I tried to use an adapter to connect the drive through the USB C port…same thing happened…immediate power loss to the server. What could possibly be making this happen? I have never seen anything like this, but maybe it’s time I ask my bud…chatGPT…here we go!
Here’s ChatGPT’ s suggestions:
The sudden power loss when plugging in the new Seagate external 2-terabyte hard drive could be caused by a few factors. Here are some potential causes and recommendations to fix the issue:
- Power Draw: The new Seagate drive might be drawing more power from the USB port than the server can supply, causing it to shut down to protect itself. To mitigate this, you can try using a USB hub with external power or a powered USB hub to connect the external drive. This would ensure that the drive is receiving an adequate power supply without overloading the server’s USB port.
- Faulty USB Port or Cable: It’s possible that the USB port on your server or the USB cable you’re using with the new drive is faulty. Try connecting the new drive to a different USB port on the server and use a different USB cable to see if the issue persists. This will help rule out any hardware problems.
- Incompatible Hardware: There could be compatibility issues between the server’s USB port and the new Seagate drive. Check the server’s documentation or the Seagate drive’s compatibility list to ensure they are compatible. It’s possible that a firmware update for the server or the drive might be required to resolve any compatibility issues.
- Driver and Software Updates: Ensure that you have the latest drivers and software updates for both the server and the external hard drive. Sometimes, outdated drivers can cause compatibility problems. Check the Seagate website for any firmware updates for your specific drive model.
- Power Management Settings: Check your server’s power management settings. Some servers have settings that can control the power delivery to USB ports. Adjusting these settings might help prevent power loss when connecting external devices.
- Hardware Fault: If none of the above solutions work, there might be an issue with the new Seagate drive itself, such as a defective power circuit or a short. You can try connecting the drive to another computer or server to see if the problem persists. If it does, consider contacting Seagate support or returning the drive for a replacement or repair.
Remember to always back up your data before attempting any troubleshooting steps, especially if there’s a risk of power loss or data corruption during the process.
I love the last line of advice on this! lol! WTF man…that is exactly what I’m trying to do!
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I have a feeling that #3 might be the issue:
- Incompatible Hardware: There could be compatibility issues between the server’s USB port and the new Seagate drive. Check the server’s documentation or the Seagate drive’s compatibility list to ensure they are compatible. It’s possible that a firmware update for the server or the drive might be required to resolve any compatibility issues.
Start9…you guys have a recommended external hard drive that you already know is compatible with the Server Pure? Thanks!
Hey @Djchilto, sorry about this immediate server power loss issue that you are facing. Your case has been escalated to the Start9 dev team. They have had limited availability in the past couple of days but should be able to provide further guidance soon. Thanks for your patience.
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Thanks for that. I am not sure why this is happening, but it occurred with two new hard drives, both Seagate, and did not happen with an older 2 TB Seagate hard drive. Tried everything to narrow down what is happening with the newer drives, but at a loss now. I appreciate the help!
[Deleted - Please see the next update below and disregard previous message.]
I’ll do this tomorrow…a.m. (1000 or so)
Good morning @Djchilto, on second thought, please hold off on implementing the above instructions. At this point we believe this may be a hardware issue that needs to be flagged to the upstream manufacturer. No need to do any reflashing. We’ll follow up as soon as we hear from them.
Sounds good. Holding off for now. Thanks!
Djchilto, it seems the disk is attempting to draw too much power over USB at startup. We contacted Purism and they said:
The USB ports do have overcurrent protection and they’ll shut it off if a peripheral draws too much current to protect the device. Lots of devices (both host and peripheral) play fast and loose with USB current limits.
If the HDD has an option to self-power, that would probably solve it, I can’t tell from the photo. Or they might be able to find a self-powered hub (again self-powered is crucial) that will tolerate whatever this device wants.
I can’t tell exactly what model it is to find any specifics on it, but it probably draws an excess of power in some way that many but not all hosts tolerate. It could be peak current when the drive motor is spinning up, not necessarily the steady current. Many hosts don’t have per-port overcurrent, they just hope the total draw on the +5V rail doesn’t go too high, which is usually true as long as you don’t plug in a bunch of devices like this.
That also seems like a relatively large disk (physically) to be bus-powered, hard to tell from the photos and that only suggests high power draw, but I don’t see other specifics unless I overlooked it.
So try attaching it to a USB hub with its own power supply and let us know how that goes. It makes sense that the 2TB would have a lower power draw which is why it works, presumably.
Does anybody have a recommended brand of external hard drive that you know works with the Server Pure? Please let me know and I’ll order one and see what happens. Thanks!
Hey everybody…I have not resolved the power loss issue, but utilizing “file sharing” to create the backup worked perfectly and have now successfully backed up my server. I thought it would take a while to back it up utilizing this method, but it was quite fast and will not be a problem to get it done once a week or so. If you are having this same issue, I highly recommend BTC Session’s Start9 Embassy walk through setting up your node (on YouTube) that includes a section on creating backups using this method. Thanks!
I see you got your needs met with a network backup, but if you want to use the 5TB disk you already have, you simply need a ~$15 externally powered USB hub.
Then you do computer=powered-usb-hub=HDD where = are USB cables.
I already returned the 5 TB drive, but I may go ahead and order the externally powered USB hub to see what happens? I’ll let everyone know. Thanks!