HD-FOX "Loses" Hard Drive

[Black Hole]

This sometimes happens with my HD-FOX + USB HDD set-up, "just one of those things" really but flagging it up to see how common the experience is.

I might be playing a recording, when the HDD drops out and an on-screen warning appears that the USB storage has been disconnected and files might be damaged. Reseating the USB and rebooting (to get the CF up and running again) is sometimes enough, but occasionally I have to do a full power cycle to get it back up (and as the HD-FOX has no power switch, that means unplugging at the wall).

 

[/df]

Normally only happens for me if cables are being tweaked, or if the power supply to the disk is marginal, which for a 2.5" USB enclosure can be solved with a powered hub that can also host a WiFi dongle. Maybe closing up the USB plug shield slightly would ensure a more consistent connection.

 

[Black Hole]

I ended up replacing the HDD back in April, with a used 320GB drive for a princely £9, but I'm getting similar problems again: https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/usb-hdd-dropping-out.10213. I forgot about this thread.

I suppose I should suspect the USB-SATA caddy as the actual source of the trouble, although it does seem coincident with heat.

Having previously worn out an old-school SSD, I've ordered a 240GB Crucial BX500 for a mere £28.50 (Amazon). 3 year / 80TB write warranty – and although I could have picked one up on eBay for £22, I don't fancy trying to claim on the warranty from an eBay seller!

 

[bottletop]

I ended up replacing the HDD back in April, with a used 320GB drive for a princely £9, but I'm getting similar problems again: https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/usb-hdd-dropping-out.10213. I forgot about this thread.

I suppose I should suspect the USB-SATA caddy as the actual source of the trouble, although it does seem coincident with heat...

Did the old drive have the same issue? If so then it may be the USB-SATA caddy, USB cable, heat or the Humax. Try the first three while attached to a laptop. Eg fill up the drive completely while wiggling the cable etc.
If that works ok, try the same test attached to the Humax. That should give you an idea of where the fault lies.

 

[Black Hole]

Did the old drive have the same issue?

Maybe.

If so then it may be the USB-SATA caddy, USB cable, heat or the Humax.

Maybe, but you're not telling me anything I don't know. It's an excuse to give another SSD a work-out.

 

[Black Hole]

Looking at what happened yesterday, it correlates with the heat and I wouldn't be surprised if the previous drive (swapped in May) was suffering the same thing (I can't remember the details). I was about to transfer everything to the SSD before I go out and capitalise on Freedom Day when I hit a different snag (https://hummy.tv/forum/threads/maintenance-mode-fixdisk-cant-unmount-mnt-hd2.8264/post-156272).

If it still happens with the SSD, then I will have to check the USB-SATA adapter but I think it will be odds on that the HD-FOX is struggling with the heat in my upstairs at the moment.

 

[Black Hole]

My SSD stats:





Apparently the Total LBAs Written count should be attribute 241, but that isn't quoted.

 

[Black Hole]

...and it now seems to have died. Two recent recordings bomb out when play is attempted (although CF and at least some previous existing recordings still work), and WebIF >> Diagnostics >> Disk Diagnostics produces nothing useful:



Timeshift is working though.

 

[Stummery]

So timewise it should still (just) be under warranty ? Do you have any access to how much data has been written to see if it is within the 80TB ?

 

[/df]

SMART ?

 

[Black Hole]

CF isn't reading the SMART (see post 8), whereas it did in post 7, so I will have to migrate to a real computer to go any further with that.

Meanwhile, another scheduled recording has failed (play bombs out) whereas a manual recording worked fine. Confusing.

 

[Black Hole]

The issue with some recordings failing and others not was so random that I don't think this can be a hard fault. I did some housekeeping and decreased utilisation to about 50%, and the problem seems to have gone away. Still not getting SMART though.

 

[bottletop]

The Humax uses an old Linux kernel, so it won't support TRIM. You've probably manually done some garbage collection. (That's assuming TRIM still requires OS support.)