Question mounting ntfs drives

martix · 2016-05-05 10:24:51

I'd like to ask a short question: If you have an older extern hdd formatted as ntfs - why does it rattle for a while after you plug it in? I mean for a minute or two, like using a file search or something hdd-intensive, after that it stops (if the hdd is not in use), led goes out and after a while in again. Normal behaviour? I remember on other distros the following: Plugging in, blinking led, hdd not in use: led goes out.

One more question: Why does conky need to connect to the dns server?

xaos52 · 2016-05-05 10:33:29

I'd like to ask a short question: If you have an older extern hdd formatted as ntfs - why does it rattle for a while after you plug it in? I mean for a minute or two, like using a file search or something hdd-intensive, after that it stops (if the hdd is not in use), led goes out and after a while in again. Normal behaviour? I remember on other distros the following: Plugging in, blinking led, hdd not in use: led goes out.

Do you have auto-mounting of external devices on?
In that case it is trying to mount all partitions from the external drive.

One more question: Why does conky need to connect to the dns server?

Perhaps you have conky configured to get some information from the net?

martix · 2016-05-05 10:53:27

xaos52 wrote:

Do you have auto-mounting of external devices on?
In that case it is trying to mount all partitions from the external drive.
Perhaps you have conky configured to get some information from the net?

Yes, I have auto-mounting enabled, so after plugging in, it mounts the hdd. What I'm wondering about is that it takes a bit long and it's a bit loud (and it happens every time after the hdd is plugged in). But it might be the same with other users using an extern ntfs-hdd.

In conky I do not have something like that. Only:
${color green}IP: ${color white}${addr wlan1} ${color green}Gateway: ${color white}${gw_ip wlan0}

It only shows the intern ip and the gateway. I used to have ${execi 3600 curl ifconfig.me} for showing the ip, but I do not use this feature anymore. It's commented out.

xaos52 · 2016-05-05 11:27:54

Yes, I have auto-mounting enabled, so after plugging in, it mounts the hdd. What I'm wondering about is that it takes a bit long and it's a bit loud (and it happens every time after the hdd is plugged in). But it might be the same with other users using an extern ntfs-hdd.

Being loud is a hardware thing.
2 minutes is long. Are there many partitions on the disk?
Can you read/write from/to the disk?
run

dmesg

Look for I/O errors. Perhaps there is/are defects to the disk and it is retrying read/write?

Why do you think conky is accessing the nameserver?
What evidence do you have?
Have you run a trace?

pvsage · 2016-05-05 11:39:20

martix wrote:

I'd like to ask a short question: If you have an older extern hdd formatted as ntfs - why does it rattle for a while after you plug it in? I mean for a minute or two, like using a file search or something hdd-intensive, after that it stops (if the hdd is not in use), led goes out and after a while in again. Normal behaviour? I remember on other distros the following: Plugging in, blinking led, hdd not in use: led goes out.

Do you have another distro (possibly a Live ISO) that you can use to test whether it's just Debian?

I had a USB HDD that I accidentally jostled while rebooting the PC, partially fscking the file allocation table; it made noises similar to wehat you describe, but was completely inaccessible until I repaired the table with some utility. Sounds like your disk drive might have a similar problem or simply be going south; they do have finite lifespans.

Another possibility is the drive might just be badly fragmented and what you're hearing is the read head lashing about.

martix · 2016-05-05 12:37:04

@pvsage Indeed, that was a good idea. Tested the disk on an other distro and it was the same, so it's disk specific, nothing distro specific. It's good to have a backup. I will use some hdd diagnostic tools to let it check. It does work and I cannot remember having this kind of issues before though. If there is less than 10% free space left, I don't think it should matter.

@xaos52 dmesg shows nothing unusual, just the correct mounting data, no errors or similar. As for conky: There are several tools to check internet connections and I can see how conky is using udp ports to connect to the set dns servers from time to time. It's not the default config, but the custom config I'm using. As I mentioned there is nothing in the script that should use the dns service.

Sector11 · 2016-05-05 13:45:51

martix wrote:

One more question: Why does conky need to connect to the dns server?

HDD seems to be getting attention, could you start another thread with ^ that question and post the entire conky in code blocks. And send me a link, please.

martix · 2016-05-05 15:15:10

@Xaos52, Sector11 You were right about thinking of the script. While tweaking around with conky I oversaw the tcp portmonitor feature I used. Commenting out those lines revealed that this was the reason for the dns connections. If this feautre is implemented, e.g.:

Inbound Connection ${alignr} Local Service/Port
${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 0} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767    lservice 0}
 ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 1} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 1}
 ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 2} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 2}
 ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 rhost 3} ${alignr} ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 lservice 3}

conky will use the system's dns settings and connects from time to time to the configured dns server.

Sector11 · 2016-05-05 15:55:39

Yup, that will do it. Glad it's solved.

pvsage · 2016-05-05 22:51:30

@martix: Have TestDisk take a look at your drive (that's what helped me salvage mine long enough to copy data to a new one), but I'd give odds on it being fragmentation.

EDIT: You didn't say how old the drive is, but if the noise you're hearing is a more regular rattle that sounds the same every time the disk is accessed, I'd give even better odds on a bad bearing; barring impact damage to the R/W head or data surface, this is where things that spin tend to break down first. If this is the case, you probably want to take measures to preserve your data sooner than later.

Last edited by pvsage (2016-05-05 22:59:32)

#1 2016-05-05 10:24:51

Question mounting ntfs drives

#2 2016-05-05 10:33:29

Re: Question mounting ntfs drives

#3 2016-05-05 10:53:27

Re: Question mounting ntfs drives

#4 2016-05-05 11:27:54

Re: Question mounting ntfs drives

#5 2016-05-05 11:39:20

Re: Question mounting ntfs drives

#6 2016-05-05 12:37:04

Re: Question mounting ntfs drives

#7 2016-05-05 13:45:51

Re: Question mounting ntfs drives

#8 2016-05-05 15:15:10

Re: Question mounting ntfs drives

#9 2016-05-05 15:55:39

Re: Question mounting ntfs drives

#10 2016-05-05 22:51:30

Re: Question mounting ntfs drives

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