Struggling with an SSD

1st Official Post

    Cutting a lot of hours story short.

    I have been really struggling with attaching an SSD.

    Currently, when i boot up, the drive is found, removed, found, removed constantly until the pi freezes up.


    It shows up under System information for a bit and then disappears.


    I go into SSH but it doesn't show under blkid.


    I have three theories:
    1. I am formatting it wrong. Please confirm whether this should be Ext4 or FAT32.

    I am connecting the SSD to a Pi 4 with a USB to sata adapter.

    2. Where I have tried to change the recording system path I have got it wrong and it is searching for it.... or something.
    I can't correct this now as I can't find the drive.

    3. I am a bit concerned that this might be the case.

    Could it be the £4 adapter? Would this happen if it was getting intermittent signal?

    Thanks.

    • Official Post
    Quote from Grarea

    Currently, when i boot up, the drive is found, removed, found, removed constantly until the pi freezes up

    It could be incompatibility of the adapter's controller with the Linux system. Using the cheapest computer hardware can sometimes bite back... Does it all work okay on a Windows system?

    Is the drive (dis)appearing in a regular interval? Then drivers or incompatibility are possible. Otherwise, a small fracture in the adapter cable could also be the culprit.

    If you are gonna attach the SSD permanently to a Linux RPi, ext4 is recommended.

    OK, great, thanks.

    So that removes that possibility, I formatted to ext4.

    When I boot, the display top right shows it finds and removed it pretty quickly pretty often.

    Then after just a few minutes it freezes the pi.

    It didn't cross my mind to look at quality of the adapter (which is unusual) when I bought it.

    Another longer story short, I was having trouble with a drive which I am now wondering if it was this adapter.

    Everything has been confusing and inconsistent. I was juggling ssd drives to put one with the Pi with my laptop and pc.
    Eventually, I have ended up with a ruined ssd. It took me a long time to consider it might be the drive. I assumed it was me getting something wrong somehow.
    Now I am thinking that maybe the culprit was the adapter.

    It seemed to work fine with the laptop but not the pc. But it worked fine with another ssd.

    --------------------------

    OK, I have just tried it in my pc again, (linux mint) and it has got worse. The drive is now showing as intermittent on there.

    I think this adapter has killed a 500GB SSD. (It was an unknown history Kingston one, but still disappoining.)

    I am going to stop using that and get a decent one.

    Are there any 'go to' adapters? Or are there better ways to attach SSD to the Pi?

    Quote from Mario77

    Maybe some power issue?

    What power adaptor are you using?

    Cheers,

    good thought.

    It is the official Pi 4 psu. Thought i would play it safe.

    Only things attached are:
    Flirc usb 0.1A

    Tuner 0.5A

    SSD 0.35A

    Oh, and also, it is now acting intermittent when plugged into my main pc.


    "The issue might be with the USB SATA converter. See

    RE: Struggling with an SSD"

    Ah, right, thanks.

    I don't understand what it is saying.

    Is it saying those steps fix the problem?

    I am a bit wary of plugging it in again as it seems to have killed an SSD (or it was a massive coincidence.)


    "I'm using simple USB3-SATA cable adapters from StarTech here. One holds the Ubuntu Server OS on a SSD for a file server PC, another one boots & runs LibreELEC on a RPi4B with an prehistoric Vertex II ssd."

    Thanks.

    I think I need to go with something with a name.

    As opposed to this:

    USB 3.0 To SATA 22 Pin 2.5 Inch Hard Disk Drive SSD Adapter Connector Cable UK | eBay

    Funnily enough I have a 40GB 2Vetex 2 sitting here unwrapped. :)
    When I use the adapter with a 32GB OCZ Onyx, it seems to play fine.

    Edited once, last by Grarea (February 10, 2021 at 8:42 AM).

    I just had a thought.
    A faulty usb to sata adapter couldn't short something in the pi and make HDMI audio not work could it?

    I have that, plus also that ssd fail, plus my spdif card on my pc seems faulty now as well.

    Plus I tried to charge my torch up from my pc and that won't charge from anything now.

    I am wondering if i have a fault somewhere.

    I can't think of anything other than the adapter and ssd that are common between my pc and pi.

    Quote from Grarea

    I just had a thought.
    A faulty usb to sata adapter couldn't short something in the pi and make HDMI audio not work could it?

    I have that, plus also that ssd fail, plus my spdif card on my pc seems faulty now as well.

    Plus I tried to charge my torch up from my pc and that won't charge from anything now.

    I am wondering if i have a fault somewhere.

    I can't think of anything other than the adapter and ssd that are common between my pc and pi.

    I had a cable like that for a long time connected to my pi2 and hdd never gave me problems...Now I got an external hdd connected which is a little better aesthetically but nothing else..

    Ever since I used it, I have had problems.

    No sound on pi.

    A ruined ssd.

    A few issues with usb plugged into pc.

    My usb dac was playing up.

    My usb chargeable torch no longer charges.

    My little spdif card is shorted and that doesn't even have power to it.

    When i test the usb ports with a mouse, the light starts bright and dims to a less bright light from every usb port.

    It used to just come on bright and stay bright.

    All has got very confusing.