USB drive stopped working

[creatine]

I first noticed the issue when I started seeing ads, this led me to doublecheck that diversion didn't crash. I then noticed that no USB drive was detected. I rebooted the router, the USB drive is now detected but showing up as unmounted in the GUI. I have the following in the logs:

May 5 01:05:18 kernel: scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access Patriot Memory PMAP PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
May 5 01:05:18 kernel: sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
May 5 01:05:18 kernel: sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 60604416 512-byte logical blocks: (31.0 GB/28.8 GiB)
May 5 01:05:18 kernel: sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is on
May 5 01:05:18 kernel: sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
May 5 01:05:18 kernel: sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
May 5 01:05:18 kernel: sda: sda1
May 5 01:05:18 kernel: sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
May 5 01:05:18 kernel: sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
Oct 21 14:12:39 hotplug[1048]: USB /dev/sda1(ext) failed to mount!
Oct 21 14:12:39 kernel: EXT3-fs (sda1): error: couldn't mount because of unsupported optional features (240)
Oct 21 14:12:40 kernel: EXT4-fs (sda1): INFO: recovery required on readonly filesystem
Oct 21 14:12:40 kernel: EXT4-fs (sda1): write access unavailable, cannot proceed
Oct 21 14:12:40 kernel: EXT2-fs (sda1): error: couldn't mount because of unsupported optional features (244)
Oct 21 14:12:40 kernel: tfat: fail_safe is enabled
Oct 21 14:12:40 kernel: tntfs info (device sda1, pid 1101): ntfs_fill_super(): fail_safe is enabled.
Oct 21 14:12:40 hotplug[1048]: USB /dev/sda1(ext) failed to mount!
Oct 21 14:12:40 kernel: EXT3-fs (sda1): error: couldn't mount because of unsupported optional features (240)
Oct 21 14:12:40 kernel: EXT4-fs (sda1): INFO: recovery required on readonly filesystem
Oct 21 14:12:40 kernel: EXT4-fs (sda1): write access unavailable, cannot proceed
Oct 21 14:12:40 kernel: EXT2-fs (sda1): error: couldn't mount because of unsupported optional features (244)
Oct 21 14:12:40 kernel: tfat: fail_safe is enabled
Oct 21 14:12:40 kernel: tntfs info (device sda1, pid 1136): ntfs_fill_super(): fail_safe is enabled.
Oct 21 14:12:41 custom_script: Running /jffs/scripts/service-event (args: restart diskmon)

How can I get my USB drive working again ?

 

[ColinTaylor]

EDIT: Just noticed your logs say "Write Protect is on" for the device so the following probably won't work.

Log into the router and issue the following command:

e2fsck -p /dev/sda1

Depending on what that does you might have to do further recovery.

 

[creatine]

Here is the output. I recieved the message that write protect is on.

admin@RT-AC3100-8BB8:/tmp/home/root# e2fsck -p /dev/sda1
e2fsck: Read-only file system while trying to open /dev/sda1
Disk write-protected; use the -n option to do a read-only
check of the device.


admin@RT-AC3100-8BB8:/tmp/home/root# e2fsck -n /dev/sda1
e2fsck 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)
Warning: skipping journal recovery because doing a read-only filesystem check.
USB: clean, 1144/1896832 files, 196761/7575548 blocks
admin@RT-AC3100-8BB8:/tmp/home/root#

 

[ColinTaylor]

From Google it looks like this is quite a common issue with Patriot drives. The answer seems to be to reformat to drive. You could try this maybe.

 

[creatine]

I will give that a try. Will connect the drive to my PC, attempt to backup data and reformat.

 

[creatine]

Well, thats a 1st. I cannot format or delete partitions on the USB drive using Windows, receive the error that the drive is write protected.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Well, thats a 1st. I cannot format or delete partitions on the USB drive using Windows, receive the error that the drive is write protected.

Did you try that link I posted? (https://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001617.htm#diskpart) I'm guessing it won't make any difference but it's worth a shot.

 

[creatine]

Yes I did. I also tried some 3rd party USB low level format tools. I suspect the drive is defective.

EDIT: I was able to backup the data using Ext2Read

 

[ColinTaylor]

Yes I did. I also tried some 3rd party USB low level format tools. I suspect the drive is defective.

I've experienced this behaviour myself with SanDisk drives and others have reported similar in these forums. When the drive detects any errors it locks itself in read-only mode "to protect the data". In the case of SanDisk the company says there is no way of unlocking it once it's happened.

 

[creatine]

This drive was less than 4 months old, disappointing that it died. Which USB brand drives are most people using for their routers ? I am only using it for Diversion and Entware.

 

[thelonelycoder]

This drive was less than 4 months old, disappointing that it died. Which USB brand drives are most people using for their routers ? I am only using it for Diversion and Entware.

I wish there was a simple answer to that. Just like with car brands there is no best model or type. Some place more value on cost, others on reliability, personal preference and status symbol.
But generally, don't buy cheap and stick to well known brands.

 

[PeterR]

There are several websites dedicated to fixing USB storage problems, obviously these sort of problems are not our's alone. One site is https://www.usbdev.ru it has a plethora of information how to restore e-waste drives (mainly in Russian).