this post was submitted on 23 May 2025
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Trying to run smartctl with external HDD; help? (self.linuxhardware)
submitted 5 days ago by ulterno to c/linuxhardware
2 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I have a Seagate Expansion Portable HDD, which I want to check the SMART status of^[Why? For FUN of course!]

I looked at a comment for a WD HDD, which made me look into man smartctl -> /--device after having the message from smartctl -a <dev/path> having:

Read Device Identity failed: scsi error unsupported field in scsi command

If this is a USB connected device, look at the various --device=TYPE variants

Now the manual lists many different possible device types and I am yet, unable to find the correct one. Any ideas would be appreciated.

I tried simply searching for "seagate" in man smartctl, but there was no match in the --device section.

I am currently trying to look for a way to get information on what USB to SATA adapter is being used (hopefully without having to open it up)

Some additional info:

lsusb -v ...

Bus 00* Device 00*: ID 0bc2:231a Seagate RSS LLC Expansion Portable
Negotiated speed: SuperSpeed (5Gbps)
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               3.00
  bDeviceClass            0 [unknown]
  bDeviceSubClass         0 [unknown]
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0         9
  idVendor           0x0bc2 Seagate RSS LLC
  idProduct          0x231a Expansion Portable
  bcdDevice            7.10
  iManufacturer           1 Seagate
  iProduct                2 Expansion
  iSerial                 3 NAA*****
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength       0x0079
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              896mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage
      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI
      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk-Only
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0400  1x 1024 bytes
        bInterval               0
        bMaxBurst              15
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x02  EP 2 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0400  1x 1024 bytes
        bInterval               0
        bMaxBurst              15
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       1
      bNumEndpoints           4
      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage
      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI
      bInterfaceProtocol     98 
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0400  1x 1024 bytes
        bInterval               0
        bMaxBurst               0
        Command pipe (0x01)
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0400  1x 1024 bytes
        bInterval               0
        bMaxBurst               0
        MaxStreams             32
        Status pipe (0x02)
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0400  1x 1024 bytes
        bInterval               0
        bMaxBurst              15
        MaxStreams             32
        Data-in pipe (0x03)
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x04  EP 4 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0400  1x 1024 bytes
        bInterval               0
        bMaxBurst               7
        MaxStreams             32
        Data-out pipe (0x04)
Binary Object Store Descriptor:
  bLength                 5
  bDescriptorType        15
  wTotalLength       0x0016
  bNumDeviceCaps          2
  USB 2.0 Extension Device Capability:
    bLength                 7
    bDescriptorType        16
    bDevCapabilityType      2
    bmAttributes   0x00000f0e
      BESL Link Power Management (LPM) Supported
    BESL value     3840 us 
  SuperSpeed USB Device Capability:
    bLength                10
    bDescriptorType        16
    bDevCapabilityType      3
    bmAttributes         0x00
    wSpeedsSupported   0x000e
      Device can operate at Full Speed (12Mbps)
      Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)
      Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)
    bFunctionalitySupport   1
      Lowest fully-functional device speed is Full Speed (12Mbps)
    bU1DevExitLat          10 micro seconds
    bU2DevExitLat          32 micro seconds
Device Status:     0x0000
  (Bus Powered)
top 2 comments
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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

SATA-to-USB bridges, like the one in your external drive enclosure, are notorious for messing up SMART features. You might get lucky, but it might be impossible to do what you want using the enclosure's built-in USB electronics.

If you don't get it working and are determined, you can probably shuck the drive and plug it directly into a real SATA port, on either your motherboard (if you have one) or a known-good USB adapter (if you have a laptop).

[–] ulterno 0 points 4 days ago

shuck the drive

I'd like to refrain from that for now, considering this enclosure looks a bit difficult to open (as compared to the older Seagate Expansion model, which I did open, because its adapter went bad) and it's working pretty fine.

Besides, I won't feel like having done something new, in that case.
If it does turn out to work with some combination (I already tried smartctl -d sat), I can then go ahead and add a tip for the GUI partition manager tool, to implement it there, for others.