HOWTO: Use hdparm on an external USB hard drive

I have an external USB hard drive 3.5" that is placed into a enclosure. I want to set the standby (spindown) timeout for the drive to disabled. I know that it can be done using following command:
hdparm -S 0 /dev/sdb
but previous to do it I would like to know which is the current setting for standby (spindown) timeout. How to do this?
Also, when retrieving detailed information from device by using:
hdparm -I /dev/sdb
I am getting below error:
/dev/sdb:
HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(identify) failed: Bad address
HDIO_GET_IDENTITY failed: Invalid argument

No answer.

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How to use iPad (4th gen) to edit with iMovie - but using an external source such as a USB stick or external USB hard drive

Want to use my iPad (4th gen) to edit a movie using iMovie - easy enough if the movie file is on the iPad - but what if it's too large - can I keep the source file on a USB stick or external USB hard drive and edit from there? How can you do this?

You can't export any type of file using the camera connection kit, so a USB flash drive or SD card won't work.
There are some wireless external hard drives that can be used with the iPad.
The Kingston Wi-Drive, which costs $50 for the 16 Gigabyte, and then $30 more for every 16 gigs more. It works by you turning it on and then accessing the files on it from an app that you download on your iDevice. You can access music, movies, and other stuff. No connections or anything, it works like a WiFi connection, you connect to it from the setting on the iPad under wireless networks.
Then there is the Seagate GoFlex, which some would recommend over the Wi-Drive. But this one costs $199 and had 500 Gigabytes of storage. It works the sameway as the Kingston: no wires, runs over its wireless connection. You can actually fit up to 300 HD movies on it.
Another option:
Expand your iPad's storage capacity with HyperDrive
http://www.macworld.com/article/1153935/hyperdrive.html
On the road with a camera, an iPad, and a Hyperdrive
http://www.macworld.com/article/1160231/ipadhyperdrive.html
 Cheers, Tom

[SOLVED] Kernel panic when using external USB hard drive

I have a desktop PC with a 64 bit arch install, on a Core2 Duo 6320 CPU. I have been using (and continue using right now) a 500 GB "Iomega Desktop Hard Drive" external USB hard disk without problems. But I have just bought a 3 TB "Seagate Expansion" external USB hard drive and I'm unable to use it from my Arch install. Each time I try to format it or to copy data from the PC, Arch freezes with a kernel panic. Sometimes it freezes faster and I cannot see anything, but others I am able to see the following kernel messages, repeating several times:
[11701.205071] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] uas_eh_abort_handler ffff880014e13380 tag 29, inflight: CMD
[11701.221297] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] abort completed
[11701.221313] scsi host3: uas_eh_task_mgmt: ABORT TASK failed (wrong tag 0/256)
[11701.221323] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] uas_eh_abort_handler ffff880014e13500 tag 30, inflight: CMD
[11701.237550] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] abort completed
[11701.237567] scsi host3: uas_eh_task_mgmt: ABORT TASK failed (wrong tag 0/256)
[11701.237576] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] uas_eh_abort_handler ffff880014e13680 tag 31, inflight: CMD
[11701.253922] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdf] abort completed
[11701.253936] scsi host3: uas_eh_task_mgmt: ABORT TASK failed (wrong tag 0/256)
[11701.253956] sd 3:0:0:0: uas_eh_device_reset_handler
[11704.252182] scsi host3: uas_eh_task_mgmt: LOGICAL UNIT RESET timed out
[11704.252196] scsi host3: uas_eh_bus_reset_handler start
[11704.252443] usb 5-6: stat urb: killed, stream 0
[11704.358882] usb 5-6: reset high-speed USB device number 3 using ehci-pci
[11704.483206] scsi host3: uas_eh_bus_reset_handler success
Strange enough, the drive is listed by lsusb command as a 2TB but I don't think this is related to the problem (as the OS sees the 3 TB). This is the lsusb output:
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bc2:3312 Seagate RSS LLC SRD00F2 [Expansion Desktop Drive 2TB]
I have tried the drive on other PCs and it works flawlessly. Also tried booting Windows 8 on the same PC I have Arch installed in, and in Windows it also works perfect. I have tried using ext2 and NTFS filesystems. Tried also changing the USB cable without success. And right now I'm out of ideas. Any suggestions?
Last edited by doragasu (2014-07-03 11:06:25)

looks like it could be the UAS module , check https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=183190

Transfering iTunes files to new computer using external USB hard drive

Thought this could be useful:
If you want to transfer your complete iTunes library to a new computer preserving all your playlists and library information, but without using your iPod as a hard dive, or without burning a CD or DVD, you can do it by using an USB external hard drive following these easy steps:
1) Quit iTunes
2) Connect your USB external hard drive to your computer and acccess it thru My PC or Windows Explorer.
3) Create two new folders in your external hard drive (you can name them LIBRARY Backup and PLAYLISTS Backup).
4) Open the LIBRARY Backup folder.
5) Open another Windows Explorer or My PC window; open the iTunes Music folder (usually located in C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My documents\My music\iTunes).
6) Copy all of its contents (only the contents, not the whole folder) to the LIBRARY Backup folder you created in your external USB Hard Drive.
7) Close both the LIBRARY Backup folder from your USB external hard drive and the iTunes Music folder.
8) Open the PLAYLISTS Backup folder from your USB external hard drive
9) From your iTunes folder, copy the iTunes Music Library.xml to the PLAYLISTS Backup folder.
10) Close all the windows and extract your USB external hard drive from your PC ()
11) Install iTunes in your new computer.
12) Using Windows Explorer open the iTunes Music folder (usually located in C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My documents\My music\iTunes).
13) Connect the USB hard drive to your new computer and open it using another Windows Explorer window.
14) Open the LIBRARY Backup folder and copy all of its contents (only the contents, not the whole folder) to the iTunes Music folder in your new computer. After the copying is complete, close this folder.
15) Copy the PLAYLISTS Backup folder to you new computer’s desktop.
16) Close Windows Explorer and extract USB hard drive.
17) Open iTunes
18) From the File menu, choose Import. Navigate to the iTunes Music Library.xml file on the Desktop and click Choose. The imported playlist will show only songs located on the computer's hard disk or external media.
19) You can now delete the xml. file from your new computer’s desktop if you wish.
PC Windows XP Owner of 5th Generation iPod

Type "move itunes library" into the Google search bar.
Type "ipod touch not recognized by itunes" into the search bar at the top of this page by "Support"

External USB Hard Drive not showing up on Time Capsule

Hi all,
I have a 500 Gb Time Capsule that used to be able to detect my external USB hard drives. I had to store my things for a while and have just started using the Time Capsule again. The TC works fine, however, the same USB external hard drives I used to connect to the TC are not showing up anymore :s They show up on the desktop when I connect them directly to my MacBook via USB. I have been through most of the file sharing options in Airport Utility and System Preferences but have not been able to solve this. I can't think of any settings that would have changed from when they were showing up in the past. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thx

yosemite won't work with ntfs drives for some reason, i've had the same issue with my toshiba. i thought ok lemme buy another one, and transfer it over maybe it's a driver issue which i've tried over and over, apple support can't figure it out.
here's a simple fix, but the problem is i have an external where all my photography and video files are stored, so i can't access them right now and it's making my life ****.
http://guides.macrumors.com/Formatting_an_External_Device
that does work and make the drive mountable now, but problem being i can't obviously reformat the old drive and lose everything. once the new drive is formatted for mac i can't plug it into a pc to transfer the files from. which is the only problem now. but formatting the drive for mac only DOES work. but you're just screwed and not able to use it ntfs. hope the link helps SOME people.

External USB hard drive won't reformat, won't appear in Finder, error: Unable to write to the last block of the device message

So I just got a new MacBook Air and since I had an external USB hard drive (TOSHIBA MQ01ABD100 1TB) lying around, I decided to use it for back-up. Since I only have just the one hard drive, I decided to partition it into two - one for Time Machine backups, and one for general files (formatted FAT so I could use it with Windows). However, the partitioning failed and I ended up with a partition named disk1s2. Plus, it won't appear on Finder anymore, but it appears in Disk Utility.
I have tried to reformat it, but I always get the message "Unable to write to the last block of the device".
Here's the info about my drive:
Name: TOSHIBA MQ01ABD100 Media
Type: Disk
Partition Map Scheme: GUID Partition Table
Disk Identifier: disk1
Media Name: TOSHIBA MQ01ABD100 Media
Media Type: Generic
Connection Bus: USB
USB Serial Number: 1220069C
Device Tree: IODeviceTree:/PCI0@0/XHC@14
Writable: Yes
Ejectable: Yes
Location: External
Total Capacity: 1 TB
Disk Number: 1
Partition Number: 0
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Not Supported
And here's for disk1s2:
Name: disk1s2
Type: Partition
Disk Identifier: disk1s2
Mount Point: Not mounted
File System: Mac OS Extended
Connection Bus: USB
Device Tree: IODeviceTree:/PCI0@0/XHC@14
Writable: Yes
Capacity: 999.86 GB
Owners Enabled: No
Can Turn Owners Off: Yes
Can Be Formatted: Yes
Bootable: Yes
Supports Journaling: Yes
Journaled: No
Disk Number: 1
Partition Number: 2
Here's what it says when I run diskutil in Terminal:
Device Identifier:        disk1
Device Node:              /dev/disk1
Part of Whole:            disk1
Device / Media Name:      TOSHIBA MQ01ABD100 Media
Volume Name:              Not applicable (no file system)
Mounted:                  Not applicable (no file system)
File System:              None
Content (IOContent):      GUID_partition_scheme
OS Can Be Installed:      No
Media Type:               Generic
Protocol:                 USB
SMART Status:             Not Supported
Total Size:               1.0 TB (1000204884480 Bytes) (exactly 1953525165 512-Byte-Units)
Volume Free Space:        Not applicable (no file system)
Device Block Size:        512 Bytes
Read-Only Media:          No
Read-Only Volume:         Not applicable (no file system)
Ejectable:                Yes
Whole:                    Yes
Internal:                 No
OS 9 Drivers:             No
Low Level Format:         Not supported
I didn't have any data in it prior to the failed partitioning attempt, so there aren't any worries of data recovery. But I'd really like to be able to use this drive again, and save some money (external hard drives are expensive where I live). Anyone with any ideas?

I'd also like to add that repairing the disk using Disk Utility does nothing but tell me to reformat the drive. So I'm stuck in a loop here.

Changing external USB hard drive into a FireWire Drive???

I have been reading in some of the other discussions about how it is possible to change a USB external hard drive into a FireWire external hard drive. Is this true ??? I recently pruchased an external USB hard drive only to now find out that I cannot use it to boot from. Apparently OSX will only boot from a FireWire drive ??? Is there some way to change my current external USB hard drive into a FireWire compatible drive or do I have to purchase a FireWire drive ??? Thanks.

All I can remember was an internal USB/firewire hub (for PCs, by the way), I haven't seen external adapters like cables; but you may simply ask in your local computer store about.
Yes, you can boot only from firewire drives. I was told that it is possible the new Intel Macs are able to boot from USB drives, but haven't had the time to verify this so far.
A possible solution may be to remove the harddisk from the USB enclosure and put it into a firewire case. This should work and you just need to buy the firewire case without the need for another harddisk. Just ensure that the case is able to take your harddrive (2.5" / 3.5" drives, connection interface).

Rescue and Recovery 4.3 on Win7 doesn't see a backup on external USB hard drive - Model W510

I've run the Rescue and Recovery utility within Windows 7 on two different external USB hard drives thinking that maybe it was a usb drive issue. When I open the R And R utility in expert mode I can see that both backups exist on their respective drives. I planned on updating my hard drive so I made a full hd backup and the R&R startup disc to boot the laptop from. The bios recognizes either external hard drive at boot with no problems. It shows the names and "+" sign next to drives. So I booted the drive at startup off the DVD drive with the R&R startup disc after I was sure that the bios recognized either external drives. Then when I choose a "Full" restore is of course asks me if I want to use hd, cd/dvd, or external usb drive which I choose the later. It then should show me the backup that I created earlier just as it did when I ran the utility from the Win7 environment so I can choose it to restore from. But I get a blank box showing no backups when I run the 4.3 R&R Startup disc. Again if I boot to Win7 and go into the R&R utility I can see the backup on the exact same USB external drive. Then boot off the CD startup recovery disc and it shows NO BACKUP! Help please! I want to shelf my old hard drive "as is" and create the Restore onto the new hard drive but the utility isn't working for me.
Thanks for any help.

Hmmm,
Seems like that _should_ work. Here's a way you might be able to finesse it: go to the advanced R&R menu in Win 7 and create rescue media on your USB drive. It's essentially the same process as creating the CD - it makes the USB drive bootable and puts a copy of R&R there.
There _should_ be an option to "preserve existing data" but be prepared to lose your existing backup and make it again.
Then just boot the external USB drive and see if R&R recognizes a backup image on the same drive from which you booted.
That's the way I usually migrate to new drives. Maybe it will get around your mysterious problem.
Z.
The large print: please read the Community Participation Rules before posting. Include as much information as possible: model, machine type, operating system, and a descriptive subject line. Do not include personal information: serial number, telephone number, email address, etc. The fine print: I do not work for, nor do I speak for Lenovo. Unsolicited private messages will be ignored. ... GeezBlog
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Unable to eject external USB hard drive

I've been using a 500 gb WD Passport external USB hard drive for about six months now, and recently it's had trouble ejecting. I'm not sure if it's the drive itself or my OS; sometimes I can eject it, other times I get the "the disk __ wasn't ejected because one or more programs may be using it.".
There are NO programs using the drive, and no users connected to the drive from elsewhere. Is there some process in the activity monitor that may be preventing the disk from unmounting?
I've tried to log out, relaunch the finder, quite all programs, etc - but the only sure fire method is to restart the computer - which leads me to believe there is some underlying system process that is causing the eject sequence to hang...
Any ideas? Will I potentially harm my disk's contents by force ejecting every time (so long as I'm certain no programs are writing files)?
Thanks!

I'm aslo having problems with a USB drive. In this case it's my Time Machine drive. Similar symptom that the only way to eject it is to restart the computer. Otherwise I get the same message. I also tried the Terminal command with the drag/return. What showed was an empty command line:
+ip-109-43-193-109:~ user$+
Now, the reason why I've even tried to do this is because I'm having problems backing up withTime Machine. Upon boot up, the first backup always works, but typically any subsequent b/up will fail with the following error code:
+Starting standard backup+
+Backing up to: /Volumes/Jimz TM 2/Backups.backupdb+
+Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.ModelID path:/Volumes/Jimz TM 2/Backups.backupdb/user's MBP size:13+
+Error: (-50) Creating directory 2010-07-08-112436.inProgress+
+Failed to make snapshot container.+
+Error: (22) setxattr for key:com.apple.backupd.ModelID path:/Volumes/Jimz TM 2/Backups.backupdb/user's MBP size:13+
+Backup failed with error: 2+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
+Stopping backupd to allow ejection of backup destination disk!+
Also, this is the first time that I've seen the error lines regarding ejection of the disc.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

Moving entire iTunes library to external USB hard drive

My internal hard drive is nearly full. I need to move the entire current 10 GB iTunes library of songs, podcasts, album art, etc. to a 300 GB external USB hard drive with plenty of space. Within a few weeks I'll get a new replacement computer with a much larger internal hard drive and will want to relocate the iTunes library again onto the new machine. The iTunes Help Forum had some tips but explained "From now on, new songs & other items are stored in the new location. Songs you've already imported stay in their current location." That doesn't help. I won't be importing anything new until I've gotten my new computer and am running iTunes on it. Any help is very much appreciated.

Copy /Music/iTunes/ folder to the external.
To use this folder, hold Shift and launch iTunes.
Select *Choose library*.
Select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
Make sure the external is connected and ready before launching iTunes.
When you get your new computer, copy the entire iTunes folder from the external to /Music/ on the new computer.

C30: Booting from external USB hard drive

I carry my OS on an external portable USB drive, and then make use of whatever hardware is available where I visit.
I recently attempted to boot a Lenovo C30 Thinkstation with this external drive, and was unable to do so. In looking at the BIOS settings, there is no option to boot from USB (other than floppy(?!?) or memory stick).
Is it possible to boot from an external USB hard drive, and if not, why?
jerry

The boot sequence section of our setup menus has been troublesome to say the least (at least through the development phase). There are various reasons why it is the way it is now....from spec requirements to customer requirements. So long story short it really needs to be this way, even though situations like the one you encoutered is inconvenient.
The USB issue is actually done for security reasons. For example, many large customers don't want users to have the ability to just walk up and plug in a USB device and allow the system to detect that and attempt to boot to it right away as it is a risk to their image/security. For this reason, USB devices don't automatically get added to the boot order, and must be added throught he setup menu if needed.

Exporting an Apeture library to external USB hard drive

1st step:
I can copy the library (25 GB)from the laptop to external USB hard drive (80 GB empty), but I can't use it.
I can't import any other project into the library.
The message is: there is not enough space on the disk. After that when I try to use the library the message is: the library is locked.
2nd step:
I open the library from the laptop, I change the preference and put the new library on the external USB hard drive (same 80 GB empty).
I work with the new library and I try to import the folder into a new project but after few moments the program stacks.
I have another external hard drive (fireware) and I have not the same problems.
Powerbook G4 1,67 Mhz Mac OS X (10.4.7) 1,5 Gb Ram

The fastest external option would be a new SATA solution from FirmTEK.
http://www.barefeats.com/hard71.html
Currently they are the only provider of this type of solution.
17" MBP 2.16 Ghz/2 GB Ram/120 GB HD, G5 dual 2 Ghz/ 4 GB RAM / Radeon X 800XT / Mac OS X (10.4.6)

500 GB external USB hard drive USB 2 configuration problems

Hello Sirs.
I recently adquired a 500 Gb external USB hard drive part number PX1269E-1G50.
I have some problems with the USB 2.0 configuration in windows XP. When i connect it to an usb 2.0 port i receive the message "High-speed USB hard disk drive plugged into a non-hi-speed usb hub", and the device stays in low USB (12 mbits/s) speed. (I checked the port with another usb 2.0 peripheral and the port is working in usb 2.0 mode correctly).
I checked the PXI1269E-1G50 in others pc and i have same results. I cant get it to work in USB 2.0 mode. I also have some problems with the virtual CD partition that is always present when you insert it and mount. Exist a way to remove it ?
I only use the hard disk for daily data back-up and i don't want to use any more drive letters in my system.
The main PC is an ASUS P4P800-E deluxe with windows XP SP2 fully updated and build in USB 2.0 intel controller.
Best regards
PAMF

Hello again everybody
OK. Finally i had to send the disk to my dealer. Toshiba in Spain says there is not solution. Sorry. This is an erratic product. Sometimes with one cofiguration simply works and sometimes with a different configuration does not connect in USB 2.0 mode. I don't want such a product in my desktop... and the Virtual CDrom is impossible to turn off. (I'm not interested in security tools. I only want to make daily backups)
Thanks to everybody in the forum for your help.
pamf
[Edited by: admin on 09-Jan-2007 20:51]

Partition External Usb hard drive

Hi,
Can I partition a 500GB external usb hard-drive to 2 partitions (nfts and HFS)
The HFS part is for using with Time-Machine (150 GB) and the nfts for storage of photos etc. trough Windows.
Is it possible to back-up on a partition with Time Machine?
I know that it is impossible to partition to nfts with the standard Mac program, but it is possible with Gparted Live-cd (the one Ubuntu uses).
Can all that be done?
Thanks on purpose
TheM4inframe

set up two partitions both fat32.
erase one and reformat as the apple format. plug the drive into the winbox, use administration>computer management>storage to find and reformat the fat 32 partition as ntfs.
you can also format both as mac, then have win reformat one (I think)

Lose connection to external USB hard drive after waking up from sleep

My Mac lost connection to the external USB hard drive after waking up from sleep. I can still see the folders in the hard drive in Finders, but when I double clip a folder no file within the folder is displayed. I have to reconnect the hard drive with iMac to read its contents.
May I ask how this happens and is there a solution?
I'm using Paragon NTFS for Mac OS X to read from and write to NTFS format of USB external hard drive.
Thanks!

... I un-ticked the "put hard disks to sleep when possible" option in the Energy Saver panel in the System Preferences, and it seems the problem is solved. will have to sleep and wake up my iMac to further verify if this is the solution ...
Alternative advices are always greatly appreciated!

HOWTO: Use hdparm on an external USB hard drive

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