4

I'm new to Raspberry Pi, but I bought a Pi with Kodi/OpenElec pre-installed. I attached an external USB hard drive to it, and set it up to expose that as an SMB network share.

I'm using Windows on my laptop and I want to create a backup to this network share. I've set the share up with a username and password, and I can find it via Windows Explorer.

But after a while, the share just disappears. I start my backup and after some time, the backup fails. When I then try to navigate to the share in Windows Explorer again, it's no longer there...

Has anyone experienced something similar or know how I can diagnose this (any logs I should check)...?

What I'm trying to do, is set up (part of) my Pi as a sort of NAS to store backups and other stuff to. The data I store to the Pi should end up on the external hard drive.

Peter
  • 143
  • 4
  • have you checked system log or process list on RPi? maybe SMB daemon is crashing – rav_kr Nov 02 '15 at 23:12
  • External Hard Drives normally go over the USB port max output on the Raspberry Pi. The average one takes about 5w, which is too rich for the RasPi. Try a Flash Drive or SSD, or a powered Hub. – Kachamenus Nov 13 '15 at 05:41
  • @Shojan Could that also explain the fact that I can find the (network) drive after starting up or connecting the USB drive, but after a while it dissappears? – Peter Nov 13 '15 at 15:08
  • @Peter yes, it would mean the drive in stable to start up and possibly do some read/write functions, but it might be tripping a polyfuse or the Raspberry Pi might be unable to provide the same amount due to fluctuations in its PSU – Kachamenus Nov 13 '15 at 15:39
  • @Shojan Last question :) Is that so, even though my external hard drive has its own power support? – Peter Nov 14 '15 at 12:44
  • @Peter What do you mean by power support? – Kachamenus Nov 14 '15 at 16:46
  • @Shojan must have been "power supply" :) The external hard drive has its own adapter that I plug in to the wall. – Peter Nov 15 '15 at 08:50
  • @Peter there we go! Try it in something more stable perhaps. Don't use an old phone charger, plug it into a desktop computer – Kachamenus Nov 15 '15 at 17:05

1 Answers1

1

If you're using an external hard drive without a dedicated power supply you might be having a power supply problem. I've had a similar issue with my Raspberry Pi B+ when using a substandard power supply - the Pi would sometimes reset spontaneously. All in all, it depends on the hard drive, your Pi's power supply and any other peripherals (mouse, keyboard, etc.) you have connected.

According to this answer you should have at least a 2A power supply to keep a USB hard drive working.

I also had to raise my current limit using this guide, but, depending on your HDD, you may be able to avoid it.

Community
  • 1
alkove
  • 26
  • 1
  • Well my external harddrive has its own power supply, but I will check out the guide and also check if my Pi isn't resetting. – Peter Nov 04 '15 at 18:01
  • I believe, after observing, that my hard drive is going into some low power state. I've now changed my setup: a dedicated NAS as backup and content server, and a Raspberry Pi as Kodi. It's great. – Peter Feb 23 '16 at 11:36
  • @Peter I think that's way closer to what the RPI designers had in mind, so hopefully you'll get no trouble out of that setup. – alkove Feb 24 '16 at 20:00
  • Nope, it's been great. And it passes the SO-test (my wife uses and likes it) :) – Peter Feb 25 '16 at 12:12