Re: [eSATA] 2.6.28.7: IO errors

Re: [eSATA] 2.6.28.7: IO errors

[Matthew Wilcox]

On Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 12:18:38AM +0100, Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote:
> I'm using an external eSATA / USB / Firewire 2x1T RAID from WD in RAID1 

Looks like your problems are solved by
9062712fa9ed13b531dfc2228086650b8bd6a255

-- 
Matthew Wilcox				Intel Open Source Technology Centre
"Bill, look, we understand that you're interested in selling us this
operating system, but compare it to ours.  We can't possibly take such
a retrograde step."

Re: [eSATA] 2.6.28.7: IO errors

[Guennadi Liakhovetski]

Hi Matthew,

On Fri, 27 Mar 2009, Matthew Wilcox wrote:

> On Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 12:18:38AM +0100, Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote:
> > I'm using an external eSATA / USB / Firewire 2x1T RAID from WD in RAID1 
> 
> Looks like your problems are solved by
> 9062712fa9ed13b531dfc2228086650b8bd6a255

(added Tejun as the patch author and owner of similar hardware)

AFAIU, that patch improves or fixes error handling on those drives, and 
the symptom, that Tejun was observing, was that the drive was hanging and 
required a power cycle.

In my case the drive didn't need a power cycle, and error handling did 
work, AFAICS, but even just having that error seems not healthy for the 
data, which is confirmed by ext4 errors. Am I right? (BTW, I was 
impressed, that after replugging the drive to firewire and running fsck on 
a 800G big ext4 partition, it only needed around a second or two to replay 
the journal and then it was ok! I hope the fileystem also has indeed been 
repaired...)

Error handling is great, but I think what I want is to avoid such errors 
altogether. So, my question was - can those errors be indeed caused by the 
unstable eSATA connector in the drive? Tejun, you have similar drives, do 
yours also have such a problem? How are you solving it? Is the only way to 
improve the connector stability by milling the plastic casing to actually 
be able to insert the connector properly or by contacting the retailer for 
a replacement?... Sorry, these are not directly Linux driver questions, 
but the questions are really what those error messages tell me about the 
possible reasons for the problem:-)

Thanks
Guennadi
---
Guennadi Liakhovetski, Ph.D.
Freelance Open-Source Software Developer

Re: [eSATA] 2.6.28.7: IO errors

[Tejun Heo]

Hello,

Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote:
> Hi Matthew,
> 
> On Fri, 27 Mar 2009, Matthew Wilcox wrote:
> 
>> On Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 12:18:38AM +0100, Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote:
>>> I'm using an external eSATA / USB / Firewire 2x1T RAID from WD in RAID1 
>> Looks like your problems are solved by
>> 9062712fa9ed13b531dfc2228086650b8bd6a255
> 
> (added Tejun as the patch author and owner of similar hardware)

Thanks for forwarding.

> AFAIU, that patch improves or fixes error handling on those drives, and 
> the symptom, that Tejun was observing, was that the drive was hanging and 
> required a power cycle.
> 
> In my case the drive didn't need a power cycle, and error handling did 
> work, AFAICS, but even just having that error seems not healthy for the 
> data, which is confirmed by ext4 errors. Am I right?

No, your drive checked out after the last error even after the link
speed had been lowered to 1.5Gbps, so the EH did everything it could
but no candy.  The drive still checked out.

> Error handling is great, but I think what I want is to avoid such errors 
> altogether. So, my question was - can those errors be indeed caused by the 
> unstable eSATA connector in the drive? Tejun, you have similar drives, do 
> yours also have such a problem? How are you solving it?

I don't use the drives extensively but shorter cables seem to solve a
lot of the issues during testing.  Or rather, longer cables triggered
a LOT of problems.

> Is the only way to improve the connector stability by milling the
> plastic casing to actually be able to insert the connector properly
> or by contacting the retailer for a replacement?... Sorry, these are
> not directly Linux driver questions, but the questions are really
> what those error messages tell me about the possible reasons for the
> problem:-)

Give a shot at shorter cable.

Good luck!

-- 
tejun

Re: [eSATA] 2.6.28.7: IO errors

[Guennadi Liakhovetski]

On Mon, 30 Mar 2009, Tejun Heo wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote:
> > Hi Matthew,
> > 
> > On Fri, 27 Mar 2009, Matthew Wilcox wrote:
> > 
> >> On Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 12:18:38AM +0100, Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote:
> >>> I'm using an external eSATA / USB / Firewire 2x1T RAID from WD in RAID1 
> >> Looks like your problems are solved by
> >> 9062712fa9ed13b531dfc2228086650b8bd6a255
> > 
> > (added Tejun as the patch author and owner of similar hardware)
> 
> Thanks for forwarding.

Thanks for replying:-)

> > AFAIU, that patch improves or fixes error handling on those drives, and 
> > the symptom, that Tejun was observing, was that the drive was hanging and 
> > required a power cycle.
> > 
> > In my case the drive didn't need a power cycle, and error handling did 
> > work, AFAICS, but even just having that error seems not healthy for the 
> > data, which is confirmed by ext4 errors. Am I right?
> 
> No, your drive checked out after the last error even after the link
> speed had been lowered to 1.5Gbps, so the EH did everything it could
> but no candy.  The drive still checked out.
> 
> > Error handling is great, but I think what I want is to avoid such errors 
> > altogether. So, my question was - can those errors be indeed caused by the 
> > unstable eSATA connector in the drive? Tejun, you have similar drives, do 
> > yours also have such a problem? How are you solving it?
> 
> I don't use the drives extensively but shorter cables seem to solve a
> lot of the issues during testing.  Or rather, longer cables triggered
> a LOT of problems.
> 
> > Is the only way to improve the connector stability by milling the
> > plastic casing to actually be able to insert the connector properly
> > or by contacting the retailer for a replacement?... Sorry, these are
> > not directly Linux driver questions, but the questions are really
> > what those error messages tell me about the possible reasons for the
> > problem:-)
> 
> Give a shot at shorter cable.

Hm, using a 62cm long cable ATM, should it be even shorter? It's going to 
be difficult physically then:-( But what about your drives - dies the 
connector fit well in the slot and sits firmaly there? With my disk looks 
likt the connector cannot be inserted completely because of too small a 
hole in plastic:-(

Thanks
Guennadi
---
Guennadi Liakhovetski, Ph.D.
Freelance Open-Source Software Developer

Re: [eSATA] 2.6.28.7: IO errors

[Tejun Heo]

Hello,

Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote:
> Hm, using a 62cm long cable ATM, should it be even shorter? It's going to 
> be difficult physically then:-(

62cm looks short enough.  My long cable is much longer like 2m

> But what about your drives - dies the 
> connector fit well in the slot and sits firmaly there? With my disk looks 
> likt the connector cannot be inserted completely because of too small a 
> hole in plastic:-(

But mine fits well and firmly, so maybe you need to take out the knife
after all.

-- 
tejun

Re: [eSATA] 2.6.28.7: IO errors

[Guennadi Liakhovetski]

On Mon, 30 Mar 2009, Tejun Heo wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote:
> > Hm, using a 62cm long cable ATM, should it be even shorter? It's going to 
> > be difficult physically then:-(
> 
> 62cm looks short enough.  My long cable is much longer like 2m
> 
> > But what about your drives - dies the 
> > connector fit well in the slot and sits firmaly there? With my disk looks 
> > likt the connector cannot be inserted completely because of too small a 
> > hole in plastic:-(
> 
> But mine fits well and firmly, so maybe you need to take out the knife
> after all.

yeah, warranty, you know:-( I contacted the retailer, will see. but it's 
strange - I bought mine in December 08, so, it's new enough, so, why?... 
The opening in the case is ~4.8mm, the plastic part of the connector on 
the eSATA cable is ~6.8mm... Ok, that's getting way OT, sorry.

Thanks
Guennadi
---
Guennadi Liakhovetski, Ph.D.
Freelance Open-Source Software Developer

Re: [eSATA] 2.6.28.7: IO errors

[Mark Lord]

Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote:
> On Mon, 30 Mar 2009, Tejun Heo wrote:
> 
>> Hello,
>>
>> Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote:
>>> Hm, using a 62cm long cable ATM, should it be even shorter? It's going to 
>>> be difficult physically then:-(
>> 62cm looks short enough.  My long cable is much longer like 2m
>>
>>> But what about your drives - dies the 
>>> connector fit well in the slot and sits firmaly there? With my disk looks 
>>> likt the connector cannot be inserted completely because of too small a 
>>> hole in plastic:-(
>> But mine fits well and firmly, so maybe you need to take out the knife
>> after all.
> 
> yeah, warranty, you know:-( I contacted the retailer, will see. but it's 
> strange - I bought mine in December 08, so, it's new enough, so, why?... 
> The opening in the case is ~4.8mm, the plastic part of the connector on 
> the eSATA cable is ~6.8mm... Ok, that's getting way OT, sorry.
..

Speaking of which.. dealextreme.com sells surprisingly excellent eSATA
cables with really sturdy connectors.  Very cheap pricing, too,
with free shipping worldwide.  An easy way to eliminate cable fuss.

Cheers

Re: [eSATA] 2.6.28.7: IO errors

[Guennadi Liakhovetski]

On Mon, 30 Mar 2009, Mark Lord wrote:

> Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote:
> > On Mon, 30 Mar 2009, Tejun Heo wrote:
> > 
> > > Hello,
> > > 
> > > Guennadi Liakhovetski wrote:
> > > > Hm, using a 62cm long cable ATM, should it be even shorter? It's going
> > > > to be difficult physically then:-(
> > > 62cm looks short enough.  My long cable is much longer like 2m
> > > 
> > > > But what about your drives - dies the connector fit well in the slot and
> > > > sits firmaly there? With my disk looks likt the connector cannot be
> > > > inserted completely because of too small a hole in plastic:-(
> > > But mine fits well and firmly, so maybe you need to take out the knife
> > > after all.
> > 
> > yeah, warranty, you know:-( I contacted the retailer, will see. but it's
> > strange - I bought mine in December 08, so, it's new enough, so, why?... The
> > opening in the case is ~4.8mm, the plastic part of the connector on the
> > eSATA cable is ~6.8mm... Ok, that's getting way OT, sorry.
> ..
> 
> Speaking of which.. dealextreme.com sells surprisingly excellent eSATA
> cables with really sturdy connectors.  Very cheap pricing, too,
> with free shipping worldwide.  An easy way to eliminate cable fuss.

Haven't tried that cable, but here's a confirmation of my observation:

http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/580140-esata-drive-not-recognized.html

Thanks
Guennadi
---
Guennadi Liakhovetski, Ph.D.
Freelance Open-Source Software Developer