S.M.A.R.T Stability Option knocks my USB 3.0 external enclosures offline (Mediasonic K32-SU3)

[p1r473]

Hi, so if I leave the SMART stability option on, occasionally my usb 3.0 enclosures will be knocked offline and then come back online

I was reading in another post that it could be from the pass through method. I can work with you guys to help you find which is hte culprit and disable it on my device so that way I will still be able to have SMART funcitonality and not have my drives kbocked offline

Thanks

[Fiery]

1) What kind of USB 3.0 enclosures do you use? Is it one particular model, or multiple models? Which one(s) exactly?

2) Do you know what USB-ATA bridge chipset do your USB 3.0 enclosures use?

3) Do you experience similar issues with HD Sentinel or CrystalDiskInfo?

Thanks,

Fiery

[p1r473]

I am using a Mediasonic K32-SU3

Mediasonic mentioned they are using VIA VL700 chipset (source: http://forum.mediaso....php?f=13&t=174 ), now that guy who was asking that question is using a slightly different model than me, his model has some aluminum in the case, but as far as I can tell they are very very similar models internally (i think only the external of the model is different, not 100% sure) so I wouldnt be surprised if we were using the same chipset, but I also see references to jmicron when discussing firmware or drivers or stuff like that

And yes, I remember a few times that the second I manually started crystaldiskinfo, there was a sudden dismount. although it was not every time, only 2 times I started crystaldiskinfo out of maybe 100 did that ever happen, but I remember it happening., The thing is this is a very hard to reproduce problem, as sometimes it works fine, sometimes it doesnt, with EITHER program

[Fiery]

Thank you. Please expand the Devices group in the left menu in AIDA64, and right-click on USB Devices --> Quick Report --> Plain Text. Copy-paste the full results into this topic.

Then right-click on the bottom status bar of AIDA64 main window --> Disk Debug --> RAID Dump. Copy-paste the full results into this topic. Let me know if the device disconnects while performing the dump.

[p1r473]

I did this with SMART stability on. let me know if it needed to be off. I did not get a disconnect. Again, the disconnects are not 100% of the time. sometimes it happens sometimes not

I have posted the results here as they are too long

http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=yLXQ2qee

[p1r473]

Anything else you guys need to fix this? I really miss being able to view my external's temperatures on my logitech lcd

[Fiery]

Thanks for the data. We've already ordered a similar device to let us find out what goes wrong in AIDA64 about it. Please give us a few more days, we're still waiting for the delivery

[p1r473]

Thanks. Hopefully the device you ordered will be similar enough to mine to fix the problem on both devices

[Fiery]

Thanks. Hopefully the device you ordered will be similar enough to mine to fix the problem on both devices

We've ordered a Mediasonic K32-SU3 device, so it should be 100% similar to yours Delivery is quite slow though

[p1r473]

Thanks very much! Pease let me know when its safe to turn SMART back on! The changelogs dont make much sense to me

Thanks

[Fiery]

Thanks very much! Pease let me know when its safe to turn SMART back on! The changelogs dont make much sense to me

Thanks

We'll of course notify you via this forum thread

[p1r473]

Hi, have you guys worked out the bugs yet?

Thanks

[Fiery]

Our order from Am***n hasn't arrived, so we've filed a complaint, and without any word from the seller company, we got a refund. But that still left us without a device

So what we came up with is a special test build of AIDA64, that unfortunately leaves the testing on you -- I hope you don't mind Please upgrade to the following AIDA64 Extreme Edition beta:

http://users.aida64....asonic_test.zip

With this you can disable any of the five USB passthru modules of AIDA64. We suspect that either one of them would be behind the dismount issue. What you need to do is create one or more of the following 5 text files in the AIDA64 installation folder:

disable_atapt.txt

disable_cypress.txt

disable_jmicron.txt

disable_oxford.txt

disable_sunplus.txt

Content of the files is irrelevant, they can be empty files. Whenever AIDA64 detects the existence of any of those files (when it starts up with the splash screen), it will disable the relevant USB passthru module. It will notify you about the disabling by creating a text file in the C:\ folder. Please try to disable the modules one by one, and let us know which one is the culprit But first make sure to enable SMART detection in Preferences / Stability.

Thanks,

Fiery

[p1r473]

I will test them all out and will report back soon as my testing is done

Is there anything that might help generate a dismount? I tried a RAID dump with the option enabled but did not produce a dismount. It is sometimes stable, sometimes not, and right now its being very stable

Should I have them disabled only one at a time, or once one is disabled, I contrinue with the rest of the disabled ones?

Also, could a few of them being cuasing the issue, or is it only one? Like once I find one that doesnt dismount, can I stop the tests or do I keep going?

[Fiery]

Please do NOT use the RAID Dump, since it would still scan all devices using all methods, regardless of the disable facility.

It's up to you which method do you try. I'd start with all disabled, and try that first. If it's stable, then I'd try to enable them one by one, so in 5 steps I'd get to the "everything enabled" state.

If you find a problemous one, please note it down, but continue the testing, since there's a slim chance multiple methods cause the same issues in the USB-ATA bridge chip.

Thank you for your time.

[p1r473]

Is there any easy way to force the dismount, its being really stable right now and isnt dismounting like it should with none disabled. Im copying files but so far no dismounts, is there an easier way?

[Fiery]

Is there any easy way to force the dismount, its being really stable right now and isnt dismounting like it should with none disabled. Im copying files but so far no dismounts, is there an easier way?

I guess the easiest way is to restart AIDA64, go to the Storage / SMART page, and refresh it a couple of times (you can use the F5 key to refresh a page). Then close AIDA64 and restart the whole process again. The most USB-ATA bridge communication is done at AIDA64 startup, and when you refresh the SMART info.

[p1r473]

Ok here are my findings about the existence of each file

disable_atapt- dismount

disable_jmicron- dismount

disable_sunplus- dismount

disable_oxford- drive doesnt show up in aida64

disable_cypress- no dismount

So basically, atapt, jmicron, and sunplus methods being disabled have no effect and I still dismount. Disabling oxford prevents the drive from showing up in the storage->smart screen, which I think makes it stable but only because it cant see the drove. Disabling cypress caused no dismount, and drive was visible

So i >>THINK<< cypress is the culprit. Im going to leave SMART on for now and have cypress disabled, and see throughout the week if there are any dismounts while having only cypress disabled

[p1r473]

Well I just had a dismount with disable_cypress so Im back to square one now. Ive had dismounts on everything but oxford, and oxford just causes the drives to not show up in the storage->smart screen

So I have no idea at this point. Im probably having issues with 2+ of these guys, and I think this level of testing is beyond me. I'd emplore you to buy the unit but from a better retailer this time

[Fiery]

Thank you for the tests. Do you know if there're other USB boxes with the similar VIA VL700 chipset? It would be great if there were alternative device choices, since ordering this particular drive from here seems to be a pain Most retailers refuse to ship items here, and the one that said it would -- well, you know the story already

[p1r473]

I know that the HD6-SU3-BK uses the VIA VL700, but the box im using, the K32-SU3, Im not 100% sure if it even uses that. They are by the same company, and seem to be really similar.

Im going to ask at the Mediasonic forums and find out what mine uses and whether or not they can maybe get one to Hungary

[p1r473]

Hi, I have tried to get the admins at their forums in touch with you guys, but they have not responded over there. Have they contacted you, or have you managed to find an enclosure? I am quite eager to finally be able to use your software fully once again

Thanks

[Fiery]

I'm afraid we haven't been contacted, and we haven't been able to find another source of ordering such an enclosure

[Petr Soucek]

Hello Fiery, if it is still interesting to you, Delock #61854 contains VIA VL700-4 controller. I have this docking station on my desk so I can do any tests if needed.

[Fiery]

Hello Fiery, if it is still interesting to you, Delock #61854 contains VIA VL700-4 controller. I have this docking station on my desk so I can do any tests if needed.

Thank you, that's a great info! We'll try to get a DeLock hw soon. At least they're distributed around here, although that particular model is not available right now