For the last few days I have spent a huge amount time searching for a solution to this challenge.
I have a Seagate Expansion Desktop Drive which is an external 2 TB USB 3.0 disk that I use for testing. The drive is attached to a USB 3.0 port on my Macbook Pro in one test, and to a USB 3.0 port on my Mac Mini for another test. Both the Macbook Pro and Mac Mini have virtualbox installed and have a Ubuntu guest installed. The drive should be accessible to the ubuntu guest.
My current setup:
Macbook Pro:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro11,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2,8 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 16 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBP111.0138.B15
SMC Version (system): 2.16f68
Versions:
Host:
Mac OSX: 10.10.5
VirtualBox: 5.0.4 r102546
USB device: Seagate Expansion Desktop Drive 2TB
Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack: 5.0.4r102546 Installed
In Setup - Ports - USB USB 3.0 (xHCI) Controller is enabled
Guest:
Guest: Ubuntu 14.04
VboxGuestAdditions installed
uname -a
Linux patal-vbox-ubuntu-002 3.19.0-25-generic #26~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jul 24 21:16:20 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
Precondition:
Seagate drive connected to power and USB 3.0 port on Macbook Pro (or Mini) (ejected in Filer in osx)
Macbook Pro started and logged in
VirtualBox started
Guest (Ubuntu 14.04) Started and logged in (window mode not full screen)
Expected result:
Seagate drive should be listed in the File manager under Devices in ubuntu.
The drive should be listed in /dev as a drive such as /dev/sdb in ubuntu for example
The drive should be mountable in ubuntu
Actual result:
The drive is not listed in the File manager under Devices in ubuntu
The drive is not listed under /dev in ubuntu
root@patal-vbox-ubuntu-002:~# ls -al /dev/sd*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 0 sep 26 09:16 /dev/sda
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 1 sep 26 09:11 /dev/sda1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 2 sep 26 09:16 /dev/sda2
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 5 sep 26 09:11 /dev/sda5
lsusb:
root@patal-vbox-ubuntu-002:~# lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0bc2:3321 Seagate RSS LLC
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 80ee:0021 VirtualBox USB Tablet
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
verbose lsusb output for Seagate RSS LLC:
root@patal-vbox-ubuntu-002:~# lsusb -v
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0bc2:3321 Seagate RSS LLC
Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 3.00
bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 9
idVendor 0x0bc2 Seagate RSS LLC
idProduct 0x3321
bcdDevice 1.00
iManufacturer 2 Seagate
iProduct 3 Expansion Desk
iSerial 1 NA4KX5JA
bNumConfigurations 1
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 121
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
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 1
bNumEndpoints 4
bInterfaceClass 8 Mass Storage
bInterfaceSubClass 6 SCSI
bInterfaceProtocol 98
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
MaxStreams 32
Data-in pipe (0x03)
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
MaxStreams 32
Data-out pipe (0x04)
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x83 EP 3 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0400 1x 1024 bytes
bInterval 0
bMaxBurst 15
MaxStreams 32
Status pipe (0x02)
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x04 EP 4 OUT
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0400 1x 1024 bytes
bInterval 0
bMaxBurst 0
Command pipe (0x01)
Binary Object Store Descriptor:
bLength 5
bDescriptorType 15
wTotalLength 22
bNumDeviceCaps 2
USB 2.0 Extension Device Capability:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 16
bDevCapabilityType 2
bmAttributes 0x00000002
Link Power Management (LPM) Supported
SuperSpeed USB Device Capability:
bLength 10
bDescriptorType 16
bDevCapabilityType 3
bmAttributes 0x00
wSpeedsSupported 0x000e
Device can operate at Full Speed (12Mbps)
Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)
Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)
bFunctionalitySupport 1
Lowest fully-functional device speed is Full Speed (12Mbps)
bU1DevExitLat 10 micro seconds
bU2DevExitLat 2047 micro seconds
Device Status: 0x0001
Self Powered
dmesg output:
[ 795.810773] usb 2-1: new SuperSpeed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[ 795.829590] usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0bc2, idProduct=3321
[ 795.829594] usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
[ 795.829595] usb 2-1: Product: Expansion Desk
[ 795.829596] usb 2-1: Manufacturer: Seagate
[ 795.829597] usb 2-1: SerialNumber: NA4KX5JA
[ 795.857795] usb 2-1: USB controller 0000:00:0c.0 does not support streams, which are required by the UAS driver.
[ 795.857798] usb 2-1: Please try an other USB controller if you wish to use UAS.
[ 795.857799] usb-storage 2-1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 795.857848] scsi host5: usb-storage 2-1:1.0
[ 822.485641] usb 2-1: reset SuperSpeed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[ 822.503463] xhci_hcd 0000:00:0c.0: xHCI xhci_drop_endpoint called with disabled ep ffff880013ebac00
[ 822.503468] xhci_hcd 0000:00:0c.0: xHCI xhci_drop_endpoint called with disabled ep ffff880013ebac48
[ 890.772127] audit_printk_skb: 120 callbacks suppressed
[ 890.772130] audit: type=1400 audit(1443252349.697:62): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf" pid=2761 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 890.772135] audit: type=1400 audit(1443252349.697:63): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/sbin/cupsd" pid=2761 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 890.772386] audit: type=1400 audit(1443252349.697:64): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/sbin/cupsd" pid=2761 comm="apparmor_parser"
I suspect the issue is on this line from the dmesg:
[ 795.857795] usb 2-1: USB controller 0000:00:0c.0 does not support streams, which are required by the UAS driver.
Is it a Virtualbox issue or a Ubuntu issue? Could ubuntu not be handling the USB xHCI controller correctly?
Incidently the Drive works on a dedicated kubuntu workstation, and in a Windows 10 VM from the same macbook pro.
@nephente (appended as requested)
I assume you mean to set the controller in VirtualBox to USB 2.0 (EHCI) Controller. If this is the case then I get the following error in VirtualBox:
Failed to attach the USB device Seagate Expansion Desk [0100] to the virtual machine patal-vbox-ubuntu-002.
Failed to create a proxy device for the USB device.
(Error: VERR_PDM_NO_USB_PORTS).
Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005) Component: ConsoleWrap Interface: IConsole {872da645-4a9b-1727-bee2-5585105b9eed}
One other thing I also tried but failed to mention was to attaching the USB 3.0 device to a USB 2.0 hub and attached the hub to the Macbook Pro. This didn't work either.
@Takkat
Thanks for your suggestion of creating a filter and ensuring the drive is unmounted/ejected from osx.
I have created a filter for the Seagate Expansion Desk (Desk as in Desktop), and made sure that the drive is not mounted in osx.
Result: making sure the drive was not mounted and creating a filter for the drive did not make any difference. The drive is still recognised as described in the beginning of this post.
Best Answer
The USB 3.0 support has been added recently in VirtualBox version 5.0. Please read the release notes here. (For quick search use the search function in your browser and write "USB 3").
In order to access this new feature you have to install the Extension Pack.
Download Here
In order to install the extension pack you must right click on the downloaded file and "Open with..." virtualbox.
I don't know if this is the same (in MACs) as in Linux, but you may need add your user in 'virtualbox' group in order to access some features without problems.