External USB 3.0 HDD that works OK with Linux?

External USB 3.0 HDD that works OK with Linux?

If yes, my interest is 2.5" external HDD.

Is an external USB 3.0 Toshiba 2.5" likely to be seen OK by a current Linux?

Looks more like a cable.

It's also USB 2.0, and not USB 3.0

Interesting nonetheless, and thanks for the response.

A bit more info: this past Friday I got an external 7200rpm 2.5" 500GB Hitachi Touro Mobile Pro HDD. It's USB 3.0 and supposedly also compatible with USB 2.0

Windows 7/64 sees it, no worries.

Ubuntu 11.10 32bit doesn't see it. Gparted 11.0-7 also doesn't see it. Fedora16 doesn't see it, but Fedora is Red Hat's buggy trial area so no big surprise.

But Debian 6.0.3 32bit (Gnome desktop) does see it. Go figure.

So I think I can use this external Touro drive.

It comes pre-formatted with a single NTFS partition.

1st thing I want is to delete the partition and reformat a smaller NTFS partition at ~200GB, which I'm confident Windows 7 File Management will likely let me do (but haven't done it yet).

2nd thing is to format the rest of the drive (~260GB) as fat32 which Windows won't do.

Hence my question/post; since if I couldn't get any Linux to see the drive I was thinking I'd return it to newegg.

I am still interested in input from Linux users here who've successfully used external USB 3.0 HDDs with Linux.

Which Linux versions and which HDD brands/names?

mobo is Gigabyte 990XA-UD3; a very new AMD socket AM3+ mobo with a very new FX-6100 cpu; running latest F9 BIOS; see: http://www.gigabyte.us/products/prod...px?pid=3901#ov

So far a fair number of different latest Linux distros have failed to boot via CD/DVD boot disc (from iso download); only Ubuntu 11.10, and Debian 6.0.3 (w/Gnome desktop), have booted (running from the CD); Debian is the only one (so far) that actually sees the external drive, whereas Ubuntu boots but doesn't see the drive. I didn't try running lspci in a terminal on Ubuntu, but out of honest curiosity I'll try that tomorrow afternoon.

FWIW I just also gave a try to booting Xubuntu 11.10 and Kubuntu 11.10 and they failed during boot process. Didn't pay any attention to which kernel any of them is using.

The fact that Debian 6.0.3 sees the drive makes me think that I can reformat the drive as I want.

I'll have to get on this as the clock is ticking if it turns out that I decide to return it (i.e. take a restocking loss).

There doesn't seem to be any "lsusb" command in Debian 6.0.3 (loaded live from bootable DVD, as opposed to having installed it to normal IDE/SATA HDD and running it from there).

Maybe not? i.e. may only see USB 2.0 devices?

Meaning I may have plugged the external HDD into a USB 2.0 rear outlet yesterday.

This morning for sure I plugged the external HDD into a USB 3.0 rear outlet, and Debian 6.0.3 now doesn't see the device; so I need to try again this afternoon. I've other things to do for the next 5 hours.

I did run lspci this morning, here's the captured text from that:

user@debian:~$ lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (external gfx0 port B) (rev 02)

00:00.2 Generic system peripheral [0806]: ATI Technologies Inc Device 5a23

00:02.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port B)

00:04.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port D)

00:09.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (PCI express gpp port H)

00:0a.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RD890 PCI to PCI bridge (external gfx1 port A)

00:11.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 SATA Controller [IDE mode] (rev 40)

00:12.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller

00:12.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller

00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller

00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller

00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 42)

00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 IDE Controller (rev 40)

00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) (rev 40)

00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 LPC host controller (rev 40)

00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge (rev 40)

00:14.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI2 Controller

00:15.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Device 43a0

00:16.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller

00:16.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device 1600

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device 1601

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device 1602

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device 1603

00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device 1604

00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device 1605

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Device 1081 (rev a1)

01:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation Device 0e09 (rev a1)

02:00.0 USB Controller: Device 1b6f:7023 (rev 01)

03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)

04:00.0 USB Controller: Device 1b6f:7023 (rev 01)

user@debian:~$

Yup, Debian 6.0.3 Live sees the external Touro HDD as a USB 2.0 device, but not as a USB 3.0 device.

Likely the mobo USB 3.0 chip(s) is too new.

No worries as I just needed some confidence as to having at least one Linux distro, with easy install options, being able to see the drive so that I can reformat and put both a small NTFS partition and a big fat32 partition on it.

Interestingly Debian/Gnome 6.0.3 (1.1GB iso download) starts off with 8 boot choices, including Live and Live 686. The Live 686 hangs; likely due to the very new AMD FX-6100 bull-dozer cpu. Fortunately the Live option works.

Interesting thought.

This external Hitachi Touro is a 7200rpm 2.5" HDD, so maybe it gets into USB 3.0 speeds?

OTOH the Hitachi weasels provide little info on key data such as 1) number of platters for the 500GB and 750GB drives, and 2) amount of cache; see: http://www.hitachigst.com/external-d...uro-mobile-pro

The info at the site also slyly gives theoretical max values:
<"Data Transfer Rate:
USB 3.0: up to 5 Gbit/sec
USB 2.0: up to 480 Mbit/sec">

Hitachi also does not provide any software (as far as I can tell) to reformat the drive.

OTOH the single cable connection on the drive seems robust, and the unit does work.


"2TB" means that it's an external 3.5" HDD.

Meaning much heavier and bulkier than an external 2.5" HDD.

Why do you need so much space on an external HDD?

Given that it's "USB 3.0" does it run strictly from USB power?

Maybe that's why it doesn't run reliably on USB 3.0 port? Meaning that it takes/needs a bit too much power to work reliably with your mobo?


Given my very recent experience with this Touro drive I have, the above does not surprise me.

I can add that I need to actually copy something like 50GB of data to this drive and then check that that data is OK. <> OK did that and it only took ~9 minutes to copy 29GB to the external Touro drive. Not bad. Copied my current high level CD directory of .flac album rips. Listening to it play back now via foobar2000; sounds great so I doubt that there are data errors, but I'll agree that it's hardly a strict test.

So that's xfer of 3.2GB/minute. When I do a full machine HDD to HDD clone backup (SATA to SATA via temp HDD connected at the side of the PC), I currently see xfer speed in the 6-to-7GB/minute bracket. So I'm happy with 3.2GB/minute with this external 2.5" USB 3.0 Touro drive within Windows 7/64.


My hunch is that a newer Linux distro will solve that; at least at some point in the near future.

Given the command line flexibility of Unix/Linux, odds are it can be fixed now. Sorry that my Unix/Linux is so rusty that I can't even give a hint on how to approach that.


On USB 2.0?

.150GB/s * 60s/m = 9GB/m. Noway!


Brand names?


Too late for me!

And so far I think I can reformat it to my needs via Debian Linux or even Gparted (on another older AMD AM3 socket mobo).


Then don't buy a Hitachi Touro external USB 3.0 HDD in the next 6 months!

Interesting that you're an AMD owner. Your AMD AM3 mobo isn't cheap; quick newegg newegg check shows "ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AM3 (socket)" at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...k=ASUS%20890GX

That's useful info. Thank you.


150GB/s * 60sec/min = 9GB/min.

Even with USB 3.0 there's no chance of actually transferring 9GB/minute. At least as far as I know.

As I said to Mac The Knife, I get xfer of 3.2GB/minute with my external Hitachi Touro HDD when using a mobo USB 3.0 rear connector.

To me, a xfer of 3.2GB/minute is outstanding with an external 2.5" HDD.

Maybe you're misreading? Meaning maybe it's 150Gb/s?

Meaning you're not actually timing a large xfer of data with a stopwatch in your hand, right?

If I'm correct, exactly where are you getting this "150MB/s+ speeds" number from?

You are correct on it being 9TB/min.

My mistake


Please don't bother with the theoretical max numbers, as it only muddies things.

It is the actual xfer numbers that one gets in the real world of use with home PC's that matter.

So OK, 150MB/s * 60sec/min = 9GB/min.

That's still way over the best (recent min/max of 3 to upper 6GB/min) that I've recently gotten with my best 3.5" HDD.

Where did you get the "150MB/s" from?

You clearly did not time it via a stopwatch.


Totally agreed on both.

FWIW I've had VelociRaptor drives and don't plan to revisit those.

I've never (yet) had any SSD drives.







I'd still like to know where did you get the "150MB/s" from?

You clearly did not time it via a stopwatch.

Thank you for that info.

FWIW when I copy my boot drive, I subtract 6GB from the total due to space used by hiberfil.sys and pagefil.sys (Windows 7 hidden files in the root of the c:\\ partition) which AFAIK don't have any meaningful data in them and only the size info of them gets copied during the clone.


Likely more reliable to only time really *large* transfers via a stopwatch yourself.


My experience is that it's more a matter of how the source and target HDD match up with each other, including platter density, track-to-track head movement speed, cache size, and perhaps most importantly how fragged the data is on the source HDD.

For drives that aren't fragged, I've seen a recent surprise of a 2 to 1 timing difference where their specs suggested they'd have the same xfer rate of about 6GB/min but only gave 3GB/min for xfer of 60GB of data! This was with HDD#2 (of two) on my PC, so I'm pretty confident that all of the data on the two partitions (d:\\ and e:\\) were actually copied in entirety.

Your case HDD LED activity light provides good insight to this; meaning if it doesn't blink much then you have close to a max xfer for those two HDD.


I tend to forget about that; FWIW I've no knowledge of whether the inside or outside of an empty drive gets used 1st. But it doesn't make much difference with regard to my timings which are usually cloning (HDD to HDD) where the target HDD is always treated as an empty drive.