[Tfug] FYI: Segate 500 GB USB hard drive

[Bexley Hall]

Hi Earl,

> >> I recently bought a 500 GB Segate
> >> hard drive from Office Max at a fairly
> >
> > Costco was pushing 1.5T drives for $109 last week...
>
> Costco is out of Trike range for me.  About 25 miles
> is my round trip limit.

Ah.  You need bigger wheels!  :>  I guess you are equally
far from the NE and NW stores?

> > Did you try unplugging and replugging it (i.e., to see if
> > it would be re-recognized)?  Did the drive spin down?
> > (I think the seacrates *do* spin down when unmounted)
>
> Yes, I even tried knowing working USB ports.

Yikes!  So it unmounted itself and then wouldn't spin
back *up*?

> >> I quit 9.10 and booted into Ubuntu 8.04 with the same
> >> results.  I then
> >> tried the drive on a box with Mandriva 2010 with the same
> >> results.  My
> >> laptop running 8.04 gave the same results.
> >
> > *Clearly* "Operator Error"!  ;-)
>
> I didn't think I was that astoundingly consistent. 
> :S

I have faith in you, Earl!  ;)  Consistency requires perseverance!

> >> I returned the drive and got another one.  I tried the
> >> new one with the
> >> sme results.  In a moment of desparation I hooked up
> >> to my XP box I use
> >> for my MagicJack phone.  It worked fine and was up for
> >> a day.  I'm not
> >> sure but I think XP added a few files.  Anyeay, I
> >
> > XP pulled files *from* the drive?
> > Or, XP added files *to* the drive?
> > (I suspect the former)
>
> I think XP added something but I'm not real sure.

Put something *on* the drive?  And this "something" you
suspect is what caused the drive to fix itself?

> >> tried it on the linux
> >> boxes and everything works great now.  It has been up
> >> for 4 days on Ubuntu
> >> 9.10.  Strange fix but I thought someone else might
> >> run into this situation.
> >
> > While I could see that something like this is *possible*
> > (for a device manufacturer to do), I'm not sure I understand
> > why it would be *desirable* (from their point).  Unless the
> > drive doesn't look like a "simple" mass storage device...
> > (I think they have firmware that tries to make them
> > smarter -- spin down automatically after a period, etc.)
>
> It now has stayed mounted and accessible for over almost 5
> days.  I moved
> a movie to it and played it back and no problems for over 3
> hours.

Ah yes:  "Ghost Riders -- The Movie (in 3D!)"