Kind of complex external hard drive issue

[ddt]

There's an issue with WD Green drives, that they spin down and up again far too fast. This might also be a problem with losing the connection, so to say. And after a certain count of spinning down (forgot the exact number), the drive kicks the dust. You should look for SMART attribute # 193, "Load Cycle Count".

 

[Desert Fox]

There's an issue with WD Green drives, that they spin down and up again far too fast. This might also be a problem with losing the connection, so to say. And after a certain count of spinning down (forgot the exact number), the drive kicks the dust. You should look for SMART attribute # 193, "Load Cycle Count".

I have a 1 TB WD Green in the computers I use as my TV server that I bought in 2010 which is still running. Even if it dies tomorrow, I got my money out of it.
Was originally on my primary computer but replaced with larger drives.

 

[ddt]

I have a 1 TB WD Green in the computers I use as my TV server that I bought in 2010 which is still running. Even if it dies tomorrow, I got my money out of it.
Was originally on my primary computer but replaced with larger drives.

Oh, I'm not saying they're worthless at all. But the spinning-down issue may be an issue depending on the use.

Your TV server is idle all day, and the disk spun down - no problem. And once you start watching a movie from it, the disk will be continuously busy fetching the movie, so it won't spin down.

However, in case of your external backup drive, it may have suffered from it. You look for one file to copy to it, copy it, and then look for the next file, etc. As the default value is to park after 8 seconds of inactivity (see this page which describes Linux tools to fix it), it will park it every time. Linux users especially are affected, as Linux will save up disk writes typically every 30 seconds or so, and when you're mainly reading files that are already cached, well, you quickly rack up a big number of spin-downs.

And in your case, the spin-down might influence the connectivity. Does the USB port provide enough power for a spin-up? (AFAIK, USB is specced to provide more power during initial connection than during operation).

 

[Desert Fox]

I do not think it was a parking issue

"MyBook" type drives have their own external power supply and is a 3.5 inch drive. "Passport" is powered by the USB port.

It was not until over a year that I started having this problem and did this in the middle of a write operation. I bought a new 4.0 TB MyBook (got a great deal at Newegg) as my new backup external. It also has a full warranty unlike the 3 TB drive I got.

Edit: The reason why I did not write about it on post #9 was because I forgot it was a WD. When I looked at Warranty information on the external, that is when I say it listed.

 

[LongFuzzy]

I have the exact same symptoms connecting my cell-phone to pc via usb. Turned out to be a crappy cable. OK for charging, not so good for data transferring. There are a lot of cheap cables out there. Good luck finding you problem.

 

[Desert Fox]

I have the exact same symptoms connecting my cell-phone to pc via usb. Turned out to be a crappy cable. OK for charging, not so good for data transferring. There are a lot of cheap cables out there. Good luck finding you problem.

My solution after I tried different cables was to simply pull the hard drive from the enclosure and install in my computer. . . .Works fine.

 

[Floyt]

Oh, I'm not saying they're worthless at all. But the spinning-down issue may be an issue depending on the use.

Your TV server is idle all day, and the disk spun down - no problem. And once you start watching a movie from it, the disk will be continuously busy fetching the movie, so it won't spin down.

However, in case of your external backup drive, it may have suffered from it. You look for one file to copy to it, copy it, and then look for the next file, etc. As the default value is to park after 8 seconds of inactivity (see this page which describes Linux tools to fix it), it will park it every time. Linux users especially are affected, as Linux will save up disk writes typically every 30 seconds or so, and when you're mainly reading files that are already cached, well, you quickly rack up a big number of spin-downs.

And in your case, the spin-down might influence the connectivity. Does the USB port provide enough power for a spin-up? (AFAIK, USB is specced to provide more power during initial connection than during operation).

I listened to my last HD (Seagate, I believe) comitting suicide by relentless parking. For some obscure reason, that model's parking timeout was set to a hardcoded, nerve-wracking 4 seconds; and when it parked, it did so with an audible 'click'. Bloody thing sounded like a sewing machine during burst access tasks like spreadsheet wrangling. It winged its way to HD Hell within the year.