Comments on: The continuing quest for a decent USB drive box http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/05/03/the-continuing-quest-for-a-decent-usb-drive-box/ the blog that is not dansdata.com Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:41:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5.1-alpha by: cy http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/05/03/the-continuing-quest-for-a-decent-usb-drive-box/#comment-990 Sun, 13 May 2007 05:21:51 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/05/03/the-continuing-quest-for-a-decent-usb-drive-box/#comment-990 All 4 of my drives (1 very expensive Seagate USB drive, 1 mid-range USB drive, and two different "2.5 inch drive in a $11 USB drive box" drives) will properly spin down when unmounted or idle on a Mac OS X system. None of them do this with Windows. All 4 of my drives (1 very expensive Seagate USB drive, 1 mid-range USB drive, and two different “2.5 inch drive in a $11 USB drive box” drives) will properly spin down when unmounted or idle on a Mac OS X system.

None of them do this with Windows.

]]> by: cray- http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/05/03/the-continuing-quest-for-a-decent-usb-drive-box/#comment-977 Sun, 06 May 2007 17:58:43 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/05/03/the-continuing-quest-for-a-decent-usb-drive-box/#comment-977 Don't suppose anyone has tried one of those Western Digital MyBook drives? They are going for a reasonable price around the traps these days and IMHO look quite purty. http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=276 A quick google led to some reviews on amazon where it was claimed they auto spun down the drive after 10mins. The dual interface USB 2.0, e-SATA would be more useful to me than Firewire support. About the only downside is that they probably have a big external power brick. I'd much prefer something with internal PSU to keep things neater when/if I stack a few identical drives up against each other. Don’t suppose anyone has tried one of those Western Digital MyBook drives? They are going for a reasonable price around the traps these days and IMHO look quite purty.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=276

A quick google led to some reviews on amazon where it was claimed they auto spun down the drive after 10mins.

The dual interface USB 2.0, e-SATA would be more useful to me than Firewire support. About the only downside is that they probably have a big external power brick. I’d much prefer something with internal PSU to keep things neater when/if I stack a few identical drives up against each other.

]]> by: Malcolm http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/05/03/the-continuing-quest-for-a-decent-usb-drive-box/#comment-963 Thu, 03 May 2007 20:24:55 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/05/03/the-continuing-quest-for-a-decent-usb-drive-box/#comment-963 I have a hazy recollection that a new generation of USB-ATA bridge chips are in the works (or have arrived) that support pass-through of SMART commands etc. Sounds like this is what's required. Of course the $20 USB enclosures are probably going to be stuck with the first gen stuff for a while to come... I have a hazy recollection that a new generation of USB-ATA bridge chips are in the works (or have arrived) that support pass-through of SMART commands etc. Sounds like this is what’s required.

Of course the $20 USB enclosures are probably going to be stuck with the first gen stuff for a while to come…

]]> by: w98abee http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/05/03/the-continuing-quest-for-a-decent-usb-drive-box/#comment-958 Thu, 03 May 2007 11:12:09 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/05/03/the-continuing-quest-for-a-decent-usb-drive-box/#comment-958 Apparently there's an interesting 2-drive version as well: http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?t=1596715 Apparently there’s an interesting 2-drive version as well:
http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?t=1596715

]]> by: James Kew http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/05/03/the-continuing-quest-for-a-decent-usb-drive-box/#comment-954 Thu, 03 May 2007 03:31:56 +0100 http://dansdata.blogsome.com/2007/05/03/the-continuing-quest-for-a-decent-usb-drive-box/#comment-954 <i>There's no standard way to even send a spin-down message via USB</i> *ahem* Yes there is. Both the SCSI and USB specs consider power management. (USB mass storage is essentially SCSI commands with a thin wrapping of USB.) The host could send the SCSI SBC-2 START_STOP_UNIT command to put the drive into STANDBY power condition. Or the host could suspend the bus, or the port, on which the device is connected. (This is exactly what happens to USB mice etc when the host PC is put into standby: the bus is suspended; the mouse detects suspend and drops into a low-power mode; the mouse signals remote wakeup on the bus to bring the PC out of standby.) No idea whether Windows actually does these things; and the bigger problem is that the device firmware would also need to support them. Mass storage devices are notoriously sloppy at compliance, as the de-facto acceptance criterion is "works OK with Windows" rather than "meets the relevant specs". There’s no standard way to even send a spin-down message via USB

*ahem*

Yes there is. Both the SCSI and USB specs consider power management. (USB mass storage is essentially SCSI commands with a thin wrapping of USB.)

The host could send the SCSI SBC-2 START_STOP_UNIT command to put the drive into STANDBY power condition.

Or the host could suspend the bus, or the port, on which the device is connected. (This is exactly what happens to USB mice etc when the host PC is put into standby: the bus is suspended; the mouse detects suspend and drops into a low-power mode; the mouse signals remote wakeup on the bus to bring the PC out of standby.)

No idea whether Windows actually does these things; and the bigger problem is that the device firmware would also need to support them. Mass storage devices are notoriously sloppy at compliance, as the de-facto acceptance criterion is “works OK with Windows” rather than “meets the relevant specs”.

]]>