[mythtv-users] Recording drive disappeared...fine on reboot

[Michael T. Dean]

On 08/28/2013 02:06 PM, Michael T. Dean wrote:
> On 08/28/2013 12:18 PM, Stephen Worthington wrote:
>> On Wed, 28 Aug 2013 09:41:27 -0600, you wrote:
>>
>>> On Wed, 2013-08-28 at 15:19 +1200, Stephen Worthington wrote:
>>>
>>>> Get idle3-tools from here:
>>>>
>>>>    http://idle3-tools.sourceforge.net/
>>> I've got a Debian Wheezy system (Raspbian, a Raspberry Pi) that has a
>>> green drive attached via USB, and the idle3ctl program fails to 
>>> identify
>>> it. Does it work only on internal drives and not on USB-attached 
>>> drives?
>> I have only ever used it with drives on SATA ports, so I just tried it
>> with one of mine on my dual USB 3.0 dock and it did not work:
>>
>> root at mypvr:~# idle3ctl -g /dev/sdl
>> sg16(VSC_SENDKEY) failed: Invalid exchange
>> sg16(VSC_DISABLE) failed: Invalid exchange
>>
>> So it looks like you will need to move the drive to a SATA or eSATA
>> port somewhere to set the timeout.  Or you could have a look at the
>> source code and try to see why it does not work on USB.
>
> Go directly to the (real) source:
>
> http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=609&sid=113
>
> "6. The software will scan the Serial ATA bus and automatically update 
> the hard drive that is connected and recognized."
>
> and
>
> "Note: If you are having issues updating the firmware of a drive 
> connected to a PCI Serial ATA controller or Serial ATA RAID 
> controller, please install the drive into a system with Serial ATA 
> connections directly on the motherboard (Onboard Serial ATA 
> controller) and try again."
>
> It only works directly on the SATA bus.

Ah, you're not using the boot disk with wdidle3.exe on it.

But, regardless, at http://idle3-tools.sourceforge.net/, it says, 
"Compatibility with SATA-to-USB adapters is uncertain."

I highly recommend--when messing with something this low-level--that you 
cut out as much uncertainty/conversion as possible.  Put the drive 
directly on some computer's SATA bus.

Mike