USB hard drive not accessible

[peyrol]

I have a SimpleTech 320 GB USB drive, model 900000-40479-002. It has its own power supply. My OS is LMDE with Kernel 3.6.0-10.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64 with Mate.
I turned the power switch for the drive on and then off during the following console session.

Code: Select all

david@achernar:~$ tail -f /var/log/messages
tail: cannot open `/var/log/messages' for reading: Permission denied
david@achernar:~$ sudo tail -f /var/log/messages
[sudo] password for david: 
Dec 25 13:12:22 achernar kernel: Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized
Dec 25 13:12:22 achernar kernel: Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11
Dec 25 13:12:22 achernar kernel: Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
Dec 25 13:12:22 achernar kernel: Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast
Dec 25 13:12:24 achernar kernel: IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth1: link is not ready
Dec 25 13:12:24 achernar kernel: IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
Dec 25 13:12:24 achernar kernel: NET: Registered protocol family 17
Dec 25 13:12:25 achernar kernel: e1000e: eth1 NIC Link is Up 100 Mbps Full Duplex, Flow Control: Rx/Tx
Dec 25 13:12:25 achernar kernel: e1000e 0000:00:19.0: eth1: 10/100 speed: disabling TSO
Dec 25 13:12:25 achernar kernel: IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth1: link becomes ready
Dec 25 18:17:23 achernar kernel: usb 1-5: new high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci_hcd
Dec 25 18:17:23 achernar kernel: usb 1-5: New USB device found, idVendor=4971, idProduct=a001
Dec 25 18:17:23 achernar kernel: usb 1-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=56, Product=78, SerialNumber=100
Dec 25 18:17:23 achernar kernel: usb 1-5: Product: USB2.0 Storage Device
Dec 25 18:17:23 achernar kernel: usb 1-5: Manufacturer: Cypress Semiconductor
Dec 25 18:17:23 achernar kernel: usb 1-5: SerialNumber: 060E0A40CF35
Dec 25 18:17:23 achernar kernel: scsi7 : usb-storage 1-5:1.0
Dec 25 18:17:23 achernar mtp-probe: checking bus 1, device 2: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.7/usb1/1-5"
Dec 25 18:17:23 achernar mtp-probe: bus: 1, device: 2 was not an MTP device
Dec 25 18:17:45 achernar kernel: usb 1-5: reset high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci_hcd
Dec 25 18:17:56 achernar kernel: usb 1-5: reset high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci_hcd
Dec 25 18:18:01 achernar kernel: usb 1-5: reset high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci_hcd
Dec 25 18:18:11 achernar kernel: usb 1-5: reset high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci_hcd
Dec 25 18:18:11 achernar kernel: scsi 7:0:0:0: Device offlined - not ready after error recovery
Dec 25 18:18:39 achernar kernel: usb 1-5: USB disconnect, device number 2

I noticed the drive itself makes a "ticking" sound when I turn it on, about twice per second.

sudo lsusb does not find the hard drive.

My machine is a dual boot with Windows 7. Booting in Windows, the drive is also not recognized.

Any clue is welcome. TIA

[cwsnyder]

My guess, since your drive is not recognized by either Windows or Linux is that either the drive has died, or that the power supply for the drive has died, since there is an external power supply. I haven't had the best luck with external drives powered by their own power supplies. I had 4 of 5 fail on me. The drives would work when I removed the drive from the enclosure and hooked them up as internal drives, but not from the external enclosure. Maybe the drive won't connect as an internal drive, but that would be my next step. If the drive died, you can try the trick of putting the drive inside a sealed plastic bag and putting it in the freezer overnight. This often allows you to hook up the drive the next morning and allow you enough time to pull most of the data off the 'dead' drive before it finally refuses to spin up again.