Cannot Access WD Elements External Drive from OpenSuse 13.1

janwolter · March 28, 2014, 3:42pm

I have a new one terabyte Western Digital External drive that I am trying unsuccessfully to use on a system with a fresh installation of OpenSuse 13.1. When I plug the drive into either a USB 2.0 or a USB 3.0 port, the drive light blinks for a while, but nothing else happens. The drive is not automounted.

I’ve tried several other USB 2.0 drives on this computer, and they all work fine, which makes one suspect the WD drive.

However, the Western Digital drive works not only on every other computer I own, but on the same computer when that computer is booted into Windows 8 instead of OpenSuse 13.1. It also works on an older system I have that is running OpenSuse 11.2. So there is little reason to believe the drive defective.

I read somewhere that these drives come from the factory with strange formatting, and that they will work after being reformatted, so I tried reformatting it twice (using a Windows 7 system), once with “Quick Format” once without. This changed nothing.

Here is /var/log/messages output when the WD drive is plugged into a USB 3.0 slot:

2014-03-28T10:15:41.178597-04:00 slithy kernel:  1865.932200] usb 6-1: new SuperSpeed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
2014-03-28T10:15:41.195581-04:00 slithy kernel:  1865.949154] usb 6-1: New USB device found, idVendor=1058, idProduct=1078
2014-03-28T10:15:41.195603-04:00 slithy kernel:  1865.949161] usb 6-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
2014-03-28T10:15:41.195607-04:00 slithy kernel:  1865.949165] usb 6-1: Product: Elements 1078
2014-03-28T10:15:41.195609-04:00 slithy kernel:  1865.949168] usb 6-1: Manufacturer: Western Digital
2014-03-28T10:15:41.195610-04:00 slithy kernel:  1865.949171] usb 6-1: SerialNumber: 57584A314541334A43434C39
2014-03-28T10:15:41.197491-04:00 slithy kernel:  1865.951415] usb-storage 6-1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
2014-03-28T10:15:41.197500-04:00 slithy kernel:  1865.951537] scsi6 : usb-storage 6-1:1.0
2014-03-28T10:15:41.201236-04:00 slithy mtp-probe: checking bus 6, device 4: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.1/usb6/6-1"
2014-03-28T10:15:41.201926-04:00 slithy mtp-probe: bus: 6, device: 4 was not an MTP device
2014-03-28T10:15:42.200513-04:00 slithy kernel:  1866.952970] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access     WD       Elements 1078    1056 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
2014-03-28T10:15:42.200534-04:00 slithy kernel:  1866.953296] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
2014-03-28T10:15:42.203504-04:00 slithy kernel:  1866.955852] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Spinning up disk...
2014-03-28T10:15:48.219570-04:00 slithy kernel:  1867.955962] ......ready
2014-03-28T10:15:48.220605-04:00 slithy kernel:  1872.967253] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] 1953458176 512-byte logical blocks: (1.00 TB/931 GiB)
2014-03-28T10:15:48.220637-04:00 slithy kernel:  1872.968005] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off
2014-03-28T10:15:48.220640-04:00 slithy kernel:  1872.968012] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 53 00 10 08
2014-03-28T10:15:48.221492-04:00 slithy kernel:  1872.968727] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] No Caching mode page found
2014-03-28T10:15:48.221502-04:00 slithy kernel:  1872.968733] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
2014-03-28T10:15:48.223512-04:00 slithy kernel:  1872.970840] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] No Caching mode page found
2014-03-28T10:15:48.223538-04:00 slithy kernel:  1872.970848] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
2014-03-28T10:15:48.391500-04:00 slithy kernel:  1873.138115]  sdd: sdd1
2014-03-28T10:15:48.393524-04:00 slithy kernel:  1873.139907] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] No Caching mode page found
2014-03-28T10:15:48.393541-04:00 slithy kernel:  1873.139910] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
2014-03-28T10:15:48.393543-04:00 slithy kernel:  1873.139912] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI disk
2014-03-28T10:16:18.567376-04:00 slithy systemd-udevd[301]: worker [3311] /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.1/usb6/6-1/6-1:1.0/host6/target6:0:0/6:0:0:0/block/sdd/sdd1 timeout; kill it
2014-03-28T10:16:18.568050-04:00 slithy systemd-udevd[301]: seq 2242 '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:10.1/usb6/6-1/6-1:1.0/host6/target6:0:0/6:0:0:0/block/sdd/sdd1' killed
2014-03-28T10:16:19.366592-04:00 slithy kernel:  1904.082115] usb 6-1: reset SuperSpeed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
2014-03-28T10:16:19.380574-04:00 slithy kernel:  1904.096897] xhci_hcd 0000:00:10.1: xHCI xhci_drop_endpoint called with disabled ep ffff8801fc779840
2014-03-28T10:16:19.380595-04:00 slithy kernel:  1904.096905] xhci_hcd 0000:00:10.1: xHCI xhci_drop_endpoint called with disabled ep ffff8801fc779880
2014-03-28T10:16:19.563965-04:00 slithy systemd-udevd[301]: worker [3311] terminated by signal 9 (Killed)

And the result of plugging the same drive into a USB 2.0 port, still under OpenSuse 13.1:

2014-03-28T10:19:48.574597-04:00 slithy kernel:  2113.083738] usb 2-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci-pci2014-03-28T10:19:48.717522-04:00 slithy kernel:  2113.226953] usb 2-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=1058, idProduct=1078
2014-03-28T10:19:48.717544-04:00 slithy kernel:  2113.226960] usb 2-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
2014-03-28T10:19:48.717548-04:00 slithy kernel:  2113.226964] usb 2-1.4: Product: Elements 1078
2014-03-28T10:19:48.717550-04:00 slithy kernel:  2113.226967] usb 2-1.4: Manufacturer: Western Digital
2014-03-28T10:19:48.717552-04:00 slithy kernel:  2113.226970] usb 2-1.4: SerialNumber: 57584A314541334A43434C39
2014-03-28T10:19:48.719504-04:00 slithy kernel:  2113.228203] usb-storage 2-1.4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
2014-03-28T10:19:48.719515-04:00 slithy kernel:  2113.228315] scsi7 : usb-storage 2-1.4:1.0
2014-03-28T10:19:48.721734-04:00 slithy mtp-probe: checking bus 2, device 5: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:13.2/usb2/2-1/2-1.4"
2014-03-28T10:19:48.722409-04:00 slithy mtp-probe: bus: 2, device: 5 was not an MTP device
2014-03-28T10:19:49.722512-04:00 slithy kernel:  2114.230480] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access     WD       Elements 1078    1056 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
2014-03-28T10:19:49.722531-04:00 slithy kernel:  2114.230811] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
2014-03-28T10:19:49.727493-04:00 slithy kernel:  2114.236148] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Spinning up disk...
2014-03-28T10:19:54.749523-04:00 slithy kernel:  2115.236197] .....ready
2014-03-28T10:19:54.749545-04:00 slithy kernel:  2119.252934] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] 1953458176 512-byte logical blocks: (1.00 TB/931 GiB)
2014-03-28T10:19:54.751530-04:00 slithy kernel:  2119.254226] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off
2014-03-28T10:19:54.751551-04:00 slithy kernel:  2119.254236] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 53 00 10 08
2014-03-28T10:19:54.752491-04:00 slithy kernel:  2119.255519] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] No Caching mode page found
2014-03-28T10:19:54.752502-04:00 slithy kernel:  2119.255525] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
2014-03-28T10:19:54.757597-04:00 slithy kernel:  2119.260337] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] No Caching mode page found
2014-03-28T10:19:54.757622-04:00 slithy kernel:  2119.260346] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
2014-03-28T10:19:54.930508-04:00 slithy kernel:  2119.433468]  sdd: sdd1
2014-03-28T10:19:54.935589-04:00 slithy kernel:  2119.438586] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] No Caching mode page found
2014-03-28T10:19:54.935612-04:00 slithy kernel:  2119.438595] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
2014-03-28T10:19:54.935615-04:00 slithy kernel:  2119.438601] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI disk
2014-03-28T10:20:25.165926-04:00 slithy systemd-udevd[301]: worker [3334] /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:13.2/usb2/2-1/2-1.4/2-1.4:1.0/host7/target7:0:0/7:0:0:0/block/sdd/sdd1 timeout; kill it
2014-03-28T10:20:25.166640-04:00 slithy systemd-udevd[301]: seq 2268 '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:13.2/usb2/2-1/2-1.4/2-1.4:1.0/host7/target7:0:0/7:0:0:0/block/sdd/sdd1' killed
2014-03-28T10:20:25.352592-04:00 slithy kernel:  2149.825382] usb 2-1.4: reset high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci-pci
2014-03-28T10:20:25.649231-04:00 slithy systemd-udevd[301]: worker [3334] terminated by signal 9 (Killed)

I could probably figure out how to collect usbmon output if it is needed.

janwolter · March 28, 2014, 3:43pm

And, just for comparison, the same drive plugged into a USB 2.0 port on a different computer, running OpenSuse 11.2, where the drive works fine:


Mar 28 10:23:47 pickle kernel: [261590.768026] usb 1-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 5
Mar 28 10:23:47 pickle kernel: [261590.884868] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=1058, idProduct=1078
Mar 28 10:23:47 pickle kernel: [261590.884881] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
Mar 28 10:23:47 pickle kernel: [261590.884888] usb 1-1: Product: Elements 1078
Mar 28 10:23:47 pickle kernel: [261590.884894] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Western Digital
Mar 28 10:23:47 pickle kernel: [261590.884899] usb 1-1: SerialNumber: 57584A314541334A43434C39
Mar 28 10:23:47 pickle kernel: [261590.885017] usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Mar 28 10:23:47 pickle kernel: [261590.886840] scsi10 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
Mar 28 10:23:47 pickle kernel: [261590.886934] usb-storage: device found at 5
Mar 28 10:23:47 pickle kernel: [261590.886937] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
Mar 28 10:23:48 pickle kernel: [261591.887131] scsi 10:0:0:0: Direct-Access     WD       Elements 1078    1056 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
Mar 28 10:23:48 pickle kernel: [261591.887314] sd 10:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg6 type 0
Mar 28 10:23:48 pickle kernel: [261591.893379] usb-storage: device scan complete
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261591.908613] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Spinning up disk........ready
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261596.987188] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] 1953458176 512-byte logical blocks: (1.00 TB/931 GiB)
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261596.988185] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Write Protect is off
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261596.988194] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Mode Sense: 53 00 10 08
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261596.988196] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming drive cache: write through
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261596.989953] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming drive cache: write through
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261596.989992]  sdf: sdf1
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.164412] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming drive cache: write through
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.164428] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Attached SCSI disk
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.229772] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Sense Key : Recovered Error [current] [descriptor]
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.229788] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.229794]         72 01 04 1d 00 00 00 0e 09 0c 00 00 00 00 00 00 
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.229806]         00 00 00 00 00 50 
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.229814] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] ASC=0x4 ASCQ=0x1d
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.234447] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Sense Key : Recovered Error [current] [descriptor]
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.234464] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.234469]         72 01 04 1d 00 00 00 0e 09 0c 00 00 00 00 00 00 
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.234481]         00 4f 00 c2 00 50 
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.234489] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] ASC=0x4 ASCQ=0x1d
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.244144] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Sense Key : Recovered Error [current] [descriptor]
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.244161] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.244167]         72 01 04 1d 00 00 00 0e 09 0c 00 00 00 00 00 00 
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.244179]         00 00 00 00 00 50 
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.244186] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] ASC=0x4 ASCQ=0x1d
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.249267] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Sense Key : Recovered Error [current] [descriptor]
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.249284] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.249290]         72 01 04 1d 00 00 00 0e 09 0c 00 00 00 00 74 00 
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.249301]         00 4f 00 c2 00 50 
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.249309] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] ASC=0x4 ASCQ=0x1d
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.250768] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Sense Key : Recovered Error [current] [descriptor]
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.250784] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.250789]         72 01 00 1d 00 00 00 0e 09 0c 00 00 00 ff 74 00 
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.250801]         00 00 00 00 00 50 
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.250808] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Add. Sense: ATA pass through information available
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.258141] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Sense Key : Recovered Error [current] [descriptor]
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.258158] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.258164]         72 01 04 1d 00 00 00 0e 09 0c 00 00 00 00 74 00 
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.258176]         00 00 00 00 00 50 
Mar 28 10:23:53 pickle kernel: [261597.258183] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] ASC=0x4 ASCQ=0x1d
Mar 28 10:23:54 pickle kernel: [261597.339020] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Sense Key : Recovered Error [current] [descriptor]
Mar 28 10:23:54 pickle kernel: [261597.339037] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
Mar 28 10:23:54 pickle kernel: [261597.339043]         72 01 04 1d 00 00 00 0e 09 0c 00 00 00 00 74 00 
Mar 28 10:23:54 pickle kernel: [261597.339055]         00 4f 00 c2 00 50 
Mar 28 10:23:54 pickle kernel: [261597.339062] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] ASC=0x4 ASCQ=0x1d
Mar 28 10:25:28 pickle ntfs-3g[22173]: Version 2009.4.4 integrated FUSE 27
Mar 28 10:25:28 pickle ntfs-3g[22173]: Mounted /dev/sdf1 (Read-Write, label "Elements", NTFS 3.1)
Mar 28 10:25:28 pickle ntfs-3g[22173]: Cmdline options: rw,nosuid,nodev,locale=en_US.UTF-8
Mar 28 10:25:28 pickle ntfs-3g[22173]: Mount options: rw,nosuid,nodev,silent,allow_other,nonempty,relatime,fsname=/dev/sdf1,blkdev,blksize=4096
Mar 28 10:25:28 pickle hald: mounted /dev/sdf1 on behalf of uid 1000
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.416140] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Sense Key : Recovered Error [current] [descriptor]
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.416157] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.416163]         72 01 04 1d 00 00 00 0e 09 0c 00 00 00 00 00 00 
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.416175]         00 00 00 00 00 50 
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.416183] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] ASC=0x4 ASCQ=0x1d
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.421386] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Sense Key : Recovered Error [current] [descriptor]
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.421397] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.421403]         72 01 04 1d 00 00 00 0e 09 0c 00 00 00 00 00 00 
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.421415]         00 4f 00 c2 00 50 
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.421423] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] ASC=0x4 ASCQ=0x1d
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.422513] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Sense Key : Recovered Error [current] [descriptor]
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.422523] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.422529]         72 01 00 1d 00 00 00 0e 09 0c 00 00 00 ff 00 00 
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.422540]         00 00 00 00 00 50 
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.422548] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Add. Sense: ATA pass through information available
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.451388] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Sense Key : Recovered Error [current] [descriptor]
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.451406] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.451412]         72 01 04 1d 00 00 00 0e 09 0c 00 00 00 00 00 00 
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.451424]         00 00 00 00 00 50 
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.451432] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] ASC=0x4 ASCQ=0x1d
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.455880] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Sense Key : Recovered Error [current] [descriptor]
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.455891] Descriptor sense data with sense descriptors (in hex):
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.455897]         72 01 04 1d 00 00 00 0e 09 0c 00 00 00 00 00 00 
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.455909]         00 4f 00 c2 00 50 
Mar 28 10:26:46 pickle kernel: [261769.455916] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] ASC=0x4 ASCQ=0x1d

jetchisel · March 28, 2014, 5:40pm

There was a bug report about that issue about usb3 ports iirc. Have you updated your 13.1 system? Any way you can try using a cheap usb hub. Connect your external usb disk to the hub and then connect it to the usb3 port and check if it still has that error. I think i have done that too ;).

rafisv · March 28, 2014, 6:33pm

If you bought it from the qualified vendor try downloading utility to disable idle mode from WD website.

Also there is a little chance that this is a counterfeit product and disk geometry is invalid.

Try to register on WD and check the if the serial number corresponds to the disk size and type.

lccts1 · April 4, 2014, 8:09pm

Just to say, I have this same drive and am having USB reset issues with it on three different OpenSUSE 13.1 systems, all updated with latest patches. In my case I’m at least able to mount the drive, and it works for awhile, but after it’s been idle for a bit it apparently spins-down or goes into a low power mode. Access wakes it up and I get a USB reset in the logs every time this happens. This is annoying but at least makes sense. However, other times I’ll be in a middle of a big rsync (My intent was to use this drive for backup anyway) and I’ll start getting these bus resets even when, so far as I can tell, the drive hasn’t even been idle. Most of the time it manifests as a noticeable pause in the copy/rsync that eventually recovers, but other times the drive never comes back and the rsync can’t complete. I have to completely unplug it and reconnect before the system sees it again. Given the OP issues with this exact same drive I’m thinking there’s something about it that just doesn’t get along too well with Linux, or at least oS13.1. Like you, I also dual-boot Windows 8 on one of the laptops and in Windows 8 it’ll work all day on the same laptop in the same USB port under similar load and it performs admirably. Tempted to take it back and just get a standard 2.5" 1TB SATA drive and put it in a 3rd party USB enclosure that I’ve already had success with.

johnvv · April 5, 2014, 12:06am

also did you reformat the drive to use ext4 as gpt table
the drive from the factory was NTFS format with Microsoft tools in a “recovery” partition

mhunt0 · April 5, 2014, 12:27am

mine is 3TB (WD Elements), I partitioned and reformat the drive, no problem at all so far. One partition for XP and the other one for Linux in ext4.

janwolter · April 16, 2014, 9:07pm

jetchisel: OpenSuse 13.1 system is fully updated. The only USB hub I have is a 2.0 hub built into my monitor. Connecting through that makes no difference. Note that the issue is not only with USB 3.0 ports, but with USB 2.0 as well.

rafisv: I registered the drive on the WD website, and it was perfectly happy with the serial number, so this appears to be a genuine drive. The only “disable idle drive mode” tool I could find was this one: http://support.wd.com/product/download.asp?groupid=305&sid=154&lang=en which says “Driver Update Not Applicable” and exits. What I’ve read about this tool does not sound like it is applicable to my problem anyway - the drive could hardly be idling out in the few seconds it takes to mount, though it may have something to do with lccts1’s problem.

JohnVV: I want this drive partially to move data between my Linux and Windows systems, so I want it in NTFS format, not ext4.

Given that this drive works when the same computer is booted into windows and on older versions of OpenSuse, I think the problem is pretty clearly a bug in OpenSuse 13.1. Should I enter it in the OpenSuse bug report system? Should I figure out who the developers of the usb drivers are and enter it into their bug report system?

hendrikfe · September 15, 2014, 7:41pm

It seems that I’m facing the same problem with a WD external hard drive. I’ve searched the Internet for hours without success. The problem in this thread seems to be the closest to my problem so I’m hoping for some help here even if this thread has not been active for quite some time…

I bought a BRAND NEW Western Digital 3.0 TB external USB hard drive. When I plug the drive into my computer running OpenSUSE 13.1 the drive is not properly recognized. The kernel apparently recognizes the drive but I’m not being notified on the desktop (KDE) that a new drive has appeared. I checked /var/log/messages and it appears that some udevd worker thread times out after 30 seconds. Here is the relevant section of /var/log/messages:

2014-09-15T16:16:51.730220+02:00 u310 kernel:   125.393361] usb 4-2: new SuperSpeed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
2014-09-15T16:16:51.742236+02:00 u310 kernel:   125.405043] usb 4-2: New USB device found, idVendor=1058, idProduct=1230
2014-09-15T16:16:51.742292+02:00 u310 kernel:   125.405053] usb 4-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
2014-09-15T16:16:51.742303+02:00 u310 kernel:   125.405059] usb 4-2: Product: My Book 1230
2014-09-15T16:16:51.742310+02:00 u310 kernel:   125.405063] usb 4-2: Manufacturer: Western Digital
2014-09-15T16:16:51.742317+02:00 u310 kernel:   125.405068] usb 4-2: SerialNumber: 574343344E30373836313933
2014-09-15T16:16:51.750588+02:00 u310 mtp-probe: checking bus 4, device 2: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb4/4-2"
2014-09-15T16:16:51.751725+02:00 u310 mtp-probe: bus: 4, device: 2 was not an MTP device
2014-09-15T16:16:51.759624+02:00 u310 kernel:   125.422099] usb-storage 4-2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
2014-09-15T16:16:51.759652+02:00 u310 kernel:   125.422416] scsi6 : usb-storage 4-2:1.0
2014-09-15T16:16:51.759656+02:00 u310 kernel:   125.422611] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
2014-09-15T16:16:52.762233+02:00 u310 kernel:   126.425140] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access     WD       My Book 1230     1050 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
2014-09-15T16:16:52.763241+02:00 u310 kernel:   126.426131] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
2014-09-15T16:16:52.765190+02:00 u310 kernel:   126.427479] scsi 6:0:0:1: Enclosure         WD       SES Device       1050 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
2014-09-15T16:16:52.765283+02:00 u310 kernel:   126.428509] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Spinning up disk...
2014-09-15T16:16:52.768198+02:00 u310 kernel:   126.430606] scsi 6:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 13
2014-09-15T16:16:52.773181+02:00 u310 kernel:   126.436155] scsi 6:0:0:1: Failed to get diagnostic page 0x8000002
2014-09-15T16:16:52.773205+02:00 u310 kernel:   126.436165] scsi 6:0:0:1: Failed to bind enclosure -19
2014-09-15T16:16:52.773210+02:00 u310 kernel:   126.436195] ses 6:0:0:1: Attached Enclosure device
2014-09-15T16:17:02.935241+02:00 u310 kernel:   127.429215] ..........ready
2014-09-15T16:17:02.935301+02:00 u310 kernel:   136.595012] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] 732558336 4096-byte logical blocks: (3.00 TB/2.72 TiB)
2014-09-15T16:17:02.936538+02:00 u310 kernel:   136.595590] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
2014-09-15T16:17:02.936588+02:00 u310 kernel:   136.595607] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 53 00 10 08
2014-09-15T16:17:02.936598+02:00 u310 kernel:   136.596140] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page found
2014-09-15T16:17:02.936605+02:00 u310 kernel:   136.596156] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
2014-09-15T16:17:02.938188+02:00 u310 kernel:   136.597391] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] 732558336 4096-byte logical blocks: (3.00 TB/2.72 TiB)
2014-09-15T16:17:03.041207+02:00 u310 kernel:   136.701046]  sdc: sdc1
2014-09-15T16:17:03.042196+02:00 u310 kernel:   136.702026] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] 732558336 4096-byte logical blocks: (3.00 TB/2.72 TiB)
2014-09-15T16:17:03.043186+02:00 u310 kernel:   136.702902] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk
2014-09-15T16:17:33.247602+02:00 u310 systemd-udevd[306]: worker [1852] /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb4/4-2/4-2:1.0/host6/target6:0:0/6:0:0:0/block/sdc/sdc1 timeout; kill it
2014-09-15T16:17:33.250004+02:00 u310 systemd-udevd[306]: seq 2030 '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb4/4-2/4-2:1.0/host6/target6:0:0/6:0:0:0/block/sdc/sdc1' killed
2014-09-15T16:17:34.203248+02:00 u310 kernel:   167.852344] usb 4-2: reset SuperSpeed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
2014-09-15T16:17:34.215245+02:00 u310 kernel:   167.864339] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: xHCI xhci_drop_endpoint called with disabled ep f0dfc440
2014-09-15T16:17:34.215283+02:00 u310 kernel:   167.864352] xhci_hcd 0000:00:14.0: xHCI xhci_drop_endpoint called with disabled ep f0dfc470
2014-09-15T16:17:34.336028+02:00 u310 systemd-udevd[306]: worker [1852] terminated by signal 9 (Killed)

I can mount the partition on the drive manually after figuring out which device was assigned to it (here: /dev/sdc) but that is quite inconvenient as the drive is intended to be used by people not familiar with command line programs and I’m not sure if other problems are likely to occur later on because of the udevd problem.

Here is some more information to narrow down the problem:

I thought the drive was broken and returned it to the shop where I bought it. I got a new drive (same model) but this shows the same behavior.
The problem appears both on USB 2 and USB 3 ports.
I connected the drive to other computers running OpenSUSE 12.3 and 11.4 and there the drive detection works fine (both with USB 2 and 3)!!!
About a year ago I bought another WD 3 TB external hard drive and this works fine on all computers.
I updated udevd and systemd packages (to version 208, release 23.3) but this did not help. I even updated the kernel to the newest in the Tumbleweed repository (3.16.2) but this did not help either.

I formatted the disk with just one Ext4 partition. The devices for the drive and its partition are created (in this case, /dev/sdc and /dev/sdc1). However, in /dev/disk/by-id there are only links pointing to /dev/sdc but no links pointing to the partition /dev/sdc1:

# ls -l /dev/disk/by-id | grep sdc

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 Sep 15 16:17 ata-WDC_WD30EZRX-00D8PB0_WD-WCC4N0786193 -> ../../sdc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 Sep 15 16:17 scsi-1WD_My_Book_1230_WCC4N0786193 -> ../../sdc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 Sep 15 16:17 scsi-SWD_My_Book_1230_WCC4N0786193 -> ../../sdc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 Sep 15 16:17 wwn-0x50014ee25f3d1ac2 -> ../../sdc

Here is a section of /var/log/messages of a computer running OpenSUSE 12.3 where the drive is detected properly:

2014-09-14T14:03:09.021712+02:00 ideapad kernel:    99.410775] usb 4-4: new SuperSpeed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
2014-09-14T14:03:09.036680+02:00 ideapad kernel:    99.422635] usb 4-4: New USB device found, idVendor=1058, idProduct=1230
2014-09-14T14:03:09.036702+02:00 ideapad kernel:    99.422642] usb 4-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=1
2014-09-14T14:03:09.036705+02:00 ideapad kernel:    99.422646] usb 4-4: Product: My Book 1230
2014-09-14T14:03:09.036707+02:00 ideapad kernel:    99.422650] usb 4-4: Manufacturer: Western Digital
2014-09-14T14:03:09.036710+02:00 ideapad kernel:    99.422653] usb 4-4: SerialNumber: 574343344E30373836313933
2014-09-14T14:03:09.037384+02:00 ideapad mtp-probe: checking bus 4, device 2: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb4/4-4"
2014-09-14T14:03:09.039100+02:00 ideapad mtp-probe: bus: 4, device: 2 was not an MTP device
2014-09-14T14:03:09.089754+02:00 ideapad kernel:    99.478684] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
2014-09-14T14:03:09.089768+02:00 ideapad kernel:    99.478900] scsi7 : usb-storage 4-4:1.0                                                                                                     
2014-09-14T14:03:09.089769+02:00 ideapad kernel:    99.479241] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage                                                                            
2014-09-14T14:03:09.089770+02:00 ideapad kernel:    99.479243] USB Mass Storage support registered.                                                                                            
2014-09-14T14:03:10.092872+02:00 ideapad kernel:   100.480618] scsi 7:0:0:0: Direct-Access     WD       My Book 1230     1050 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6                                                    
2014-09-14T14:03:10.092898+02:00 ideapad kernel:   100.481032] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0                                                                                    
2014-09-14T14:03:10.094727+02:00 ideapad kernel:   100.482738] scsi 7:0:0:1: Enclosure         WD       SES Device       1050 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6                                                    
2014-09-14T14:03:10.094743+02:00 ideapad kernel:   100.482927] scsi 7:0:0:1: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 13                                                                                 
2014-09-14T14:03:10.095670+02:00 ideapad kernel:   100.483750] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Spinning up disk...                                                                                           
2014-09-14T14:03:20.269697+02:00 ideapad kernel:   101.482609] ..........ready                                                                                                                 
2014-09-14T14:03:20.269724+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.642593] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] 732558336 4096-byte logical blocks: (3.00 TB/2.72 TiB)                                                        
2014-09-14T14:03:20.270747+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.643250] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off                                                                                          
2014-09-14T14:03:20.270766+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.643257] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 53 00 10 08                                                                                       
2014-09-14T14:03:20.270769+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.643781] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page present                                                                                  
2014-09-14T14:03:20.270771+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.643785] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through                                                                           
2014-09-14T14:03:20.271684+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.644575] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] 732558336 4096-byte logical blocks: (3.00 TB/2.72 TiB)                                                        
2014-09-14T14:03:20.272652+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.645342] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page present                                                                                  
2014-09-14T14:03:20.272664+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.645346] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through                                                                           
2014-09-14T14:03:20.375679+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.748692]  sdc: sdc1                                                                                                                      
2014-09-14T14:03:20.377151+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.749319] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] 732558336 4096-byte logical blocks: (3.00 TB/2.72 TiB)
2014-09-14T14:03:20.377165+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.749879] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page present
2014-09-14T14:03:20.377166+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.749882] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
2014-09-14T14:03:20.377168+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.749884] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk
2014-09-14T14:03:20.431650+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.804619] scsi 7:0:0:1: Failed to get diagnostic page 0x8000002
2014-09-14T14:03:20.431665+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.804624] scsi 7:0:0:1: Failed to bind enclosure -19
2014-09-14T14:03:20.431671+02:00 ideapad kernel:   110.804650] ses 7:0:0:1: Attached Enclosure device

I noticed that on this computer it says “Direct-Access … Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0” and “Enclosure … Attached scsi generic sg4 type 13” whereas on the computer running OpenSUSE 13.1 it says “Direct-Access … Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0” and “Enclosure … Attached scsi generic sg3 type 13” so “sg2/sg3” instead of “sg3/sg4”. Is this important? On the OpenSUSE 12.3 computer there are links to /dev/sdc1:

# ls -l /dev/disk/by-id | grep sdc

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 Sep 14 14:03 ata-WDC_WD30EZRX-00D8PB0_WD-WCC4N0786193 -> ../../sdc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Sep 14 14:03 ata-WDC_WD30EZRX-00D8PB0_WD-WCC4N0786193-part1 -> ../../sdc1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 Sep 14 14:03 scsi-SWD_My_Book_1230_WCC4N0786193 -> ../../sdc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Sep 14 14:03 scsi-SWD_My_Book_1230_WCC4N0786193-part1 -> ../../sdc1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root   9 Sep 14 14:03 wwn-0x50014ee25f3d1ac2 -> ../../sdc
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  10 Sep 14 14:03 wwn-0x50014ee25f3d1ac2-part1 -> ../../sdc1

If anybody is willing to help me and needs further information please let me know! In addition, if anybody knows a better place to ask for help please let me know, too! Thanks!

oldcpu · September 21, 2014, 3:53pm

I can not help wrt the technical detail you provided. But I do have a Toshiba drive which works with USB-3 and not USB-2 on an ultrabook (ie different symptoms from you). One thing I noted in my investigations is other USB devices plugged in at the same time can reduce the ‘power’ available to a drive, causing it not to be nominally mounted.

In your case thou, I suspect there is something different (possibly in UDEV) between your openSUSE-131. on this PC, and the openSUSE-12.3/11.4 on other PCs. Its possible a manual edit to UDEV is needed and if so, that is beyond my knowledge level.

hendrikfe · September 22, 2014, 10:44am

I’d imagine that. I should have added though that my USB hard drive is self-powered (has its own power supply), so a power issue is out of the question here.

Yes, it looks like a udev or maybe even systemd problem. However, I’m only a little bit familiar with udev rules and don’t know anything about debugging of udev or systemd problems. But since openSUSE 13.1 has been in use by thousands of people for months now I was hoping that somebody with more knowledge than I have might have stumbled over this problem before and might also know how to fix this.