_age   Always       -       114798
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   115   096   000    Old_age   Always       -       28
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0008   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      7530         -
# 2  Short offline       Aborted by host               90%      7530         -
# 3  Short offline       Aborted by host               90%      6969         -
# 4  Short offline       Aborted by host               90%      5007         -
# 5  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      5006         -
# 6  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      3168         -
# 7  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      1270         -
# 8  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       944         -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

So it's like I want to continue watching a movie from external drive and then player crashes because my hard disk partitions got unmounted...
I'm wondering if it can happen because disk is underpowered (it's connected only to one USB port because I lost my original USB cable which had two USB plugs). Anyway it would be strange as problem occurs also when disk is 'idle' so then the power consumption is also lower I assume. I can only say this disk was working just fine when used as internal drive. Any ideas?

Last edited by jakub (2015-02-22 20:08:50)

mkoskar · 2015-02-22 20:02:08

Are you positive its not hardware issue? E.g., I used to have an old HDD enclosure where connector on enclosure side was just misbehaving (connecting / disconnecting), though I've realized that pretty quickly once I've wiggled it a bit.
If you have 2nd enclosure or cable at you disposal I would try that first. Once you are confident it's not hardware issue, I would try to look if there is some correlation with something else happening with system, in other words, is it really random? Well I think that's highly unlikely, though it can manifest itself like that. Also once it disconnects you have to unplug / plug? or it will connects "itself" again. How often it happens? Do you use any software for power management? ...

jakub · 2015-02-22 20:08:25

Your recommendation to check cable was just - a good recommendation I played a little bit with the B connector and disk immediately stopped working. OMG it was so simple ;p Thanks. I have to buy a new cable (I hope the case is all right).

EDIT:
Confirmed with portable mp3 player. Cable (B connector) is damaged.

I just won't delete this thread as it's a perfect example to show that basic stuff and simplest things should be always checked first !

Last edited by jakub (2015-02-22 20:28:26)

Arch Linux

#1 2015-02-22 19:43:49

[SOLVED] External USB HDD drive gets disconnected randomly

#2 2015-02-22 20:02:08

Re: [SOLVED] External USB HDD drive gets disconnected randomly

#3 2015-02-22 20:08:25

Re: [SOLVED] External USB HDD drive gets disconnected randomly

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