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

[p1r473]

Any luck tracking down that enclosure for testing?

[Fiery]

Yes, it's already on its way to us, but ****zon isn't fast   Sadly in local stores noone had Delock #61854 or the Mediasonic K32-SU3...

[Fiery]

The DeLock 61854 box has arrived, and we've already put it under heavy test runs   Problem is: it doesn't seem to work properly when connected to USB 3.0 ports (of an Etron EJ168 xHCI controller of a Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD motherboard), even though we use everything "by the book", with the bundled blue USB 3.0 cable, under Windows 7 64-bit SP1 + all patches installed.  Windows can see the VIA VL700 USB 3.0 bridge chip itself, but cannot see the drive that is inserted in the box.

 

When connected to a USB 2.0 port, the box works just fine, and we haven't found any disconnection or dismounting/remounting issues.  We've tested it with both a 2.5-inch SSD and a 3.5-inch 7200rpm HDD.

 

We'll continue testing with different USB 3.0 controllers and different motherboards. Meanwhile, can you please let us know what sort of USB 3.0 controller do you have the MediaSonic box connected to?

[p1r473]

NEC/RENESAS USB3 Controller uPD720200

driver version 2.1.39.0

firmware:3.0.3.4

 

The disconnects are only on usb 3.0. I hope you can get your box working

[Fiery]

Thank you.  We've been able to make our box work on a USB 3.0 port with a NEC uPD720200 controller.  However, through the course of a 3-day test run we haven't been able to reproduce the disconnection issue   We've tried it with driver version 2.1.39.0 and also with an old version 2.0.20.0.

 

However, when we've tried to connect the box manually to the USB 3.0 port, the box worked roughly once out of 5 tries, so 4 times the board didn't even sense a connection, and so Windows didn't find any devices connected and failed to mount the HDD in the box.  On the rare occasion of a successful manual connection, the box worked just fine until we unmounted it via the System Tray icon.  We prefer not to point fingers on hardware, but on this particular issue we strongly believe the VIA VL700 controller is the one to blame, since with an Etron USB 3.0 controller chip it fails to connect everytime, and with our NEC USB 3.0 controller chip it fails to connect a lot of times.  While on USB 2.0 ports it works just fine everytime.  BTW, we have a few USB 3.0 boxes, converters and flash drives around with various controller chips, but we've only found issues with the VIA VL700 controller based box of ours.

[p1r473]

Its possible that because youre using a different box, we actually might have different chipsets, as i was not able to verify 100% what chipset mine uses

[JazJon]

Has anyone confirmed that the MediaSonic single unit K32-SU3 enclosure is captible of passing S.M.A.R.T. data through it's USB 3.0/SATA adapter?

 

I just got mine and I can't monitor the temperature.  I own two of the 4-bay enclosures and I can read SMART data just fine. Why won't the K32-SU3 pass SMART data through correctly?

So get this, I tried updating the firmware of my K32-SU3 via: http://forum.mediasonic.ca/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1519

During the update I got a FAILURE message. Now the enclosure isn't recognized at at all!

I'm going to RMA it via Amazon, but I need to decide if I should Replace it, or Return it for another model that passes SMART data through correctly.

Will the latest firmware update allow SMART data on the K32-SU3 or is the USB 3.0/SATA adapter used not compatible with SMART data?

I had it on a USB 3.0 HUB by the way. I should have probably disconnected the hub and other drives during the firmware update. (direct to motherboard, for firmware update at least, whoops)

If the K32-SU3 is SMART capable I'll try another, if it's not I'll get a refund. Thanks.

[JazJon]

Good news! K32-SU3 now works! (SMART data available via StableBit Scanner thanks to latest update)

"Jon,

I've tested the Mediasonic ProBox 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Enclosure - USB 3.0 SuperSpeed (K32-SU3) and have added the necessary data to BitFlock.com.

Just restart the StableBit Scanner service (or reboot) and you should now have full IDENTIFY and SMART data.

(and so will everyone else)

This is better than Unsafe, because it doesn't have to "probe" the enclosure which could crash it. It simply asks our cloud for the correct method to use.

Make sure that you're on the latest version of the Scanner, earlier builds had problems with the USB cloud feature.

Regards,
StableBit"

[Fiery]

Great news!  One of you please try it with AIDA64, and report us the results

 

Thanks,

Fiery

 

[p1r473]

Is it possible to incorporate the new functionality of "asking the cloud which to use" from stablebit scanner into aida64, so I dont have to download stablebit scanner, and can only use aida64 standalone and still monitor my enclosure temperature?

[Fiery]

Is it possible to incorporate the new functionality of "asking the cloud which to use" from stablebit scanner into aida64, so I dont have to download stablebit scanner, and can only use aida64 standalone and still monitor my enclosure temperature?

 

I'm not sure which feature of the mentioned software do you mean, but we currently have no cloud-based feature in AIDA64.

[p1r473]

I am quoting JazJon, he said

"I've tested the Mediasonic ProBox 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Enclosure - USB 3.0 SuperSpeed (K32-SU3) and have added the necessary data to BitFlock.com.
Just restart the StableBit Scanner service (or reboot) and you should now have full IDENTIFY and SMART data.
(and so will everyone else)
This is better than Unsafe, because it doesn't have to "probe" the enclosure which could crash it. It simply asks our cloud for the correct method to use."

 

You had said you wanted an AIDA64 tester to test if it works but... it looks like it only works if I use aida64 with StableBit Scanner rather than using the unsafe method that is causing crashes? I want to be able to monitor my enclosure temperature with aida64 without needing a 2nd application, in this case StableBit Scanner

 

I am responding to the last 2 posts. the guy said he got aida64 to work with the enclosure if he used stablebit scanner, but I dont want to use that. I only want to use aida64. So I was wondering if you were able to use the method they use to get it to work (the method: It simply asks our cloud for the correct method to use.)