I/O Error with USB drive

[GoogleCodeExporter]

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Follow the steps in 'Getting Started' to create a single-disk pool

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
After executing 'sudo zpool create puddle /dev/disk1s2', I expect a pool to be 
created.   
Instead I am told 'cannot create 'puddle': I/O error'.

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?
OS X Lion (10.7.3)
maczfs 74.1.0
Seagate GoFlex Desk 3TB with USB interface

Please provide any additional information below.
Also reported by someone else on the mailing list: 
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/zfs-macos/kZQTiICDZR0.

Could this be a USB problem?  The FireWire connectors for these drives don't 
seem to be available yet so I can't try with one of them.

$ diskutil list                                                   
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                                  SIZE            IDENTIFIER
   0:                        GUID_partition_scheme              *128.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI                                              209.7 MB    disk0s1
   2:                        Apple_HFS Macintosh SSD           127.2 GB    disk0s2
   3:                        Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                                           SIZE            IDENTIFIER
   0:                        GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB      disk1
   1:                        EFI                                                       209.7 MB   disk1s1
   2:                        ZFS                                                      3.0 TB        disk1s2

Original issue reported on code.google.com by j...@jmerrifield.com on 6 Mar 2012 at 4:45

[GoogleCodeExporter]

/var/log/kernel.log indicates I/O errors on the device:

Mar  5 21:55:16 jon-macbook kernel[0]: zfs_context_init: 
footprint.maximum=1073741824, footprint.target=102711296
Mar  5 21:55:16 jon-macbook kernel[0]: kobj_open_file: "/etc/zfs/zpool.cache", 
err 2 from vnode_open
Mar  5 21:55:16 jon-macbook kernel[0]: zfs_module_start: memory footprint 
9633280 (kalloc 9633280, kernel 0)
Mar  5 21:55:16 jon-macbook kernel[0]: disk1s2: I/O error.
Mar  5 21:55:46: --- last message repeated 20 times ---

Original comment by j...@jmerrifield.com on 6 Mar 2012 at 5:02

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Note that USB is not recommended for ZFS usage. The USB devices usually power 
down or don't respond to commands; ZFS then believes there's a device error and 
thus kicks of a kernel panic. Basically, if you care about data, don't use a 
USB drive.

Original comment by alex.ble...@gmail.com on 7 Mar 2012 at 11:26

• Changed title: I/O Error with USB drive
• Added labels: Priority-Low
• Removed labels: Priority-Medium

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Understood, I was just hoping to get started with it while I wait for the 
FireWire adapter to arrive!  

Original comment by j...@jmerrifield.com on 7 Mar 2012 at 3:38

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I'd call it a Seagate problem.  I have the same drive, and it seems to randomly 
go to sleep, sometimes even while being written to.  It currently has HFS+ on 
it, I figured trying to use it with ZFS would only lead to pain.  I also 
wouldn't count on the firewire interface to help.  On the Amazon product page, 
it seems a lot of other people have had similar issues:  

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-FreeAgent-FireWire-External-STBC3000101/dp/B005IA8
4A0

I also saw one saying that the Mac version of the software never disabled 
sleep, but doing so with the Windows version of the Seagate software did, and 
fixed the problem.  I haven't tried that, but the Mac version definitely did 
not help me.

BTW, I have two older Seagate 2.5" GoFlex drives and they have (different) 
sleep-related issues as well.  

On the other hand, I have two WD Elements 2TB USB drives that are working 
flawlessly with ZFS so far in my 2 days of testing.  They sleep and wake just 
as they should, the only thing that causes a kernel panic is pulling the plug.  
So I don't think all USB drives are inherently a problem.

Original comment by ebyrne...@gmail.com on 11 Aug 2012 at 5:56

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

This seems to bee a hardware issue, not a MacZFS software bug.  Therefore 
closing as invalid.

Original comment by googlelogin@bjoern-kahl.de on 22 Nov 2013 at 9:56

• Changed state: Invalid