USB 3 External Drives not working

[Lazzerman]

Hi,

I have a MBP 2010 and a MBA 2013 both using Mavericks. I also bought a 128gb USB Corsair Voyager LS Memory stick.

The USB stick isn't mounted in OSX. If I bootcamp into Windows 8, it works fine. The stick doesn't show in Disk Utility or in Terminal/Volumes.

I have done the SMC and NVRAM reset, no luck.

Have found several threads with people have all kinds of USB problems with Mavericks, seems strange that the OS can be released with such a serious bug?

Any tips on how to get the USB Stick working?

// Lazze

 

[gr8tfly]

I assume you mean USB 3.0 on the 2013, as the 2010 only has USB 2.

Anyway, I haven't had any problems at all with Mavericks. There was an early firmware update for my mid-2012 rMBP related to USB 3.0, so I've been up to date since I got the machine last Feb.

I use both USB 3.0 flash sticks and hard drives, both in a bus powered case and through a bare drive dock. Also, connected both directly and through a powered USB 3.0 hub (7 port Plugable).

My only recommendation is to make sure to have all firmware updates installed. Late 2013 MBA models have a couple which can be installed via Sofeware Update in the Mac App Store. Come to think of it, the MBA we just got last week had 10.8.4, so I probably installed those prior to upgrading to Mavericks. Regardless, they should show up in Software Update.

 

[Lazzerman]

Correct, USB 2 on the MBP 2010 and USB 3 on MBA 2013.

I have installed 2 firmare updates on the MBA and all software updates that I could see.

When I insert the stick, the led on it blinks once, then it's dead. For me that signals that Maverick has tried to ID the GUID on the device and failed and just shut it down?

It doesn't matter if I have the power cable connected or not.

The hardware must be working since it works okay in bootcamped Windows.

Old USB 2 2gb sticks works just fine. I'll test with my USB3 HDD and see if that works.

Now I have tested with a USB 3 HDD, worked just fine. So USB3 works, just not with a Corsair memory stick?

Is there any logs which I can check?

// Lazze

 

[gr8tfly]

Correct, USB 2 on the MBP 2010 and USB 3 on MBA 2013.

I have installed 2 firmare updates on the MBA and all software updates that I could see.

When I insert the stick, the led on it blinks once, then it's dead. For me that signals that Maverick has tried to ID the GUID on the device and failed and just shut it down?

It doesn't matter if I have the power cable connected or not.

The hardware must be working since it works okay in bootcamped Windows.

Old USB 2 2gb sticks works just fine. I'll test with my USB3 HDD and see if that works.

Now I have tested with a USB 3 HDD, worked just fine. So USB3 works, just not with a Corsair memory stick?

Is there any logs which I can check?

// Lazze

You can look at System Information, under "USB". (opt-menu) and see if the device shows up under a USB 3.0 interface (it should be in the SuperSpeed section). That would confirm the interface is working.

If it does, it should still show up as a device in DiskUtility, regardless of whether there is a mountable volume. Once there, you can at least run First Aid on the partition map (the "top level" of the device in the side-bar).

Does the device work on the 2010 MBP (the Corsair USB 3.0)?

 

[Lazzerman]

You can look at System Information, under "USB". (opt-menu) and see if the device shows up under a USB 3.0 interface (it should be in the SuperSpeed section). That would confirm the interface is working.

If it does, it should still show up as a device in DiskUtility, regardless of whether there is a mountable volume. Once there, you can at least run First Aid on the partition map (the "top level" of the device in the side-bar).

Does the device work on the 2010 MBP (the Corsair USB 3.0)?

The Corsair LS 128gb does not work on the USB2 MBP 2010 either. So I do belive it is mavericks that doesn't like it

I have opened a ticket at Corsair as well.

Thanks for teaching me the System Information shortcut! The only thing listed under USB 3 superspeed is the built in sd card reader.

// Lazze

 

[Lazzerman]

logs

The only log entry in System.Log is

Dec 8 15:40:42 larss-air kernel[0]: USBF: 2736.627 USB (XHCI)ort 11 on bus 0xa - connect status changed but still enabled. clearing enable bit: portSC(0xe021203)

no more...nothing in the fsck log

// Lazze

 

[gr8tfly]

A few other troubleshooting ideas that might help isolate what's going on with OS X:

Did/does the 128GB Corsair work with Mountain Lion (or whatever previous version you ran) on the 2010 MBP? This might show which release might have lost support for this particular device (I can't imagine what, though, as AFAIK, 128GB flash drives have been around since well before Mavericks release).

Try safe boot - hold down shift on startup, release when the Apple icon shows.

Try booting into the Recovery Partition (cmd-R on boot), then running Disk Utility there.

 

[Lazzerman]

A few other troubleshooting ideas that might help isolate what's going on with OS X:

Did/does the 128GB Corsair work with Mountain Lion (or whatever previous version you ran) on the 2010 MBP? This might show which release might have lost support for this particular device (I can't imagine what, though, as AFAIK, 128GB flash drives have been around since well before Mavericks release).

Try safe boot - hold down shift on startup, release when the Apple icon shows.

Try booting into the Recovery Partition (cmd-R on boot), then running Disk Utility there.

Good morning,

Really appreciate all your help!

Safe mode didn't do anything and I couldn't detect the stick from recovery mode either :-(

If I let the stick sit in the computer while holding option when booting, it does not show as a bootable device(it flashes the LED on the stick several times).

I bought the stick and the MBA at the same time, so I never used in on an older OSX version. Haven't really found any evidence that corsair USB sticks should be a problem with OSX(google google )

Really like to know whats going on, since my next plan is to get an external SSD, the ADATA SE720 USB3 - but then I would like to know that it will work.

// Lazze

 

[gr8tfly]

Other than what Corsair might come up with, I'm at a loss for ideas.

USB flash sticks use a different protocol than a USB HDD/SDD would (can't think of the name though). This was a problem recently with a Samsung TV that had a USB port for USB flash drives. We tried a HDD, but it though it was seen, it was unreliable. Never could figure out why some people had success. Of course, the user guide for the TV said HDD specifically wouldn't work (the fine print ).

An external USB 3 SDD should be just fine and give you much faster speeds than a flash drive. The fastest USB 3 flash drive I could find about 6 months ago was a Patriot Rage XT that was giving me 180MB/s read, and somewhere around 80MB/s write (iirc, though it was as fast as advertised). An external SSD should be able to run several times those speeds.

If you find out anything, please post back as I'm really curious. Good luck!

(edit: If you need to use a USB 3 cable other than what comes with the SSD, or extend it, make sure to get one that's SS (SuperSpeed) rated.)

 

[Lazzerman]

Other than what Corsair might come up with, I'm at a loss for ideas.

USB flash sticks use a different protocol than a USB HDD/SDD would (can't think of the name though). This was a problem recently with a Samsung TV that had a USB port for USB flash drives. We tried a HDD, but it though it was seen, it was unreliable. Never could figure out why some people had success. Of course, the user guide for the TV said HDD specifically wouldn't work (the fine print ).

An external USB 3 SDD should be just fine and give you much faster speeds than a flash drive. The fastest USB 3 flash drive I could find about 6 months ago was a Patriot Rage XT that was giving me 180MB/s read, and somewhere around 80MB/s write (iirc, though it was as fast as advertised). An external SSD should be able to run several times those speeds.

If you find out anything, please post back as I'm really curious. Good luck!

(edit: If you need to use a USB 3 cable other than what comes with the SSD, or extend it, make sure to get one that's SS (SuperSpeed) rated.)

Corsair isn't answering my ticket :-( Talked to AppleSupport today, they didn't have a clue. Having googled USB problems with OSX I can see a trend. Many versions of OSX have had different issues with some USB devices. Sometimes solved by resetting NVRAM and/or re-installing OSX. So next time, I better try the device before buying, if possible.

I prepared a 8gb USB Memory for re-installing Mavericks, maybe I'll try that soon...or wait for 10.9.1

I also tried running ONYX, clearing caches and stuff...

If I get it working, I'll post the fix!

// Lazze

 

[Fishrrman]

Try one or two DIFFERENT flash drives from different makers.

Do any of them work?

Or... same problems?

 

[Lazzerman]

Try one or two DIFFERENT flash drives from different makers.

Do any of them work?

Or... same problems?

I have some older 2gb and 8gb USB2 USB drives, works fine. Also a 1Tb HDD USB 3 works fine.

Now the Corsair Voyager is visible in system report, under USB 3 devices, but as "not configured".

// Lazze