[arch-general] Problem formatting/initialising new WD GameDrive USB disk

[Ralf Mardorf]

Hi Jeanette,

external USB drives could be a PITA. I don't buy pre-build drives, but
most enclosures I bought were a PITA, suffering from input/output
errors. I had a lot of discussions with vendors and always got my money
back.

As a rule of thumb, if the USB controller (again, the USB controller,
not the HDD) turns off itself and or the HDD after an idle time, then
input/output errors are a safe bet. In my experiences this usually
happens after an idle time from around 10 minutes.

I'm using fantec DB-ALU3e enclosures. The USB controller is always on,
it never turns off anything, no input/output errors, unless the HDD is
broken.

Note, don't get another enclosure, such as the DB-ALU3-6G from the same
vendor. They suffer from input/output errors, because the control
tries to be smart.

The fantec DB-ALU3e enclosures has got USB3 and eSATA connectors, but
can only be equipped with a maximal size of 4 TiB. I'm only using USB.
Works on USB2 as well as USB3 ports without issues.

The first time you might not be able to blindly build in a HDD into
such an enclosure, but it's that easy, that every unskilled person can
help you and with some practise you likely could DIY.

https://www.reichelt.de/fantec-db-alu3e-externes-3-5-sata-hdd-gehaeuse-usb-3-0-esata-fantec-db-alu3e-p120608.html?&trstct=pos_0&nbc=1

FWIW I own one old pre-build green USB WD drive. It does park the
HDD's heads after an idle time, but if it gets waked up, it does not
suffer from input/output errors. It's much likely the HDD that handles
this and not the USB controller, however, to avoid that this drives
goes to sleep and is woken up immediately, I removed software such as
GVFS (dummy package), have software such as smartd not enabled, since
all this software does wake up sleeping drives, right after they
switched into stand by mode, which would cause my WD drive to park and
release the heads every 30 minutes.

Regards,
Ralf