[Tfug] USB HD Issues

[Jim Secan]

Something is now seriously amiss with how my FC3 system is handling USB
drives.  After the mishap with the USB drive that was mailed to me with
data on it, now the USB drives I have used for months for backup are
running into similar problems.  It's like the bad drive had a cold and now
the other are catching it.  Every time one of these drives is mounted the
system declares that there are problems with the filesystem and that e2fsck
must be run on it.  After the multi-day, and always failed, attempts using
e2fsck on the data drive I am very hesitant to start using it on these
other USB drives (one 165GB the other two 205GB).

Questions that may have easy answers - is there any way I can tell (1)
whether the USB ports are 1.1 or 2.0 (short of opening the box); and (2) if
they are working correctly or not?  The slow transfer rates I was seeing
during the run of e2fsck make me think that although these are supposed to
be 2.0 ports they really aren't.  Or perhaps the system is using a 1.1
driver for 2.0 ports.  Any ideas on that (finding out and fixing)?

Other suggestions are also welcome.  Information on dealing with
problematic USB hard drives seems to be hard to find on the 'net.  I am
starting to think that Linux and USB drives are a bad combination.

Jim
*---------------------*-------------------------------*
| Jim Secan           | Northwest Research Assoc, Inc |
| (jim at nwra.com)      | 2455 E. Speedway, Suite 204   |
| (520) 319-7773      | Tucson, Arizona 85719         |
|    Space Weather Info: http://www.nwra-az.com/      |
*---------------------*-------------------------------*