I have an external 4TB HDD formatted as a single NTFS partition. The partition contains over 1TB of data. Upon connecting the drive via USB 3, I can read & write to the drive's partition within a few seconds.
I recently purchased a new Samsung T7 external 2TB SSD. I formatted it via Linux Mint to have a single ext4 partition. The partition contains just 1.9GB (not TB) of data. Upon connecting the drive to the same system via USB 3, I have to wait over 50 seconds until I can read or write to/from the drive's partition.
I expected the SSD to be ready much sooner than the HDD upon connecting it via USB.
Is this long delay simply a difference between NTFS and ext4 filesystems, or indicative of a hardware, software, or configuration issue?
Note that this Linux Mint installation is just several weeks old.
New Samsung external USB SSD takes long time to be ready to read or write (ext4 partition)
Forum rules
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
-
CloneWerks
- Level 3
- Posts: 157
- Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2022 3:02 pm
Re: New Samsung external USB SSD takes long time to be ready to read or write (ext4 partition)
I had a similar experience that nearly drove me mad before I realized I had a bum "high-speed" usb 3 cable even though everything was new in box.
Once I replaced that cable my issues vanished.
Is your throughput speed abnormally low? This might possibly be your issue.
Once I replaced that cable my issues vanished.
Is your throughput speed abnormally low? This might possibly be your issue.
Re: New Samsung external USB SSD takes long time to be ready to read or write (ext4 partition)
Thanks so much for your reply.
Like you, I'm using a new USB 3 cable (included in the sealed Samsung box). I'll try another cable and see if that makes any difference.
After switching cables, did your external SSD become accessible within just a few seconds? Is it formatted as ext4?
I haven't formally tested the throughput, but the writes to the SSD seem almost instantaneous. I haven't written much to it (as I'm concerned about this issue, and don't want to use something that is defective), but so far, the throughput seems excellent. I may try running a formal benchmark.
I don't know if it's relevant, but I notice that Linux Mint is occasionally accessing the external SSD even when I'm not using it (if I keep it plugged in for a while). The Samsung T7 has incredibly bright LED lights on the top (around the fingerprint reader, which does not work with Linux Mint), and they will randomly go on, then swirl around in a square (indicating usage), then go dim, then go off.
Like you, I'm using a new USB 3 cable (included in the sealed Samsung box). I'll try another cable and see if that makes any difference.
After switching cables, did your external SSD become accessible within just a few seconds? Is it formatted as ext4?
I haven't formally tested the throughput, but the writes to the SSD seem almost instantaneous. I haven't written much to it (as I'm concerned about this issue, and don't want to use something that is defective), but so far, the throughput seems excellent. I may try running a formal benchmark.
I don't know if it's relevant, but I notice that Linux Mint is occasionally accessing the external SSD even when I'm not using it (if I keep it plugged in for a while). The Samsung T7 has incredibly bright LED lights on the top (around the fingerprint reader, which does not work with Linux Mint), and they will randomly go on, then swirl around in a square (indicating usage), then go dim, then go off.
Re: New Samsung external USB SSD takes long time to be ready to read or write (ext4 partition)
I have a perplexing update to report.
Because I use multiple external USB drives, I use a powered USB hub. I've been using that hub for a few years without issue with Windows (before converting the system to Linux Mint). As an experiment. I tried connecting the Samsung T7 SSD directly to the motherboard's USB 3 port. What I witnessed surprised me:
When I plugged the SSD directly into the motherboard, the SSD's activity lights indicated data transfer for about a full minute. It was non-stop, and felt like it would never end. I didn't even have Nemo open at first, so this was concerning. Something was going on, but there was no indication what was transpiring. About 20-30 seconds into the unexplained drive activity, I launched Nemo. The drive could be seen and read. The time to wait to be able to do so was much faster than with the hub. Yet the activity lights were still ablaze.
After about a minute, the activity lights finally stopped. The SSD seemed to be responding normally in Nemo. But the random accesses of the drive that I described above were now gone. When I accessed the drive, the activity lights would go on, and when I stopped accessing the drive, they would go off. Totally different behavior.
I then unmounted the drive, unplugged it from the motherboard's USB 3 port, and plugged it back it. It remounted instantly. No weird unexplained accesses like before, and no long delay before the first access like with the hub.
I then unmounted the drive, unplugged it from the motherboard's USB 3 port, and plugged it into the USB 3 hub. Linux Mint no longer had that long delay when trying to access the SSD, even though it is now plugged into the USB 3 hub. Why could this be? All that changed was that I had previously plugged the drive directly into the motherboard's USB 3 port during which time there was a bunch of unexplained drive activity. And now, those random unexplained drive accesses are gone!
It's like plugging the drive directly into the motherboard's USB 3 port somehow fixed everything for use with that port and with the hub. There must be a logical explanation. Does anyone know how that could have fixed things?
I'm starting to think that, possibly, Linux Mint may not like this hub, which would be unfortunate. When I bought that hub, it was after I went through about 6 or 7 different hubs from other manufacturers that all had issues. It was the only hub that passed most of my rigorous tests. Or maybe Linux Mint doesn't like the Samsung T7 SSD? I don't know.
When I plug the USB 3 hub into the motherboard's USB 3 port, there are no audio or visual notifications that Linux Mint is detecting a device being plugged in (even though it basically works). Is this normal, or should there be some sort of notification?
Given that I formatted the SSD through the hub, I'm thinking of perhaps reformatting it while it is directly connected to the motherboard via USB 3 (before I start writing more data to it). But things are working right now, and I'm tempting to not fix something that isn't broken.
I welcome all ideas and feedback. I wasn't expecting this perplexing hiccup as I moved to Linux Mint, and I appreciate all the help you can offer.
Because I use multiple external USB drives, I use a powered USB hub. I've been using that hub for a few years without issue with Windows (before converting the system to Linux Mint). As an experiment. I tried connecting the Samsung T7 SSD directly to the motherboard's USB 3 port. What I witnessed surprised me:
When I plugged the SSD directly into the motherboard, the SSD's activity lights indicated data transfer for about a full minute. It was non-stop, and felt like it would never end. I didn't even have Nemo open at first, so this was concerning. Something was going on, but there was no indication what was transpiring. About 20-30 seconds into the unexplained drive activity, I launched Nemo. The drive could be seen and read. The time to wait to be able to do so was much faster than with the hub. Yet the activity lights were still ablaze.
After about a minute, the activity lights finally stopped. The SSD seemed to be responding normally in Nemo. But the random accesses of the drive that I described above were now gone. When I accessed the drive, the activity lights would go on, and when I stopped accessing the drive, they would go off. Totally different behavior.
I then unmounted the drive, unplugged it from the motherboard's USB 3 port, and plugged it back it. It remounted instantly. No weird unexplained accesses like before, and no long delay before the first access like with the hub.
I then unmounted the drive, unplugged it from the motherboard's USB 3 port, and plugged it into the USB 3 hub. Linux Mint no longer had that long delay when trying to access the SSD, even though it is now plugged into the USB 3 hub. Why could this be? All that changed was that I had previously plugged the drive directly into the motherboard's USB 3 port during which time there was a bunch of unexplained drive activity. And now, those random unexplained drive accesses are gone!
It's like plugging the drive directly into the motherboard's USB 3 port somehow fixed everything for use with that port and with the hub. There must be a logical explanation. Does anyone know how that could have fixed things?
I'm starting to think that, possibly, Linux Mint may not like this hub, which would be unfortunate. When I bought that hub, it was after I went through about 6 or 7 different hubs from other manufacturers that all had issues. It was the only hub that passed most of my rigorous tests. Or maybe Linux Mint doesn't like the Samsung T7 SSD? I don't know.
When I plug the USB 3 hub into the motherboard's USB 3 port, there are no audio or visual notifications that Linux Mint is detecting a device being plugged in (even though it basically works). Is this normal, or should there be some sort of notification?
Given that I formatted the SSD through the hub, I'm thinking of perhaps reformatting it while it is directly connected to the motherboard via USB 3 (before I start writing more data to it). But things are working right now, and I'm tempting to not fix something that isn't broken.
I welcome all ideas and feedback. I wasn't expecting this perplexing hiccup as I moved to Linux Mint, and I appreciate all the help you can offer.
Re: New Samsung external USB SSD takes long time to be ready to read or write (ext4 partition)
The bizarreness continues...
Now when I plug the Samsung T7 SSD into the USB hub, it's activity lights illuminate momentarily, as expected. But then, when reading or writing from the drive, they do not illuminate.
If I plug the drive into the USB 3 port on the motherboard, they illuminate as expected.
What's so incredibly odd is that when most everything else wasn't working correctly, the activity lights were the one thing working correctly. I just don't get it. Hopefully someone out there can provide some insight as to what is going on.
Now when I plug the Samsung T7 SSD into the USB hub, it's activity lights illuminate momentarily, as expected. But then, when reading or writing from the drive, they do not illuminate.
If I plug the drive into the USB 3 port on the motherboard, they illuminate as expected.
What's so incredibly odd is that when most everything else wasn't working correctly, the activity lights were the one thing working correctly. I just don't get it. Hopefully someone out there can provide some insight as to what is going on.