No SMART Info with Seagate USB3.0 Drives and Hub

[difool]

Hi,

I just added two Seagate Expansion Desk Drives to my Home Server via a 4-port Anker USB 3.0 Hub.

Performance looks fine but StableBit Scanner does not recieve any SMARt data.

Is there anything I can do about that?

[Christopher (Drashna)]

You shouldn't need to do anything for those USB drives.

Do they work fine if you plug them in directly to the motherboard?

 

Also, you can check to see if they'll get the data at all by using this utility:

http://community.covecube.com/index.php?/topic/36-how-to-contribute-test-data/

[difool]

I finally got around trying it out.

Plugged the drives directly into the main USB ports and still don't get anything in the Scanner.

Then I tried the tool, checked "USB" and got red Xs in the upper portion but green Xs in the lower portion.

It also says:

Methods: ScsiPassthrough, ScsiPassthrough48

Controller IDs: USB\VID0BC2&PID_3312&REV_0740,USB\VID_0BC2&PID3312

 

Any hope for me?

[Christopher (Drashna)]

If that's the case, then it *should* get the SMART data normally.

 

Also, have you tried the "UnsafeDirectIo" setting for scanner yet?

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_Scanner_Advanced_Settings

That should *definitely* get everything. But it's "unsafe" for a reason. People have had issues with some of the methods used. 

[difool]

Tried the "UnsafeDirectIO" and still get nothing.

 

What really confuses me is that I am running DriveBender on the server (sorry and it seems to recieve the SMART status of the drives  just fine...

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Okay, that's odd. It looks like an issue with how it's grabbing the info, then.

 

Also, are you using 2.4 or 2.5? 
Either way, I'd recommend downloading the 2.5.0.2968 beta version and see if that works.  If it doesn't, let us know.

[difool]

Downloaded and installed the Beta, made sure the UnsafeDirectIO thingy is still "True", rebootet the server, still nothing.

 

Switched the USB drives around a bit and am now sure that it's not the Hub or any specific port (suspected maybe different controllers): previously recognized drives are still recognized through the Hub and also through the same ports I tried for the news drives...

 

Soooo, what's next?

 

Anyhow: thanks for the quick feedback :-)

[Christopher (Drashna)]

What hub are you using? And which USB controllers?

[dbailey75]

Better yet which drive are you using?  If 3 or 4tb external drives, they have some funky built in controllers they allow you to connect to any windows (maybe mac too) OS including XP and still see the full 3 /4TB as a single drive, but if you pull the drive from the enclosure, connect directly to your PC, you'll have several different partitions on the drive, is funky.  I had this happen on two different 4tb drives. Long story, it's more than likely the controller in the external enclosure.  You'll do better buying an external multi-bay enclosure and bust the drives out.  But do this at your own risk, lol.