Dev1 Galaxy Forum / [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (Ron) — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 03:20:48 +0000

Earlier I used the sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdc command. It shows this:

$ sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdc
[sudo] password for ron: 
smartctl 7.2 2020-12-30 r5155 [x86_64-linux-5.15.0-1-amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-20, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Seagate Momentus 7200.5
Device Model:     ST9500424AS
Serial Number:    - redacted -
LU WWN Device Id: - redacted -
Firmware Version: 0001BSM1
User Capacity:    500,107,862,016 bytes [500 GB]
Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate:    7200 rpm
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   ATA8-ACS T13/1699-D revision 4
SATA Version is:  SATA 2.6, 3.0 Gb/s
Local Time is:    Wed Nov 24 21:16:47 2021 CST
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
 - - snip - -

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (Altoid) — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 12:48:49 +0000

Hello:

Altoid wrote:

Do smartctl -h to get a complete usage summary.

You may want to read the summary again. <----
Look for the -T modifier to see what it does ...

~$ sudo smartctl -h
smartctl 6.6 2017-11-05 r4594 [x86_64-linux-5.10.0-0.bpo.3-amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-17, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

Usage: smartctl [options] device
               --- snip ---
===== SMARTCTL RUN-TIME BEHAVIOR OPTIONS =====
               --- snip ---
  -T TYPE, --tolerance=TYPE                                           (ATA)
         Tolerance: normal, conservative, permissive, verypermissive
               --- snip ---
~$

... and use it as required by the application so it can continue:

Ron wrote:

--- snip ---
Read Device Identity failed: Invalid argument
A mandatory SMART command failed: exiting. To continue, add one or more '-T permissive' options.

External drives running through USB are sometimes tricky, some brands more than others.
Previous (limited) experience has shown me that this is many times due to problematic access to the USB controller chip inside the external drive's case.

While you can use other ie: -d modifiers, I expect that using -T will allow the application to decide the device's type and act accordingly.

For example, a run on an old 40Gb (!) USB drive I have:

groucho@devuan:~$ sudo smartctl -i -a -T verypermissive /dev/sdg1
smartctl 6.6 2017-11-05 r4594 [x86_64-linux-5.10.0-0.bpo.3-amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-17, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Vendor:               SAMSUNG
Product:              MP0402H
Revision:             0811
User Capacity:        40,060,403,712 bytes [40.0 GB]
Logical block size:   512 bytes
Device type:          disk
Local Time is:        Wed Nov 24 09:33:25 2021 -03
SMART support is:     Unavailable - device lacks SMART capability.

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
Current Drive Temperature:     0 C
Drive Trip Temperature:        0 C

Error Counter logging not supported

Device does not support Self Test logging
~$

Running this ...

~$ sudo smartctl -i -a -T verypermissive /dev/sdx

... should get you some results.

Best,

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (Ron) — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 02:06:53 +0000

I was able to test my two internal drives (they both passed), but I'm getting an error message trying to test the portable drive:

sudo smartctl -d ata -H /dev/sdc
smartctl 7.2 2020-12-30 r5155 [x86_64-linux-5.15.0-1-amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-20, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

Read Device Identity failed: Invalid argument

A mandatory SMART command failed: exiting. To continue, add one or more '-T permissive' options.

EDIT
Okay, I'm not sure if this was right, but I changed ata in the command to scsi, and that came back like this. On the internal drives it reads PASSED, but with this it reads OK. Did I do it right?

sudo smartctl -d scsi -H /dev/sdc
smartctl 7.2 2020-12-30 r5155 [x86_64-linux-5.15.0-1-amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-20, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Health Status: OK

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (rolfie) — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 16:19:00 +0000

smartmontools is the keyword.

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (Altoid) — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 14:08:29 +0000

Hello:

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

... strongly recommend a SMART test on that device.

See https://linoxide.com/how-to-test-ssd-hd … -in-linux/

Do smartctl -h to get a complete usage summary.

You don't want a drive with issues if you are using it for backups.

Best,

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (Ron) — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 14:04:50 +0000

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

I would strongly recommend a SMART test on that device.

Noted. I would need to download smart-notifier for that, right? I'm guessing its use would be self-explanatory.

Thanks for all your help.

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (Head_on_a_Stick) — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 13:58:25 +0000

I would strongly recommend a SMART test on that device.

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (Ron) — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 00:46:53 +0000

Marked as solved. Thanks to everyone who responded, especially hevidevi and HoaS.

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (Ron) — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 18:56:39 +0000

That seems to have fixed it. Thanks hevidevi.

I'm going to wait a day or two before marking it as solved.

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (hevidevi) — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 15:16:04 +0000

Possibly you have ownership problems if you are using ext4.

from the command line do.

sudo chown -R ron:ron /mnt/seagate

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (Ron) — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 14:48:07 +0000

Okay, here is some new info. I don't think my portable drive is dead after all. I was backing up my files last night to my wife's portable drive that was working when I remembered I wanted the drive to be formatted as ext4, just like my portable drive was. So this morning I did that, and lo and behold, the drive was no longer writable. So then I formatted it again, back to ntfs, and then it was writable again. How can I make these drives writable as ext4? I did this with ascii no problem (at least on my portable drive). Why isn't it working with Miyo/Devuan 5?

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (hevidevi) — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 10:28:39 +0000

ralph.ronnquist wrote:

https://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/k … -220091en/

So its likely this drive had its own proprietary NTFS file system only usable on windows and mac os?

First thing i do when i buy external drives in wipe the filesystem and put something more unix friendly like ext4 or fat32

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (ralph.ronnquist) — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 02:35:23 +0000

https://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/k … -220091en/

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (Altoid) — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 01:51:19 +0000

Hello:

Ron wrote:

... deleted the partition, created a new one, and then formatted it. Still can't write to it.
... taking a hammer to it ...

Hmm ...

What's the hurry? 8^D

Don't let an opportunity to experiment (and learn something new) pass you by.
You'll have time to dissect it later on.

One of the things you can do is try to clear the drive completely.

With gparted:

1. select the drive - make sure it is the one you want to nuke.
2. do: partition -> format to -> cleared

That should leave the drive in a 'virgin state' so to speak.

Exit gparted, unplug the drive, plug it in again, restart gparted and select the drive again, making sure it is the one you want to nuke:

1. do: device -> create partition table and then create a single partition, format it to FAT32 and then run a check to see what's up.

Try a couple of cycles of clear -> format -> clear.

There's also a command line tool called TestDisk which I have used only a couple of times to recover a partition but it worked.
I believe there's a command to completely clear a drive.

Ron wrote:

Thanks ...

You're welcome.

Best,

Re: [SOLVED] Problems with a Seagate portable drive

dummy@example.com (golinux) — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 01:43:29 +0000

Just curious if you ran a SMART test on it.