External USB drive unmounts or powers down randomly

Linux Support
1

I’ve been struggling with this for a while and I can’t seem to find a solution. I’m using various WD and Seagate external USB drives for backing up my files and for the past couple of years I can’t get it to work reliably. I’m currently running this on Mint 22.3 with xfce desktop and using Free File Sync to drive the processing. I have no problem mounting the drives - I just can’t keep them running for more than a few hours. I get the backup started and come back later to find the drive unmounted or even powered down.

Things I’ve tried:

  • Turned off advanced power management.
  • Tried with and without xscreensaver and xfce-screensaver.
  • Tried “sudo hdparm -B 0 /dev/sdb” but returns an error saying it’s not supported by the drive.
  • Added the usb device to “/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-uas-on-quirks.conf” and ran “sudo update-initramfs -u” to force the drive to use “Driver=usb-storage” instead of USB Attached SCSI (UAS).
  • Disabled advanced power management by adding “usbcore.autosuspend=-1” to the grub startup options.
  • Tried with NTFS, FAT32 and EXT4 file systems. The EXT4 file system seem to have the fewest issues but it eventually fails with all of them.
  • Before getting enough of canonical and switching to Mint I used to run this on Ubuntu but had the same issues there.

Nothing seems to work. Seems to run okay for a while and I come back later to find an error screen saying the file copy failed. I get the drive restarted if it powered down or remounted if that’s all it needs and hit retry on the prompt and it takes off again. Note that I’m backing up ~6 TB of data from a mdadm raid 10 volume. I can’t see how that would matter other than that the backup is pretty good sized and would run for a full day even it was able to complete without any errors. I have not seen this happen while I’m at the computer working - only happens when I step away and let the system go idle. Note that the backup is active so the USB drive is surely busy when something puts it to sleep.

Kind of frustrating - when I first started using external USB drives for backups it worked without fail. It took a long time but it always ran to completion. For the past few years it seems like every time I take a full backup I end up fighting with the drive for multiple days until I finally get the backup completed. Starting to think I may end up building a NAS drive on the network and give up on the USB drives.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

4 Likes
2

Hi and welcome to the forums!

I’m not familiar with Free File Sync but I am curious if it produces any logs, or if a debug mode can be enabled, then I’d be interested to see if it has anything additional to add about the “file copy failed” error.

I would also be interested in seeing dmesg output around the time of the error. You can get that by running sudo dmesg -T (I’m choosing -T for human-readable timestamps). This log is cleared on boot, so if you have rebooted since the last error, you will need to reproduce the problem.

It might also be worth looking at S.M.A.R.T. for some extra information. With the USB drive plugged in (it does not have to be mounted), you can run lsblk to get the drive. Maybe something like /dev/sdX (where X is the letter of the USB drive).

You can then run sudo smartctl -x /dev/sdX. If the command doesn’t work, you may need to install smartctl with sudo apt update && sudo apt install smartmontools, then retry the command.

The reason that I’m asking for log output and S.M.A.R.T. information is I have a similar setup to you. I have a mdadm RAID at 15TB in size on a Dell PowerEdge R510 and I use duplicity to do my backups to an external Western Digital USB drive. I can’t say I’ve had any trouble with the drive powering off during the backup, so it leads me to believe there might be something else going on.

4 Likes
3

try to disable TLP and mount the drive normally ?

2 Likes
4

Thanks for the suggestions and the confirmation that someone has a similar setup working. I just woke up and the drive was unmounted again. Sharing the SMART details now and I’ll post the dmesg details shortly. Would have done it as an attachment but I’m currently blocked.

smartctl 7.4 2023-08-01 r5530 [x86_64-linux-6.17.0-23-generic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-23, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model: WDC WD80EMZZ-11B4FB0
Serial Number: WD-CA3RN9MK
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 2c0b5b871
Firmware Version: 81.00A81
User Capacity: 8,001,563,222,016 bytes [8.00 TB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate: 5640 rpm
Form Factor: 3.5 inches
Device is: Not in smartctl database 7.3/5528
ATA Version is: ACS-3 T13/2161-D revision 5
SATA Version is: SATA 3.1, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is: Thu May 7 04:30:11 2026 CDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
AAM feature is: Unavailable
APM feature is: Unavailable
Rd look-ahead is: Enabled
Write cache is: Enabled
DSN feature is: Unavailable
ATA Security is: Disabled, NOT FROZEN [SEC1]
Wt Cache Reorder: Enabled

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

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
without error or no self-test has ever
been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection: (15644) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x11) SMART execute Offline immediate.
No Auto Offline data collection support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
No Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
No Conveyance Self-test supported.
No Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 857) minutes.
SCT capabilities: (0x3035) SCT Status supported.
SCT Feature Control supported.
SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAGS VALUE WORST THRESH FAIL RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate POSR-K 200 200 051 - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time POS–K 191 190 021 - 9433
4 Start_Stop_Count -O–CK 100 100 000 - 180
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct PO–CK 200 200 140 - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate -OSR-K 200 200 000 - 0
9 Power_On_Hours -O–CK 100 100 000 - 98
10 Spin_Retry_Count -O–CK 100 100 000 - 0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count -O–CK 100 100 000 - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count -O–CK 100 100 000 - 179
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count -O–CK 200 200 000 - 37
193 Load_Cycle_Count -O–CK 200 200 000 - 619
194 Temperature_Celsius -O—K 121 104 000 - 31
196 Reallocated_Event_Count -O–CK 200 200 000 - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector -O–CK 200 200 000 - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable ----CK 100 253 000 - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count -O–CK 200 200 000 - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate —R-- 100 253 000 - 0
||||||_ K auto-keep
|||||__ C event count
||||___ R error rate
|||____ S speed/performance
||_____ O updated online
|______ P prefailure warning

General Purpose Log Directory Version 1
SMART Log Directory Version 1 [multi-sector log support]
Address Access R/W Size Description
0x00 GPL,SL R/O 1 Log Directory
0x01 SL R/O 1 Summary SMART error log
0x02 SL R/O 5 Comprehensive SMART error log
0x03 GPL R/O 6 Ext. Comprehensive SMART error log
0x04 GPL,SL R/O 8 Device Statistics log
0x06 SL R/O 1 SMART self-test log
0x07 GPL R/O 1 Extended self-test log
0x09 SL R/W 1 Selective self-test log
0x10 GPL R/O 1 NCQ Command Error log
0x11 GPL R/O 1 SATA Phy Event Counters log
0x30 GPL,SL R/O 9 IDENTIFY DEVICE data log
0x80-0x9f GPL,SL R/W 16 Host vendor specific log
0xa0-0xa7 GPL,SL VS 16 Device vendor specific log
0xa8-0xb6 GPL,SL VS 1 Device vendor specific log
0xb7 GPL,SL VS 82 Device vendor specific log
0xbd GPL,SL VS 1 Device vendor specific log
0xc0 GPL,SL VS 1 Device vendor specific log
0xc1 GPL VS 93 Device vendor specific log
0xe0 GPL,SL R/W 1 SCT Command/Status
0xe1 GPL,SL R/W 1 SCT Data Transfer

SMART Extended Comprehensive Error Log Version: 1 (6 sectors)
No Errors Logged

SMART Extended Self-test Log Version: 1 (1 sectors)
No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]

Selective Self-tests/Logging not supported

SCT Status Version: 3
SCT Version (vendor specific): 258 (0x0102)
Device State: Active (0)
Current Temperature: 31 Celsius
Power Cycle Min/Max Temperature: 23/31 Celsius
Lifetime Min/Max Temperature: 12/48 Celsius
Under/Over Temperature Limit Count: 0/0
Vendor specific:
01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

SCT Temperature History Version: 2
Temperature Sampling Period: 1 minute
Temperature Logging Interval: 1 minute
Min/Max recommended Temperature: 0/60 Celsius
Min/Max Temperature Limit: -41/85 Celsius
Temperature History Size (Index): 478 (437)

Index Estimated Time Temperature Celsius
438 2026-05-06 20:33 46 ***************************
… ..(146 skipped). .. ***************************
107 2026-05-06 23:00 46 ***************************
108 2026-05-06 23:01 47 ****************************
… ..( 83 skipped). .. ****************************
192 2026-05-07 00:25 47 ****************************
193 2026-05-07 00:26 48 *****************************
… ..( 49 skipped). .. *****************************
243 2026-05-07 01:16 48 *****************************
244 2026-05-07 01:17 ? -
245 2026-05-07 01:18 32 *************
246 2026-05-07 01:19 32 *************
247 2026-05-07 01:20 33 **************
248 2026-05-07 01:21 33 **************
249 2026-05-07 01:22 33 **************
250 2026-05-07 01:23 34 ***************
251 2026-05-07 01:24 34 ***************
252 2026-05-07 01:25 35 ****************
253 2026-05-07 01:26 35 ****************
254 2026-05-07 01:27 35 ****************
255 2026-05-07 01:28 36 *****************
256 2026-05-07 01:29 36 *****************
257 2026-05-07 01:30 36 *****************
258 2026-05-07 01:31 37 ******************
259 2026-05-07 01:32 37 ******************
260 2026-05-07 01:33 37 ******************
261 2026-05-07 01:34 38 *******************
262 2026-05-07 01:35 38 *******************
263 2026-05-07 01:36 38 *******************
264 2026-05-07 01:37 39 ********************
… ..( 2 skipped). .. ********************
267 2026-05-07 01:40 39 ********************
268 2026-05-07 01:41 40 *********************
… ..( 2 skipped). .. *********************
271 2026-05-07 01:44 40 *********************
272 2026-05-07 01:45 41 **********************
… ..( 3 skipped). .. **********************
276 2026-05-07 01:49 41 **********************
277 2026-05-07 01:50 42 ***********************
… ..( 4 skipped). .. ***********************
282 2026-05-07 01:55 42 ***********************
283 2026-05-07 01:56 43 ************************
… ..( 4 skipped). .. ************************
288 2026-05-07 02:01 43 ************************
289 2026-05-07 02:02 44 *************************
… ..( 4 skipped). .. *************************
294 2026-05-07 02:07 44 *************************
295 2026-05-07 02:08 45 **************************
… ..( 8 skipped). .. **************************
304 2026-05-07 02:17 45 **************************
305 2026-05-07 02:18 46 ***************************
… ..( 12 skipped). .. ***************************
318 2026-05-07 02:31 46 ***************************
319 2026-05-07 02:32 47 ****************************
… ..( 21 skipped). .. ****************************
341 2026-05-07 02:54 47 ****************************
342 2026-05-07 02:55 48 *****************************
… ..( 3 skipped). .. *****************************
346 2026-05-07 02:59 48 *****************************
347 2026-05-07 03:00 ? -
348 2026-05-07 03:01 25 ******
349 2026-05-07 03:02 25 ******
350 2026-05-07 03:03 26 *******
351 2026-05-07 03:04 26 *******
352 2026-05-07 03:05 27 ********
353 2026-05-07 03:06 27 ********
354 2026-05-07 03:07 28 *********
355 2026-05-07 03:08 28 *********
356 2026-05-07 03:09 29 **********
357 2026-05-07 03:10 29 **********
358 2026-05-07 03:11 29 **********
359 2026-05-07 03:12 30 ***********
360 2026-05-07 03:13 30 ***********
361 2026-05-07 03:14 31 ************
362 2026-05-07 03:15 31 ************
363 2026-05-07 03:16 32 *************
364 2026-05-07 03:17 32 *************
365 2026-05-07 03:18 32 *************
366 2026-05-07 03:19 33 **************
367 2026-05-07 03:20 33 **************
368 2026-05-07 03:21 33 **************
369 2026-05-07 03:22 34 ***************
… ..( 2 skipped). .. ***************
372 2026-05-07 03:25 34 ***************
373 2026-05-07 03:26 35 ****************
374 2026-05-07 03:27 35 ****************
375 2026-05-07 03:28 35 ****************
376 2026-05-07 03:29 36 *****************
… ..( 2 skipped). .. *****************
379 2026-05-07 03:32 36 *****************
380 2026-05-07 03:33 37 ******************
… ..( 3 skipped). .. ******************
384 2026-05-07 03:37 37 ******************
385 2026-05-07 03:38 38 *******************
… ..( 3 skipped). .. *******************
389 2026-05-07 03:42 38 *******************
390 2026-05-07 03:43 39 ********************
… ..( 3 skipped). .. ********************
394 2026-05-07 03:47 39 ********************
395 2026-05-07 03:48 40 *********************
… ..( 6 skipped). .. *********************
402 2026-05-07 03:55 40 *********************
403 2026-05-07 03:56 41 **********************
… ..( 8 skipped). .. **********************
412 2026-05-07 04:05 41 **********************
413 2026-05-07 04:06 42 ***********************
… ..( 5 skipped). .. ***********************
419 2026-05-07 04:12 42 ***********************
420 2026-05-07 04:13 ? -
421 2026-05-07 04:14 23 ****
422 2026-05-07 04:15 24 *****
423 2026-05-07 04:16 24 *****
424 2026-05-07 04:17 25 ******
425 2026-05-07 04:18 25 ******
426 2026-05-07 04:19 26 *******
427 2026-05-07 04:20 26 *******
428 2026-05-07 04:21 27 ********
429 2026-05-07 04:22 27 ********
430 2026-05-07 04:23 28 *********
431 2026-05-07 04:24 28 *********
432 2026-05-07 04:25 29 **********
433 2026-05-07 04:26 29 **********
434 2026-05-07 04:27 30 ***********
435 2026-05-07 04:28 30 ***********
436 2026-05-07 04:29 31 ************
437 2026-05-07 04:30 31 ************

SCT Error Recovery Control command not supported

Device Statistics (GP Log 0x04)
Page Offset Size Value Flags Description
0x01 ===== = = === == General Statistics (rev 1) ==
0x01 0x008 4 179 — Lifetime Power-On Resets
0x01 0x010 4 98 — Power-on Hours
0x01 0x018 6 23059774448 — Logical Sectors Written
0x01 0x020 6 22026656 — Number of Write Commands
0x01 0x028 6 409721557 — Logical Sectors Read
0x01 0x030 6 7119626 — Number of Read Commands
0x01 0x038 6 352800000 — Date and Time TimeStamp
0x03 ===== = = === == Rotating Media Statistics (rev 1) ==
0x03 0x008 4 97 — Spindle Motor Power-on Hours
0x03 0x010 4 90 — Head Flying Hours
0x03 0x018 4 657 — Head Load Events
0x03 0x020 4 0 — Number of Reallocated Logical Sectors
0x03 0x028 4 0 — Read Recovery Attempts
0x03 0x030 4 0 — Number of Mechanical Start Failures
0x03 0x038 4 0 — Number of Realloc. Candidate Logical Sectors
0x03 0x040 4 37 — Number of High Priority Unload Events
0x04 ===== = = === == General Errors Statistics (rev 1) ==
0x04 0x008 4 0 — Number of Reported Uncorrectable Errors
0x04 0x010 4 3 — Resets Between Cmd Acceptance and Completion
0x05 ===== = = === == Temperature Statistics (rev 1) ==
0x05 0x008 1 31 — Current Temperature
0x05 0x010 1 44 — Average Short Term Temperature
0x05 0x018 1 - — Average Long Term Temperature
0x05 0x020 1 48 — Highest Temperature
0x05 0x028 1 26 — Lowest Temperature
0x05 0x030 1 44 — Highest Average Short Term Temperature
0x05 0x038 1 41 — Lowest Average Short Term Temperature
0x05 0x040 1 - — Highest Average Long Term Temperature
0x05 0x048 1 - — Lowest Average Long Term Temperature
0x05 0x050 4 0 — Time in Over-Temperature
0x05 0x058 1 60 — Specified Maximum Operating Temperature
0x05 0x060 4 0 — Time in Under-Temperature
0x05 0x068 1 0 — Specified Minimum Operating Temperature
0x06 ===== = = === == Transport Statistics (rev 1) ==
0x06 0x008 4 186 — Number of Hardware Resets
0x06 0x010 4 8 — Number of ASR Events
0x06 0x018 4 0 — Number of Interface CRC Errors
|||_ C monitored condition met
||__ D supports DSN
|___ N normalized value

Pending Defects log (GP Log 0x0c) not supported

SATA Phy Event Counters (GP Log 0x11)
ID Size Value Description
0x0001 2 0 Command failed due to ICRC error
0x0002 2 0 R_ERR response for data FIS
0x0003 2 0 R_ERR response for device-to-host data FIS
0x0004 2 0 R_ERR response for host-to-device data FIS
0x0005 2 0 R_ERR response for non-data FIS
0x0006 2 0 R_ERR response for device-to-host non-data FIS
0x0007 2 0 R_ERR response for host-to-device non-data FIS
0x0008 2 0 Device-to-host non-data FIS retries
0x0009 2 0 Transition from drive PhyRdy to drive PhyNRdy
0x000a 2 1 Device-to-host register FISes sent due to a COMRESET
0x000b 2 0 CRC errors within host-to-device FIS
0x000d 2 0 Non-CRC errors within host-to-device FIS
0x000f 2 0 R_ERR response for host-to-device data FIS, CRC
0x0012 2 0 R_ERR response for host-to-device non-data FIS, CRC
0x8000 4 976 Vendor specific

3 Likes
5

And here’s the dmesg output. You can see last night at 20:39 where the drive was remounted after failing earlier in the evening. Then at 21:52:22 I get a disconnect for device 29 followed immediately by an offline notice for /dev/sda and then subsequent IO errors. Interesting that there were logging messages related to my bluetooth mouse just prior to the USB drive disconnecting but those seem to go on all through the log. Then you see at the end of the logging where I remounted the device at 04:13 this AM.

[Wed May 6 20:39:57 2026] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[Wed May 6 20:40:05 2026] EXT4-fs (sda1): recovery complete
[Wed May 6 20:40:05 2026] EXT4-fs (sda1): mounted filesystem 5a744b35-74b6-4831-a164-304b6652b21b r/w with ordered data mode. Quota mode: none.
[Wed May 6 20:51:59 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR Failed to probe lspcon
[Wed May 6 20:51:59 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR LSPCON init failed on port D
[Wed May 6 21:48:50 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR Failed to probe lspcon
[Wed May 6 21:48:50 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR LSPCON init failed on port D
[Wed May 6 21:52:04 2026] input: BluetoothMouse3600 Mouse as /devices/virtual/misc/uhid/0005:045E:0916.0035/input/input111
[Wed May 6 21:52:04 2026] input: BluetoothMouse3600 Consumer Control as /devices/virtual/misc/uhid/0005:045E:0916.0035/input/input112
[Wed May 6 21:52:04 2026] hid-generic 0005:045E:0916.0035: input,hidraw4: BLUETOOTH HID v1.10 Mouse [BluetoothMouse3600] on ac:74:b1:9b:c5:48
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] usb 2-3: USB disconnect, device number 29
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] blk_print_req_error: 891 callbacks suppressed
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] device offline error, dev sda, sector 6331465728 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x0 phys_seg 16 prio class 2
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs warning (device sda1): ext4_end_bio:368: I/O error 16 writing to inode 180290239 starting block 791433216)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs (sda1): failed to convert unwritten extents to written extents – potential data loss! (inode 180290239, error -5)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] device offline error, dev sda, sector 6331467776 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x4000 phys_seg 16 prio class 2
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] buffer_io_error: 228702 callbacks suppressed
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 791431168
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 791431169
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 791431170
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 791431171
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 791431172
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 791431173
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 791431174
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 791431175
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 791431176
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on device sda1, logical block 791431177
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] device offline error, dev sda, sector 6331469824 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x4000 phys_seg 16 prio class 2
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] device offline error, dev sda, sector 6331471872 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x4000 phys_seg 16 prio class 2
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] device offline error, dev sda, sector 6331473920 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x4000 phys_seg 16 prio class 2
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] device offline error, dev sda, sector 6331475968 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x4000 phys_seg 16 prio class 2
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] device offline error, dev sda, sector 6331478016 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x4000 phys_seg 16 prio class 2
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] device offline error, dev sda, sector 6331480064 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x4000 phys_seg 16 prio class 2
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] device offline error, dev sda, sector 6331482112 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x0 phys_seg 16 prio class 2
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs warning (device sda1): ext4_end_bio:368: I/O error 16 writing to inode 180290239 starting block 791435264)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] device offline error, dev sda, sector 6331484160 op 0x1:(WRITE) flags 0x4000 phys_seg 16 prio class 2
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs (sda1): failed to convert unwritten extents to written extents – potential data loss! (inode 180290239, error -5)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs warning (device sda1): ext4_end_bio:368: I/O error 16 writing to inode 180290239 starting block 791437312)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs (sda1): failed to convert unwritten extents to written extents – potential data loss! (inode 180290239, error -5)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs warning (device sda1): ext4_end_bio:368: I/O error 16 writing to inode 180290239 starting block 791437376)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs (sda1): failed to convert unwritten extents to written extents – potential data loss! (inode 180290239, error -5)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs warning (device sda1): ext4_end_bio:368: I/O error 16 writing to inode 180290239 starting block 791439360)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs (sda1): failed to convert unwritten extents to written extents – potential data loss! (inode 180290239, error -5)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs warning (device sda1): ext4_end_bio:368: I/O error 16 writing to inode 180290239 starting block 791441408)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs (sda1): failed to convert unwritten extents to written extents – potential data loss! (inode 180290239, error -5)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs warning (device sda1): ext4_end_bio:368: I/O error 16 writing to inode 180290239 starting block 791443456)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs (sda1): failed to convert unwritten extents to written extents – potential data loss! (inode 180290239, error -5)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs warning (device sda1): ext4_end_bio:368: I/O error 16 writing to inode 180290239 starting block 791445504)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs (sda1): failed to convert unwritten extents to written extents – potential data loss! (inode 180290239, error -5)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs warning (device sda1): ext4_end_bio:368: I/O error 16 writing to inode 180290239 starting block 791447552)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs (sda1): failed to convert unwritten extents to written extents – potential data loss! (inode 180290239, error -5)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs warning (device sda1): ext4_end_bio:368: I/O error 16 writing to inode 180290239 starting block 791449600)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs (sda1): failed to convert unwritten extents to written extents – potential data loss! (inode 180290239, error -5)
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on dev sda1, logical block 1989, lost async page write
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on dev sda1, logical block 790626315, lost async page write
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on dev sda1, logical block 790626316, lost async page write
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on dev sda1, logical block 790626317, lost async page write
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on dev sda1, logical block 790626318, lost async page write
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on dev sda1, logical block 790626319, lost async page write
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on dev sda1, logical block 791150593, lost async page write
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on dev sda1, logical block 791150594, lost async page write
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on dev sda1, logical block 791150595, lost async page write
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Buffer I/O error on dev sda1, logical block 791150596, lost async page write
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] Aborting journal on device sda1-8.
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] JBD2: I/O error when updating journal superblock for sda1-8.
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs error (device sda1) in ext4_do_writepages:2944: Journal has aborted
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] EXT4-fs error (device sda1): ext4_journal_check_start:87: comm Sync: Detected aborted journal
[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] workqueue: hub_event hogged CPU for >10000us 11 times, consider switching to WQ_UNBOUND
[Wed May 6 22:02:18 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR Failed to probe lspcon
[Wed May 6 22:02:18 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR LSPCON init failed on port D
[Wed May 6 23:03:27 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR Failed to probe lspcon
[Wed May 6 23:03:27 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR LSPCON init failed on port D
[Wed May 6 23:28:22 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR Failed to probe lspcon
[Wed May 6 23:28:22 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR LSPCON init failed on port D
[Thu May 7 00:00:00 2026] audit: type=1400 audit(1778130001.337:127): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“capable” class=“cap” profile=“/usr/sbin/cupsd” pid=249690 comm=“cupsd” capability=12 capname=“net_admin”
[Thu May 7 00:00:00 2026] audit: type=1400 audit(1778130001.555:128): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“open” class=“file” profile=“/usr/sbin/cups-browsed” name=“/proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/all/disable_ipv6” pid=249691 comm=“cups-browsed” requested_mask=“r” denied_mask=“r” fsuid=117 ouid=0
[Thu May 7 00:00:01 2026] audit: type=1400 audit(1778130002.200:129): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“open” class=“file” profile=“/usr/sbin/cups-browsed” name=“/proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/all/disable_ipv6” pid=249691 comm=“cups-browsed” requested_mask=“r” denied_mask=“r” fsuid=117 ouid=0
[Thu May 7 00:00:03 2026] audit: type=1400 audit(1778130004.470:130): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“open” class=“file” profile=“/usr/sbin/cups-browsed” name=“/proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/all/disable_ipv6” pid=249691 comm=“cups-browsed” requested_mask=“r” denied_mask=“r” fsuid=117 ouid=0
[Thu May 7 00:00:05 2026] audit: type=1400 audit(1778130005.796:131): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“open” class=“file” profile=“/usr/sbin/cups-browsed” name=“/proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/all/disable_ipv6” pid=249691 comm=“cups-browsed” requested_mask=“r” denied_mask=“r” fsuid=117 ouid=0
[Thu May 7 00:00:05 2026] audit: type=1400 audit(1778130005.979:132): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“open” class=“file” profile=“/usr/sbin/cups-browsed” name=“/proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/all/disable_ipv6” pid=249691 comm=“cups-browsed” requested_mask=“r” denied_mask=“r” fsuid=117 ouid=0
[Thu May 7 00:00:05 2026] audit: type=1400 audit(1778130006.138:133): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“open” class=“file” profile=“/usr/sbin/cups-browsed” name=“/proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/all/disable_ipv6” pid=249691 comm=“cups-browsed” requested_mask=“r” denied_mask=“r” fsuid=117 ouid=0
[Thu May 7 00:00:07 2026] audit: type=1400 audit(1778130008.275:134): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“open” class=“file” profile=“/usr/sbin/cups-browsed” name=“/proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/all/disable_ipv6” pid=249691 comm=“cups-browsed” requested_mask=“r” denied_mask=“r” fsuid=117 ouid=0
[Thu May 7 01:03:27 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR Failed to probe lspcon
[Thu May 7 01:03:27 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR LSPCON init failed on port D
[Thu May 7 01:28:22 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR Failed to probe lspcon
[Thu May 7 01:28:22 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR LSPCON init failed on port D
[Thu May 7 03:03:27 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR Failed to probe lspcon
[Thu May 7 03:03:27 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR LSPCON init failed on port D
[Thu May 7 03:28:22 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR Failed to probe lspcon
[Thu May 7 03:28:22 2026] i915 0000:00:02.0: [drm] ERROR LSPCON init failed on port D
[Thu May 7 04:13:41 2026] usb 2-3: new SuperSpeed USB device number 30 using xhci_hcd
[Thu May 7 04:13:41 2026] usb 2-3: New USB device found, idVendor=1058, idProduct=25a3, bcdDevice=10.31
[Thu May 7 04:13:41 2026] usb 2-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[Thu May 7 04:13:41 2026] usb 2-3: Product: Elements 25A3
[Thu May 7 04:13:41 2026] usb 2-3: Manufacturer: Western Digital
[Thu May 7 04:13:41 2026] usb 2-3: SerialNumber: 434133524E394D4B
[Thu May 7 04:13:41 2026] usb-storage 2-3:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[Thu May 7 04:13:41 2026] usb-storage 2-3:1.0: Quirks match for vid 1058 pid 25a3: 800000
[Thu May 7 04:13:41 2026] scsi host0: usb-storage 2-3:1.0
[Thu May 7 04:13:42 2026] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access WD Elements 25A3 1031 PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[Thu May 7 04:13:42 2026] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
[Thu May 7 04:13:42 2026] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Spinning up disk…
[Thu May 7 04:13:43 2026] …
[Thu May 7 04:13:49 2026] input: BluetoothMouse3600 Mouse as /devices/virtual/misc/uhid/0005:045E:0916.0036/input/input113
[Thu May 7 04:13:49 2026] input: BluetoothMouse3600 Consumer Control as /devices/virtual/misc/uhid/0005:045E:0916.0036/input/input114
[Thu May 7 04:13:49 2026] hid-generic 0005:045E:0916.0036: input,hidraw4: BLUETOOTH HID v1.10 Mouse [BluetoothMouse3600] on ac:74:b1:9b:c5:48
[Thu May 7 04:13:50 2026] …ready
[Thu May 7 04:13:55 2026] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Very big device. Trying to use READ CAPACITY(16).
[Thu May 7 04:13:55 2026] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 15627986944 512-byte logical blocks: (8.00 TB/7.28 TiB)
[Thu May 7 04:13:55 2026] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 4096-byte physical blocks
[Thu May 7 04:13:55 2026] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[Thu May 7 04:13:55 2026] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 47 00 10 08
[Thu May 7 04:13:55 2026] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] No Caching mode page found
[Thu May 7 04:13:55 2026] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Assuming drive cache: write through
[Thu May 7 04:13:55 2026] sda: sda1
[Thu May 7 04:13:55 2026] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[Thu May 7 04:14:01 2026] EXT4-fs (sda1): recovery complete
[Thu May 7 04:14:01 2026] EXT4-fs (sda1): mounted filesystem 5a744b35-74b6-4831-a164-304b6652b21b r/w with ordered data mode. Quota mode: none.

3 Likes
6

Thanks for the suggestion but I don’t see TLP installed or running.

sudo tlp-stat
[sudo] password for xxxx:
sudo: tlp-stat: command not found

ps -ef | grep tlp
xxxx 284764 231354 0 05:04 pts/3 00:00:00 grep --color=auto tlp

May consider installing it just to see if I can use it to take control over the power management settings but it’s not clear whether TLP allows me to set my own preferences.

7

According to Google AI FreeFileSync does not have a specific “debug” command-line switch for verbose output, but it does create detailed logs for every sync and allows for custom log management.

I looked through the logs it does produce and all I saw was a listing of the files being processed. I didn’t see where the application had recorded any file copy errors. It did log stopping the backup process before it completed as an error but that was the only error I found.

2 Likes
8

IMO, just another option to assess might be found within BIOS power saving options. They are not always duplicated / accessed from within OS.

1 Like
9

Hi @Nosugrof welcome! Great discussion so far! :penguin: :penguin: :penguin:

I’ve taken a look at those logs and I don’t think this is a drive sleeping issue. It’s a USB bus disconnect issue:

[Wed May 6 21:52:22 2026] usb 2-3: USB disconnect, device number 29
...
[Thu May 7 04:13:41 2026] usb 2-3: new SuperSpeed USB device number 30 using xhci_hcd

Connected (29) then lost connection and reconnected (30). Basically the equivalent to unplugging. None of the things you tried would cause that.

Also look at the temperature history:

243  2026-05-07 01:16   48 *****************************
244  2026-05-07 01:17    ? -
245  2026-05-07 01:18   32 *************

346  2026-05-07 02:59   48 *****************************
347  2026-05-07 03:00    ? -
348  2026-05-07 03:01   25 ******

419  2026-05-07 04:12   42 ********
420  2026-05-07 04:13    ? -
421  2026-05-07 04:14   23 *******

Every disconnect happens with the drive at 42-48C, the next sample is ? (no reading because the drive has no power), and it comes back ~20C cooler. The lifetime max is 48C at the moment of these disconnects. It’s hitting 48C and dropping off the bus.

192 Power-Off_Retract_Count -O–CK 200 200 000 - 37

It’s likely the enclosure, not the USB board or Linux. The same drive in a different shell or on a SATA will probably run all day.

So it looks like the drive drops off the USB bus (not sleep, not unmount) at each temperature peak of 42-48C, then comes back around 20C cooler and then repeats.

Now, for what it’s worth, I found a very similar symptom reported on WD’s forum (Linux Mint, 8 TB Elements, drive vanishing mid-backup) but it was never resolved:

The closest thing I could find from the overheating angle was this:

2 Likes