External USB harddrives... RESOLVED

[Jerry McBride]

I'm just getting around to catching up on some dormant projects, loose ends and
linux issues and I stumbled onto something nice.

My problems with external USB storage lockups has been resolved and quite easily
too. The linux-2.4.21-rc5.patch has a whole boat load of USB fixes, upgrades,
etc. One of them eliminates the lockup problem. After applying that patch and
the preempt patch, the resultant USB support suddenly became totally reliable. I
can plug in the USB harddrive and shoot giga bytes of data to it without a
single problem.

Anyone running a 2.4.20 kernel and having USB storage problems should have a
look at this patch. I'm a hero at the water cooler again... :')


On Mon, 17 Feb 2003 15:30:51 -0500 Jerry McBride <mcbrides9 at comcast.net> wrote:

> 
> Well... I've finally found another useful use for all those USB ports... :')
> 
> I just finished putting together an external USB enclosure and a western
> digital 80gig for use as a backup medium and data swapper. Interestingly
> enough, it works.
> 
> I had some real "lock up" issues with kernel 2.4.20 usb drivers, but the
> 2.4.21-rc4 patch seems to have fixed most of them... What seems to be
> happening is... cp'ing files to the usb harddrive goes along smoothly until at
> a random moment the transfer stalls and the system load begins a steady spiral
> up... until total lockup. I've seen system load numbers from top reaching
> 12.00.
> 
> USB 2.0 is lightyears faster than 1.0, but it won't set any records.
> 
> that's about it. If I come across a fix for the stalling problems, I'll be
> back.
> 
> Right no though, I've got to go run the snow blower again. It's STILL snowing
> here in New Jersey. My car? I can't even see it...
> 
> 
> 
> --