On Wednesday 27 April 2022 17:33:19 Borg Labs wrote:
> I could be wrong but this sounds like a smart failure or a cable
> connection error.
>
> Shutdown the box, unplug it, press the power button for 20s, then unplug
> and replug the harddrive in. BE CAREFUL. Check the connection on the board
> as well. BE CAREFUL. They can go "stale".
>
> If that doesn't help, the IDE (intergrated device electronics) on the hard
> drive may be failing.
>
> Unmount it and run some tests using GSmartControl.
> This is common behavior of a dying electronics on an otherwise healthy hard
> drive.
>
> Hope this helps,
>
> Kate
>
These are WD EasyStore 4 TB hard drives. They are compact, about the size of a
pack of cigarettes, or playing cards. The only power comes from the
connection to the laptop itself. However, I do use a 4-port USB hub. I am
thinking that maybe I ought to use a USB hub with power supply, and maybe
that will help. But I've been using everything like this now for at least 4
months with no problems, aside from my usual complaints in set up (e.g.,
reformatting the drives with Linux filesystems, getting them to mount and
unmount properly and without much trouble, etc.
I will nearly always have at least two of them connected and mounted, because
the contain working files and my music collection, respectively; the other
two are the ones that seem to give me this headache. The contain only videos,
films, TV shows, documentaries, and such. The first two still have a lot of
free space; the last two (the videos) are each about 3/4 full. I am thinking
maybe that could be the problem: that it's just taking too long for my laptop
to read them, because there's so much? But, as I said, they've been working
just fine for the past four months.