Ubuntu – External USB 3 drive not recognized

diskexternal-hddusb-drive

Ubuntu 12.10 64 bit seems not to recognize my external hard disk. It is a Vantec NST-310S3 external disk enclosure with a WD 3TB drive. The disk has two NTFS partitions. My PC is a dual boot system. Under Windows 7 the hard disk works fine but I can't make it work with Ubuntu. When the drive is connected to the PC then the command sudo fdisk -l seems to hang forever.

Below are the output of lsusb and cat /proc/partitions without the external drive and then with it connected. I added also the last lines of the dmesg command at the end.

First without the drive:

ilan@linux:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 13ba:0017 Unknown PS/2 Keyboard+Mouse Adapter
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 046d:c50e Logitech, Inc. Cordless Mouse Receiver
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0ac8:3420 Z-Star Microelectronics Corp. Venus USB2.0 Camera
ilan@linux:~$ cat /proc/partitions 
major minor  #blocks  name
   8        0 1953514584 sda
   8        1     102400 sda1
   8        2  629043200 sda2
   8        3  367001600 sda3
   8        4          1 sda4
   8        5  471859200 sda5
   8        6  157286400 sda6
   8        7  324115456 sda7
   8        8    4101120 sda8
  11        0    1048575 sr0

Second with the USB 3 drive:

ilan@linux:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 174c:55aa ASMedia Technology Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 13ba:0017 Unknown PS/2 Keyboard+Mouse Adapter
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 046d:c50e Logitech, Inc. Cordless Mouse Receiver
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0ac8:3420 Z-Star Microelectronics Corp. Venus USB2.0 Camera
ilan@linux:~$ cat /proc/partitions 
major minor  #blocks  name
   8        0 1953514584 sda
   8        1     102400 sda1
   8        2  629043200 sda2
   8        3  367001600 sda3
   8        4          1 sda4
   8        5  471859200 sda5
   8        6  157286400 sda6
   8        7  324115456 sda7
   8        8    4101120 sda8
  11        0    1048575 sr0
   8       16 2930266584 sdb
ilan@linux:~$ lsusb -v -s 004:002
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 174c:55aa ASMedia Technology Inc. 
Couldn't open device, some information will be missing
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               3.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0         9
  idVendor           0x174c ASMedia Technology Inc.
  idProduct          0x55aa 
  bcdDevice            1.00
  iManufacturer           2 
  iProduct                3 
  iSerial                 1 
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           44
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0xc0
      Self Powered
    MaxPower                0mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage
      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI
      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk-Only
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0400  1x 1024 bytes
        bInterval               0
        bMaxBurst              15
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0400  1x 1024 bytes
        bInterval               0
        bMaxBurst              15
ilan@linux:~$ sudo fdisk -l
[sudo] password for ilan: 
Disk /dev/sda: 2000.4 GB, 2000398934016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xf1b4f1ee
   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *        2048      206847      102400    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda2          206848  1258293247   629043200    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda3      1258293248  1992296447   367001600    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda4      1992298494  3907028991   957365249    f  W95 Ext'd (LBA)
/dev/sda5      1992298496  2936016895   471859200    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda6      2936018944  3250591743   157286400    7  HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
/dev/sda7      3250593792  3898824703   324115456   83  Linux
/dev/sda8      3898826752  3907028991     4101120   82  Linux swap / Solaris

dmesg output after connecting the external drive:

[   23.740567] e1000e: eth0 NIC Link is Up 1000 Mbps Full Duplex, Flow Control: Rx/Tx
[   23.740786] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[   49.144673] usb 4-1: >new SuperSpeed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[   49.163039] usb 4-1: >Parent hub missing LPM exit latency info.  Power management will be impacted.
[   49.166789] usb 4-1: >New USB device found, idVendor=174c, idProduct=55aa
[   49.166793] usb 4-1: >New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
[   49.166796] usb 4-1: >Product: AS2105
[   49.166799] usb 4-1: >Manufacturer: ASMedia
[   49.166801] usb 4-1: >SerialNumber: 0123456789ABCDEF
[   49.206372] usbcore: registered new interface driver uas
[   49.228891] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[   49.229042] scsi6 : usb-storage 4-1:1.0
[   49.229115] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[   49.229116] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[   64.045528] scsi 6:0:0:0: >Direct-Access     WDC WD30 EZRX-00MMMB0     80.0 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
[   64.046224] sd 6:0:0:0: >Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[   64.046881] sd 6:0:0:0: >[sdb] Very big device. Trying to use READ CAPACITY(16).
[   64.047610] sd 6:0:0:0: >[sdb] 5860533168 512-byte logical blocks: (3.00 TB/2.72 TiB)
[   64.048368] sd 6:0:0:0: >[sdb] Write Protect is off
[   64.048373] sd 6:0:0:0: >[sdb] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
[   64.048984] sd 6:0:0:0: >[sdb] No Caching mode page present
[   64.048987] sd 6:0:0:0: >[sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[   64.049297] sd 6:0:0:0: >[sdb] Very big device. Trying to use READ CAPACITY(16).
[   64.050942] sd 6:0:0:0: >[sdb] No Caching mode page present
[   64.050944] sd 6:0:0:0: >[sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[   94.245006] usb 4-1: >reset SuperSpeed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[   94.262553] usb 4-1: >Parent hub missing LPM exit latency info.  Power management will be impacted.
[   94.263805] xhci_hcd 0000:03:00.0: >xHCI xhci_drop_endpoint called with disabled ep ffff8800d37d1c00
[   94.263808] xhci_hcd 0000:03:00.0: >xHCI xhci_drop_endpoint called with disabled ep ffff8800d37d1c40
[  125.262722] usb 4-1: >reset SuperSpeed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[  125.280304] usb 4-1: >Parent hub missing LPM exit latency info.  Power management will be impacted.
[  125.281511] xhci_hcd 0000:03:00.0: >xHCI xhci_drop_endpoint called with disabled ep ffff8800d37d1c00
[  125.281516] xhci_hcd 0000:03:00.0: >xHCI xhci_drop_endpoint called with disabled ep ffff8800d37d1c40

Best Answer

The USB 3.0 device is not providing latency info.

When you connect a USB device the kernel provides a 10ms delay for the device to initialize, then the kernel begins sending commands to the device.

The delay is hard coded into the kernel for USB2.0 devices, but for 3.0 devices the value is configurable and is provided by the device.

If the device does not provide the latency value for the kernel, the kernel will never send commands to the drive because it will wait forever.

The only way to fix this is to either get a different drive enclosure (yours is broken) or patch the kernel to use the default latency in USB3.0, which would be very difficult and possibly also break other things.

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