Following on from my post last night in another thread of mine: https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse/2017-07/msg00853.html This is a new problem so I don't want that post going off-topic. I just wonder if anyone else has experience with this drive model, or more general thoughts. I have a Transcend Storejet 25M3 2TB external SATA USB drive, which contains a Seagate Samsung SpinPoint M9T, model ST2000LM003 HN-M201RAD inside. Here's some details on it: https://us.transcend-info.com/Products/No-284 I only bought it in December 2016, it's still under warranty. I originally split it into 2 partitions - the first, 700GB or so, ext4, for backup of someone else's machine; the second, taking the rest of the disk, xfs, for my music collection (mostly FLAC). Until the other day, I'd plugged it in directly to a few Linux machines, reading my music files directly off the xfs partition. Always ensured I mount/unmount properly. As seen in the above specifications, the drive has 'Military-grade shock resistance'. That said, it's never been bashed about in any way or mishandled, and certainly not subjected to any shock or other misuse whilst plugged in. Since I recently exchanged my router for an up-to-date version from my French ISP, I decided to plug the drive into the router so as to access the music collection from a central location regardless of which device I'm using (all over-detailed in the above thread). The French ISP, "Free", is very geek-friendly and the router supports a few filesystems with ext4 being the native format. XFS is also available but it prompts warnings of slow access or other difficulties, recommending the use of ext4 instead. Using the router's built-in partition verification tool (non-destructive), the first ext4 partition check passed in under a minute, but the second xfs partition just hangs and grinds away at the drive for hours, eventually forcing me to disconnect using the router's front panel display and reboot. I could nonetheless read/write the xfs partition and access my music files. But trying to update my music collection across the LAN in Clementine was going up to around 95% complete, then dropping back down a few per cent, endlessly, for hours. So I decided to back up the music data and reformat the 2nd partition as ext4. I used the openSUSE partitioner, copied the music back over (about 150GB). Plugged the drive back into the router, but the drive access light is permanently flashing every couple of seconds, which it never did before. If I touch the drive I can feel that every few seconds there is some clunking, though not audible. It seems to be in a seek loop. I plugged it directly into my PCs and the same thing happens when the second partition is mounted. Mounting the first partition on its own is fine. I tried deleting and reformatting the second partition (again as ext4) with GParted on the other PC, and even with no data copied over, as soon as I mount it I get the same seek issues. Suspecting drive failure, I've tried running S.M.A.R.T. tests using GSmartControl. Attempting the extended test which requires about 6 hours, three times it has stopped saying 'User aborted', but I never touched it, and I ensured there was no power-saving that would have messed it up. Twice it only made it to 10~20%, the other time it got 80% through overnight but then bottled out again. Here's the log file: http://paste.opensuse.org/4cc41f6b I know these SMART tests have a tendency to show things like 'old-age' and 'pre-fail' on almost any drive, so I don't know if that's really relevant, but does anything spring out as worrisome here? I don't really know what to look for before I contact Transcend support. Of course I immediately removed the Transcend Win/Mac software and tools that were on the drive so as to reformat. I don't want to try low-level format or suchlike before contacting support. Anybody know if these companies are ever likely to be awkward if you use Linux / 'non-standard' filesystems? gumb -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org