# 2TB USB Drive g_vfs_done Errors



## Persephone (Apr 27, 2012)

I have a Western Digital 2TB USB drive. Its format is msdosfs.

My base system and ports are up to date as of today.


```
FreeBSD  9.0-STABLE FreeBSD 9.0-STABLE #0: Thu Apr 26 03:00:17 PDT 2012     
user@:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  amd64
```

Attempts to write to the drive will either work for a few small files and then fail or outright fail immediately. After write failure an endless stream of:


```
kernel: g_vfs_done():da1s1[WRITE(offset=-886695100416, length=32768)]error = 5
```

is generated in /var/log/messages.

I have run smartctl tests on the device and they show:


```
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
```

I have used the drive extensively in Windows with no read or write errors and have run the system drive check on the drive multiple times with no errors reported.


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## phoenix (Apr 27, 2012)

Those are general I/O failures, not specific hard disk sector errors (hence why nothing shows in SMART).  These errors usually mean there's a failure higher in the stack above the disk itself:  disk controller, USB-to-SATA adapter, USB controller in disk pack, USB connector on disk, USB cable, USB connector on computer, USB controller in computer, etc.


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## jb_fvwm2 (Apr 27, 2012)

I've posted[1] where one can use gcp and/or rsync to write to/from the thumbdrives slower, making their use more reliable.  Howsoever [also], if you reformat it to ufs, you can fix it if it breaks with the fsck_ffs -y /dev/da0 also, more easily maybe.
[1] use the forum search maybe.


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## Persephone (Apr 27, 2012)

phoenix said:
			
		

> Those are general I/O failures, not specific hard disk sector errors (hence why nothing shows in SMART).  These errors usually mean there's a failure higher in the stack above the disk itself:  disk controller, USB-to-SATA adapter, USB controller in disk pack, USB connector on disk, USB cable, USB connector on computer, USB controller in computer, etc.



Thank you for the replies.

I rebooted the same machine into Windows 7 a short while ago - same cables, same USB port and copied tens of GBs of data to the drive with no problem.

Also I see that any msdosfs drive always reports this when I do a fsck_msdosfs:


```
** Phase 1 - Read and Compare FATs
FAT starts with odd byte sequence (f8ffff0ffffffff7)
```


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## wblock@ (Apr 28, 2012)

The drive may need a usb_quirk(4).


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## Persephone (Apr 28, 2012)

Thanks. I am reading about it now.


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