Connecting WD My Book through ESATA vs. USB
bbbl67
that is that you can't read its SMART info when it's being connected
via ESATA, but it works perfectly fine when connected through USB. My
assumption was that SMART only works through ESATA not USB, but it
seems to be exactly the opposite here. He's tried the same drive on
two of his computers a desktop running XP and a laptop running Vista,
and it is exactly the same outcome in both systems: SMART info can
only be read when connected through USB. (The drive also has a
Firewire interface, but we haven't bothered testing that.)
Now I have an idea what's going on here, but I wanted to confirm with
others here if my hypothesis is right. I think what's going on here is
that the My Book has some sort of intelligence onboard that sits
between the computer and the actual drive within the My Book. This
controller has more features when connected through USB (and maybe
Firewire) than through ESATA.
Yousuf Khan
Rod Speed
> A friend of mine has a 500GB WD My Book. It's got one wierd issue, and
> that is that you can't read its SMART info when it's being connected
> via ESATA, but it works perfectly fine when connected through USB.
What are you trying to read the SMART data with ?
> My assumption was that SMART only works through ESATA not USB,
> but it seems to be exactly the opposite here. He's tried the same drive
> on two of his computers a desktop running XP and a laptop running
> Vista, and it is exactly the same outcome in both systems: SMART
> info can only be read when connected through USB. (The drive also
> has a Firewire interface, but we haven't bothered testing that.)
> Now I have an idea what's going on here, but I wanted to confirm
> with others here if my hypothesis is right. I think what's going on
> here is that the My Book has some sort of intelligence onboard that
> sits between the computer and the actual drive within the My Book.
Corse there must be with that many interfaces supported.
>This controller has more features when connected through USB
> (and maybe Firewire) than through ESATA.
It would be unusual for the eSATA connection to not be direct to the drive.
Do you know what format the actual internal drive is, SATA or PATA ?
Yousuf Khan
> bbbl67 <yjk...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> A friend of mine has a 500GB WD My Book. It's got one wierd issue, and
>> that is that you can't read its SMART info when it's being connected
>> via ESATA, but it works perfectly fine when connected through USB.
>
> What are you trying to read the SMART data with ?
The DLGDIAG utility that came with the MyBook.
>> This controller has more features when connected through USB
>> (and maybe Firewire) than through ESATA.
>
> It would be unusual for the eSATA connection to not be direct to the drive.
> Do you know what format the actual internal drive is, SATA or PATA ?
It's a relatively new model, built around 2007, so I assume internally
it's likely a SATA. As for whether eSATA connection direct to drive, I
am thinking it's direct to interface controller rather than direct to drive.
Yousuf Khan
Rod Speed
>>> A friend of mine has a 500GB WD My Book. It's got one wierd issue,
>>> and that is that you can't read its SMART info when it's being connected via ESATA, but it works perfectly fine when
>>> connected through USB.
>> What are you trying to read the SMART data with ?
> The DLGDIAG utility that came with the MyBook.
Maybe it just a quirk of that. See if any of the standard tools can see the SMART data when eSATA connected.
>>> This controller has more features when connected through USB
>>> (and maybe Firewire) than through ESATA.
>> It would be unusual for the eSATA connection to not be direct to the drive. Do you know what format the actual
>> internal drive is, SATA or PATA ?
> It's a relatively new model, built around 2007, so I assume internally it's likely a SATA.
Yeah, thats likely, but not absolutely guaranteed.
> As for whether eSATA connection direct to drive, I am thinking it's direct to interface controller rather than direct
> to drive.
I didnt mean electrically, I meant logically, in other words its just passed straight thru when used in eSATA mode.
Yousuf Khan
>
>> The DLGDIAG utility that came with the MyBook.
>
> Maybe it just a quirk of that. See if any of the standard tools can see the SMART data when eSATA connected.
Well, the DLGDIAG util was able to read all of the SMART info from all
of the other pre-existing internal hard disks, both IDE & SATA, not just
from the MyBook. I believe WD supplies DLGDIAG even with its internal
hard disks, not just with its external hard disk enclosures, so it would
have to be able to handle both types of interfaces.
>>>> This controller has more features when connected through USB
>>>> (and maybe Firewire) than through ESATA.
>
>>> It would be unusual for the eSATA connection to not be direct to the drive. Do you know what format the actual
>>> internal drive is, SATA or PATA ?
>
>> It's a relatively new model, built around 2007, so I assume internally it's likely a SATA.
>
> Yeah, thats likely, but not absolutely guaranteed.
Well, I don't know if it's relevant anyways. The SMART info should be
available no matter if its internal interface was IDE, SATA, or even
SCSI for that matter. The only reason it would not be directly available
is if there is intelligence sitting in between.
>> As for whether eSATA connection direct to drive, I am thinking it's direct to interface controller rather than direct
>> to drive.
>
> I didnt mean electrically, I meant logically, in other words its just passed straight thru when used in eSATA mode.
Yeah, that's what I meant also. And that's what I also think isn't
happening here: there is no straight passthru.
Yousuf Khan
Rod Speed
> Rod Speed wrote
>> Yousuf Khan <bbb...@yahoo.com> wrote
>>> Rod Speed wrote
>>>> What are you trying to read the SMART data with ?
>>> The DLGDIAG utility that came with the MyBook.
>> Maybe it just a quirk of that. See if any of the standard tools can see the SMART data when eSATA connected.
> Well, the DLGDIAG util was able to read all of the SMART info from all of the other pre-existing internal hard disks,
> both IDE & SATA, not
> just from the MyBook. I believe WD supplies DLGDIAG even with its
> internal hard disks, not just with its external hard disk enclosures,
> so it would have to be able to handle both types of interfaces.
Yes, but unless you actually see what the standard tools see SMART
wise, you can be sure whether its some oddity of the hardware or just
that particular version of DLGDIAG thats producing that effect.
>>>>> This controller has more features when connected through USB (and maybe Firewire) than through ESATA.
>>>> It would be unusual for the eSATA connection to not be direct to the drive. Do you know what format the actual
>>>> internal drive is, SATA or PATA ?
>>> It's a relatively new model, built around 2007, so I assume internally it's likely a SATA.
>> Yeah, thats likely, but not absolutely guaranteed.
> Well, I don't know if it's relevant anyways. The SMART info should be available no matter if its internal interface
> was IDE, SATA, or even SCSI for that matter.
There is no SMART with SCSI, what is available is something quite different.
> The only reason it would not be directly available is if there is intelligence sitting in between.
And that is why I asked.
>>> As for whether eSATA connection direct to drive, I am thinking it's direct to interface controller rather than
>>> direct to drive.
>> I didnt mean electrically, I meant logically, in other words its
>> just passed straight thru when used in eSATA mode.
> Yeah, that's what I meant also. And that's what I also think isn't happening here: there is no straight passthru.
That would be a very unusual way to implement it if the drive itself is SATA.
bbbl67
> Yes, but unless you actually see what the standard tools see SMART
> wise, you can be sure whether its some oddity of the hardware or just
> that particular version of DLGDIAG thats producing that effect.
Well, which tools do you suggest? Freeware preferably.
> > Well, I don't know if it's relevant anyways. The SMART info should be available no matter if its internal interface
> > was IDE, SATA, or even SCSI for that matter.
>
> There is no SMART with SCSI, what is available is something quite different.
Well, I don't know one way or another about the SCSI SMART, so I'll
accede to your point.
> >> I didnt mean electrically, I meant logically, in other words its
> >> just passed straight thru when used in eSATA mode.
> > Yeah, that's what I meant also. And that's what I also think isn't happening here: there is no straight passthru.
>
> That would be a very unusual way to implement it if the drive itself is SATA.
It may be unusual, but it's not inconceivable. I think if WD is
planning to introduce a future My Book mini RAID array of some sort it
may need to virtualize all interfaces in this fashion. In this case, a
single eSATA connection might be in reality be a logical disk volume
rather than just a single disk.
Yousuf Khan
Rod Speed
> Rod Speed <rod.speed....@gmail.com> wrote
>> Yes, but unless you actually see what the standard tools see SMART
>> wise, you can be sure whether its some oddity of the hardware or just
>> that particular version of DLGDIAG thats producing that effect.
> Well, which tools do you suggest? Freeware preferably.
I like Everest myself, mainly because the report is much more readable than most.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181
>>> Well, I don't know if it's relevant anyways. The SMART info should
>>> be available no matter if its internal interface was IDE, SATA, or
>>> even SCSI for that matter.
>> There is no SMART with SCSI, what is available is something quite different.
> Well, I don't know one way or another about the SCSI SMART, so I'll accede to your point.
>>>> I didnt mean electrically, I meant logically, in other words its
>>>> just passed straight thru when used in eSATA mode.
>>> Yeah, that's what I meant also. And that's what I also think isn't
>>> happening here: there is no straight passthru.
>> That would be a very unusual way to implement it if the drive itself is SATA.
> It may be unusual, but it's not inconceivable.
Sure, but I cant see why anyone would do it that way. What is the point ?
> I think if WD is planning to introduce a future My Book mini RAID array
> of some sort it may need to virtualize all interfaces in this fashion.
Makes much more sense to do it that way when its necessary given how
aggressively competitive that particular market is with single drive housings.
> In this case, a single eSATA connection might be in reality
> be a logical disk volume rather than just a single disk.
Sure, but that would make their single drive housings rather uncompetitive price wise.
Yousuf Khan
>
> I like Everest myself, mainly because the report is much more readable than most.
> http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181
I'll pass it along.
>> It may be unusual, but it's not inconceivable.
>
> Sure, but I cant see why anyone would do it that way. What is the point ?
>
>> I think if WD is planning to introduce a future My Book mini RAID array
>> of some sort it may need to virtualize all interfaces in this fashion.
>
> Makes much more sense to do it that way when its necessary given how
> aggressively competitive that particular market is with single drive housings.
>
>> In this case, a single eSATA connection might be in reality
>> be a logical disk volume rather than just a single disk.
>
> Sure, but that would make their single drive housings rather uncompetitive price wise.
Well, you made the point yourself, this enclosure has a tremendous
number of connection interfaces: USB, Firewire, and eSATA. Probably the
chip that handles all of these interfaces is the same whether you get a
single-drive enclosure or a multi-drive array?
Yousuf Khan
Rod Speed
The point tho is that it makes more sense to just pass the SATA thru it than to do anything else.
The main market with that chip is still the single drive enclosures.
bbbl67
> The point tho is that it makes more sense to just pass the SATA thru it than to do anything else.
>
> The main market with that chip is still the single drive enclosures.
Okay, so we've been able to run a thorough test using Everest, now. So
the result is Everest did not even bother to look for SMART data when
connected through either Firewire or USB. And while in eSATA, it
presented a SMART panel for the drive, but it was completely empty.
So it's likely that the utility that comes with the MyBook, DLGDIAG,
has a special proprietary method of obtaining SMART data through USB
for its own drives. DLGDIAG isn't able to obtain SMART data for the
MyBook in either Firewire or eSATA, as stated before for the eSATA
case.
Yousuf Khan
Arno Wagner
> On Dec 11, 1:52 pm, "Rod Speed" <rod.speed....@gmail.com> wrote:
>> The point tho is that it makes more sense to just pass the SATA thru it than to do anything else.
>>
>> The main market with that chip is still the single drive enclosures.
> Okay, so we've been able to run a thorough test using Everest, now. So
> the result is Everest did not even bother to look for SMART data when
> connected through either Firewire or USB.
That is normal. There is no standardizes way to access MART data over
these interfaces. The only non-vendor tool I know that can do it
in many cases over USB is "Hard Disk Sentinel":
http://www.hdsentinel.com/usbharddisks.php
The creators program each way the learn about into the tool.
> And while in eSATA, it
> presented a SMART panel for the drive, but it was completely empty.
Pretty bad. eSATA is full SATA, which means the disk does not
have working SMART support.
> So it's likely that the utility that comes with the MyBook, DLGDIAG,
> has a special proprietary method of obtaining SMART data through USB
> for its own drives.
More likely a special, proprietary way of obtaining special,
proprietary data. Or the USB bridge fakes something for
DLGDIAG. That would be even worse.
Arno
Yousuf Khan
> Previously bbbl67 <yjk...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Dec 11, 1:52 pm, "Rod Speed" <rod.speed....@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> The point tho is that it makes more sense to just pass the SATA thru it than to do anything else.
>>>
>>> The main market with that chip is still the single drive enclosures.
>
>> Okay, so we've been able to run a thorough test using Everest, now. So
>> the result is Everest did not even bother to look for SMART data when
>> connected through either Firewire or USB.
>
> That is normal. There is no standardizes way to access MART data over
> these interfaces. The only non-vendor tool I know that can do it
> in many cases over USB is "Hard Disk Sentinel":
>
> http://www.hdsentinel.com/usbharddisks.php
>
> The creators program each way the learn about into the tool.
Very good tool, well worth buying it.
>> And while in eSATA, it
>> presented a SMART panel for the drive, but it was completely empty.
>
> Pretty bad. eSATA is full SATA, which means the disk does not
> have working SMART support.
Either that or SMART is forwarded through the USB bridge chip, but not
the eSATA or Firewire bridges.
>> So it's likely that the utility that comes with the MyBook, DLGDIAG,
>> has a special proprietary method of obtaining SMART data through USB
>> for its own drives.
>
> More likely a special, proprietary way of obtaining special,
> proprietary data. Or the USB bridge fakes something for
> DLGDIAG. That would be even worse.
That would be pretty bad considering DLGDIAG is supplied by the
manufacturer (Western Digital) with the unit as part of its support utils.
Yousuf Khan
Rod Speed
> Rod Speed <rod.speed....@gmail.com> wrote
>> The point tho is that it makes more sense to just pass the SATA thru it than to do anything else.
>> The main market with that chip is still the single drive enclosures.
> Okay, so we've been able to run a thorough test using Everest, now.
> So the result is Everest did not even bother to look for SMART data
> when connected through either Firewire or USB. And while in eSATA,
> it presented a SMART panel for the drive, but it was completely empty.
That's interesting. If it decides that the drive doesnt support SMART, you dont
get a SMART panel at all. So presumably the passthru when in eSATA mode
has some sort of glitch that prevents the SMART data getting thru properly.
> So it's likely that the utility that comes with the MyBook, DLGDIAG, has a special
> proprietary method of obtaining SMART data through USB for its own drives.
Yes.
> DLGDIAG isn't able to obtain SMART data for the MyBook in
> either Firewire or eSATA, as stated before for the eSATA case.
Maybe the problem with eSATA is just the same glitch that prevents Everest from seeing it too.
What does smartctl from a bootable linux CD show ?
Arno Wagner
> Arno Wagner wrote:
>> Previously bbbl67 <yjk...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Dec 11, 1:52 pm, "Rod Speed" <rod.speed....@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> The point tho is that it makes more sense to just pass the SATA thru it than to do anything else.
>>>>
>>>> The main market with that chip is still the single drive enclosures.
>>
>>> Okay, so we've been able to run a thorough test using Everest, now. So
>>> the result is Everest did not even bother to look for SMART data when
>>> connected through either Firewire or USB.
>>
>> That is normal. There is no standardizes way to access MART data over
>> these interfaces. The only non-vendor tool I know that can do it
>> in many cases over USB is "Hard Disk Sentinel":
>>
>> http://www.hdsentinel.com/usbharddisks.php
>>
>> The creators program each way the learn about into the tool.
> Very good tool, well worth buying it.
>>> And while in eSATA, it
>>> presented a SMART panel for the drive, but it was completely empty.
>>
>> Pretty bad. eSATA is full SATA, which means the disk does not
>> have working SMART support.
> Either that or SMART is forwarded through the USB bridge chip, but not
> the eSATA or Firewire bridges.
There are no eSATA bridges, just non-intelligent bus-drivers.
eSATA and SATA are the same logically.
>>> So it's likely that the utility that comes with the MyBook, DLGDIAG,
>>> has a special proprietary method of obtaining SMART data through USB
>>> for its own drives.
>>
>> More likely a special, proprietary way of obtaining special,
>> proprietary data. Or the USB bridge fakes something for
>> DLGDIAG. That would be even worse.
> That would be pretty bad considering DLGDIAG is supplied by the
> manufacturer (Western Digital) with the unit as part of its support utils.
Indeed.
Arno
Yousuf Khan
>> Okay, so we've been able to run a thorough test using Everest, now.
>> So the result is Everest did not even bother to look for SMART data
>> when connected through either Firewire or USB. And while in eSATA,
>> it presented a SMART panel for the drive, but it was completely empty.
>
> That's interesting. If it decides that the drive doesnt support SMART, you dont
> get a SMART panel at all. So presumably the passthru when in eSATA mode
> has some sort of glitch that prevents the SMART data getting thru properly.
It may not be a true passthru in eSATA, it may simply be a virtual
passthru from the USB bridge. In other words, the USB bridge might be
emulating the eSATA connections and pretending to be the disk, when the
actual disk might be sitting behind it.
>> DLGDIAG isn't able to obtain SMART data for the MyBook in
>> either Firewire or eSATA, as stated before for the eSATA case.
>
> Maybe the problem with eSATA is just the same glitch that prevents Everest from seeing it too.
>
> What does smartctl from a bootable linux CD show ?
Well, I don't know if I'm going to be able to convince him to bother
with Linux, even if it is just a live-CD boot. However, I've told him
about HD Sentinel, that Arno mentioned, and we'll try that one out soon.
HD Sentinel is an amazing tool, so far as I've been able to see. It not
only does a lot of automatic analysis of disk states, the authors have
also collected a lot of information about many USB bridge chips, and it
can collect SMART data through those chipsets. It's been able to collect
SMART data off of one of my own external USB-only disks, a Lacie 500GB.
Until now, I didn't think I'd ever be able to see SMART data come out of
that external, nor that there was ever any hope of being able to see
SMART off of it. If it can see SMART off of the Lacie, hopefully it'll
see it off of the WD MyBook too.
Yousuf Khan
Arno Wagner
>>> Okay, so we've been able to run a thorough test using Everest, now.
>>> So the result is Everest did not even bother to look for SMART data
>>> when connected through either Firewire or USB. And while in eSATA,
>>> it presented a SMART panel for the drive, but it was completely empty.
>>
>> That's interesting. If it decides that the drive doesnt support SMART, you dont
>> get a SMART panel at all. So presumably the passthru when in eSATA mode
>> has some sort of glitch that prevents the SMART data getting thru properly.
> It may not be a true passthru in eSATA, it may simply be a virtual
> passthru from the USB bridge. In other words, the USB bridge might be
> emulating the eSATA connections and pretending to be the disk, when the
> actual disk might be sitting behind it.
So SATA (disk) <-> USB <-> eSATA?
Sounds overly complicated. eSATA is SATA with different
electrical characteristics, i.e. you just need a switch.
However there is a lot of stupid design out there, so it is a
possibility.
>>> DLGDIAG isn't able to obtain SMART data for the MyBook in
>>> either Firewire or eSATA, as stated before for the eSATA case.
>>
>> Maybe the problem with eSATA is just the same glitch that prevents Everest from seeing it too.
>>
>> What does smartctl from a bootable linux CD show ?
> Well, I don't know if I'm going to be able to convince him to bother
> with Linux, even if it is just a live-CD boot. However, I've told him
> about HD Sentinel, that Arno mentioned, and we'll try that one out soon.
> HD Sentinel is an amazing tool, so far as I've been able to see. It not
> only does a lot of automatic analysis of disk states, the authors have
> also collected a lot of information about many USB bridge chips, and it
> can collect SMART data through those chipsets. It's been able to collect
> SMART data off of one of my own external USB-only disks, a Lacie 500GB.
> Until now, I didn't think I'd ever be able to see SMART data come out of
> that external, nor that there was ever any hope of being able to see
> SMART off of it. If it can see SMART off of the Lacie, hopefully it'll
> see it off of the WD MyBook too.
Looking forward to the results.
Arno
bbbl67
Well, here is the results from HD Sentinel. HDS was able to obtain
SMART data off of the WD MyBook both through the USB interface and
the Firewire!!! WD's own internal DLGDIAG util was not able to do the
Firewire interface, just the USB. HDS is truly the ultimate SMART
utility!!!
Oh and none of the utils could get SMART out of the eSATA on the
MyBook. Not even HDS.
Yousuf Khan
Arno Wagner
Interesting. Looks like your suspicion that the eSATA is
not done right is correct.
Arno
Rod Speed
> Rod Speed wrote:
>>> Okay, so we've been able to run a thorough test using Everest, now.
>>> So the result is Everest did not even bother to look for SMART data
>>> when connected through either Firewire or USB. And while in eSATA,
>>> it presented a SMART panel for the drive, but it was completely empty.
>> That's interesting. If it decides that the drive doesnt support SMART, you dont get a SMART panel at all. So
>> presumably the passthru when in eSATA mode has some sort of glitch that prevents the SMART data getting thru
>> properly.
> It may not be a true passthru in eSATA, it may simply be a virtual
> passthru from the USB bridge. In other words, the USB bridge might be
> emulating the eSATA connections and pretending to be the disk, when
> the actual disk might be sitting behind it.
Yes, that is possible, but like I said, it would be a VERY unusual way to implement it.
Essentially because its a hell of lot easier to do a passthru for eSATA instead.
>>> DLGDIAG isn't able to obtain SMART data for the MyBook in
>>> either Firewire or eSATA, as stated before for the eSATA case.
>> Maybe the problem with eSATA is just the same glitch that prevents Everest from seeing it too.
>> What does smartctl from a bootable linux CD show ?
> Well, I don't know if I'm going to be able to convince him to bother
> with Linux, even if it is just a live-CD boot. However, I've told him
> about HD Sentinel, that Arno mentioned, and we'll try that one out
> soon. HD Sentinel is an amazing tool, so far as I've been able to
> see. It not only does a lot of automatic analysis of disk states, the
> authors have also collected a lot of information about many USB
> bridge chips, and it can collect SMART data through those chipsets.
> It's been able to collect SMART data off of one of my own external
> USB-only disks, a Lacie 500GB. Until now, I didn't think I'd ever be
> able to see SMART data come out of that external, nor that there was ever any hope of being able to see SMART off of
> it. If it can see
> SMART off of the Lacie, hopefully it'll see it off of the WD MyBook too.
We'll see...
Rod Speed
Its not likely to be done via a bridge tho, much more likely to be some fuckup in the SATA/eSATA thats
allowing Everest to see that the drive does support SMART but not to get the actual data for some reason.
bbbl67
> > It may not be a true passthru in eSATA, it may simply be a virtual
> > passthru from the USB bridge. In other words, the USB bridge might be
> > emulating the eSATA connections and pretending to be the disk, when
> > the actual disk might be sitting behind it.
>
> Yes, that is possible, but like I said, it would be a VERY unusual way to implement it.
>
> Essentially because its a hell of lot easier to do a passthru for eSATA instead.
It would be the easier thing to do, but perhaps the designers wanted
to make sure that somebody didn't try to attach via every interface on
the enclosure? Just because they had a cable for every interface,
someone might decide to attach all of them possibly even to a
different computer in some cases. If somebody tried to go via eSATA
and it was a direct passthru, while at the same time being connected
via Firewire and/or USB then there might be data corruption. With
eSATA a part of the same bridge as USB & FW, it can regulate
transactions.
Yousuf Khan
Squeeze
In other words, you were found bullshitting again.
>
> Arno
Squeeze
It does when it has one of these:
http://www.softconnex.com/products/storage/images/OXUS931SEDiag.jpg
Rod Speed
> On Dec 16, 1:12 pm, "Rod Speed" <rod.speed....@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> It may not be a true passthru in eSATA, it may simply be a virtual
>>> passthru from the USB bridge. In other words, the USB bridge might
>>> be emulating the eSATA connections and pretending to be the disk,
>>> when the actual disk might be sitting behind it.
>>
>> Yes, that is possible, but like I said, it would be a VERY unusual
>> way to implement it.
>>
>> Essentially because its a hell of lot easier to do a passthru for eSATA instead.
> It would be the easier thing to do, but perhaps the designers wanted to make
> sure that somebody didn't try to attach via every interface on the enclosure?
They can still do that without bothering with a bridge for the eSATA.
> Just because they had a cable for every interface, someone
> might decide to attach all of them possibly even to a different
> computer in some cases. If somebody tried to go via eSATA
> and it was a direct passthru, while at the same time being connected
> via Firewire and/or USB then there might be data corruption.
Nope, its trivial to have the bridge not do anything from
the firewire and usb cables if the eSATA cable is active.
> With eSATA a part of the same bridge as USB & FW, it can regulate transactions.
It can even when the eSATA is done by passthru too.
JcRabbit
My apologies for resurecting this old thread.
Just wanted to confirm that a My Book connected via eSATA indeed does
NOT pass SMART data. It seems to be only able to pass the OK or FAIL
SMART status.
I also believe Yousuf is right about the logic between the hard drive
and the eSata controler. When I first connected the MY Book Home Edition
1 TB via USB, the drive was identified as 'WDC10ACS... something', which
was the actual model of the drive inside the enclosure. However, when
connected via eSata the drive is identified by DLGDIAG as 'WD My Book
(IDE)'. Note also the IDE part in the name (I'm pretty sure, although
not certain, that the drive inside the My Book enclosure is a SATA drive
and not a PATA one). I have a mix of PATA and SATA drives on my system
and DLGDIAG correctly identifies SATA drives as SATA and PATA drives as
IDE.
It really ****es me off that I am unable to read the temperature of the
drive when connected via eSATA.
Rod Speed
> My apologies for resurecting this old thread.
Dont apologise, its useful extra information for the thread.
Arno Wagner
And this is a reall stupid design decision, at least for
people with a clue. Apparently there are far too few out
there....
Arno
JcRabbit
Yousuf, if you are reading this, could you please confirm that Seatools
(Seagate's hard drive diagnostics) generates an error for the Short and
Long DST (Drive Self Test) scans on the WD My Book eSata drive?
I checked the Windows event log today and found an error that happened
3 times while making a full system backup:
Event ID 11, ATAPI: The driver detected a controller error on
\Device\Ide\IdePort1.
I checked the drive with Seatools and both the short and long DSTs gave
me an immediate error. I performed an extended test with DLGDIAG
(Western Digital Data LifeGuard Diagnostics) and that reported no
errors. SMART status is also reported as OK.
I suspect that the reason the Drive Self Tests failed in Seatools has
to do with that logic between the drive and the eSata controller that
also prevents SMART info from passing through, but to be sure I would
need your confirmation on this (or from someone else running a My Book
in eSATA mode).
Also, the error in the Windows event log does not seem to indicate a
drive problem, but rather a controller error, or, more likely (?), a
cable problem... Maybe the cable is still not making full contact, even
after shaving those 3 mm from the plastic around the metal connector?
What do you guys think?
*Apparently* the controller error did NOT result in loss of data.
Acronis didn't complain and the backup seems to read ok.
As a side note, purchased a NOX Sirocco notebook cooler today and
placed the external hard drives on top of it. Not as powerful as that
single 120 mm fan, but seems to be making an ok job none-the-less. Much
better than nothing, at least. :)
JcRabbit
Arno Wagner;921745 Wrote:
> And this is a reall stupid design decision, at least for
> people with a clue. Apparently there are far too few out
> there....
Definitely. And I had other problems with this drive too: first it
doesn't come with an eSATA cable (don't know about there, but here in
Portugal they are hard to find), then I had to 'shave' off 3 or 4 mm of
the plastic surrounding the metal connector of the eSATA cable I bought
for it to make proper contact, and, finally, had to come up with my own
'keep alive' applet to prevent the drive from going to sleep every 10
minutes, as it took too long to wake up - thus exceeding some SATA
Controller (or Windows?) time-out threshold - and therefore disappearing
from My Computer until the next reboot.
I also noticed this drive runs way warmer than my other 1 TB My Book
Essential USB drive. For now I temporarily placed both external drives
right above the 120 mm top exhaust fan of my PC's tower case - this
reduced the USB My Book temperature from 48ºC to 35ºC when *idle*. Since
I can't read the temperature of the eSATA drive, no idea how hot (or
cold) that one is running at now. :(
For a final solution I'm either going to buy a two-fan notebook cooler
and place each drive on top of a fan, or make some kind of home made
cooling base with a 120 mm fan powered by a spliced USB cable or old 12V
power adaptor (just learned how to do to that on YouTube, hehe). Without
this, these drives would be running at 65º C + temperatures coming
summer - way too hot for comfort.
JcRabbit
Whoah! Made a small mod to the Nox Sirocco notebook cooler and now the
temperature of the My Book Essential Edition external hard drive is down
to *28ºC*! That's even less than most of my internal hard drives! :)
The following is a picture of the cooler (hope you can see it,
otherwise the URL is 'HERE'
(http://www.f13pc.pt/imagens/produtos/NOX_SIROCCO2.jpg)):
[image: http://www.f13pc.pt/imagens/produtos/NOX_SIROCCO2.jpg]
This thing has three 70mm fans (see picture of the bottom of the unit
'HERE' (http://tinyurl.com/d8jhp6) to understand better) enclosed in an
hermetic structure, which forces the air to come out through the grill
at the top.
What I did was to set the fans on max speed and tape shut all the grill
holes around the two My Books, forcing the air to exit via the actual
drives. I also placed a small flat object below the front of the cooler
in order to turn it into a fully horizontal surface. This result has
surpassed my best expectations! :)
If your external drives have passive cooling and are running way too
hot, this is one possible solution. I guess it will work with any
similar cheap coolers, provided the fans produce enough airflow.