I bought this portable hard drive to use with Vero 4K - USB 3.0, 2.5-inch, 4TB. The drive is connected to the Vero directly. Most of the time the Vero plays content from the drive fine, but when browsing directories, OSMC often times out. What’s worse is that the hard drive makes loud clicking sounds when OSMC attempts to browse its directories and sometimes even during scrolling the movie library.
This is not the same clicking sound that hard drives make when they begin to die. The drive works fine and is super quiet when connected to different PCs. It simply feels like the drive is not getting enough power from the Vero and is failing to spin up sufficiently during browse commands.
Is this a known issue? If yes, is it addressable via firmware or software? Are there plans to address it?
I haven’t owned a self-powered drive in over 10 years, and I haven’t owned a USB hub in probably 15 years. It would be extremely disappointing to have wasted $100 on something that’s not going to work with this device.
Multiple platters, probably takes quite a bit of draw to spin up.
Usual rule of thumb is that most drives will work, but it’s not a guarantee. Software / firmware cannot fix a hard disk requiring more power than can be delivered by the official USB specification. At least not without violating the specification, which would have serious ramifications.
Did your HDD come with a power supply?
If it did, then it’s a clear indicator that one needs to be used to power it reliably.
Do you have a link to the drive that you have purchased?
Have you tried it on another machine to rule out issues with the drive?
At this point, we are both just assuming that there’s not enough power to the disk.
He has a link in his post. It’s a USB 3.0 drive that uses only bus power (no extra power cable, or Y-cable), but it might expect USB 3.0 power, which is close to double that of USB 2.0.
They don’t sell USB 2.0 hard drives anymore. But I did connect the drive to a USB 2.0 port on a computer purchased 5 years ago, and it works great.
It’s disappointing and frustrating that you are selling a device with a USB port that doesn’t support modern devices. “Supporting but not guaranteeing” is not a good rule of thumb because it provides no useful guidance to the buyer of the Vero. You either support a spec or not. If I see an opening that looks like a USB port on a device sold in 2018, I will assume it will work with modern storage devices. USB 3.0 is not some hot, early adopter technology. It’s been around for 10 years.
The Vero 4K has USB 2.0 ports.
This is made clear in the description on the website.
I suspect a powered hub will resolve your issue.
However it should be noted that USB 3.0 only delivers a certain amount of power, much like USB 2.0. Drives can require external power, and the spec permits this. The Vero 4K will only deliver the power mandated by the USB 2.0 spec. This is sufficient for most drives, but not all.
That’s a problem, if I didn’t make it clear previously.
That’s not something most consumers would be looking out for in 2018. USB 3.0 is pretty much a given today. If you’re selling a device with 2.0 ports that’s not compatible with 3.0 devices, that’s also a problem. There’s an expectation from the consumer that these things will work. I can’t believe I have to explain this to a manufacturer.
They can. This one doesn’t.
It’s not my issue. It’s Vero’s issue. I bought a drive that works with everything else. Purchasing and daisy chaining additional hardware to make something work that’s supposed to work out of the box is not exactly the solution most people would enjoy.
I’m sorry if I sound harsh but the Vero 4k page clearly states that the USB ports are 2.0, you cannot come here and say otherwise. You’re the first person that complains about an advertised feature by saying “They don’t sell USB 2.0 hard drives anymore” (simply not true).
You probably misread or didn’t pay much attention, and you can’t blame anyone really.
Have you been outside or visited Amazon lately? All portable hard drives sold today are at least 3.0. Many are 3.1 and/or Thunderbolt.
I did not say otherwise. I said this is not something most consumers would care to look for in the fine print in 2018.
Furthermore, 3.0 drives are expected to work with 2.0 devices at reduced speeds. That’s part of the USB spec. They are not supposed to time out, disconnect or cause the platters to make clicking sounds like they are dying.
Yes, but there are other places online where to buy stuff. Ebay for example (and there are plenty of 2.0 hdds for sale still in 2018)
Yes, they are expected to work, but they still require enough power to spin up correctly. If the Vero 2.0 usb ports were not working, you wouldn’t be able to use a 3.0 usb disk even if powered up correctly (and it would break the usb 3.0 specs).
I, as many other Vero 4k users I’m sure, are perfectly using usb 3.0 powered hdds without issues.
You can also buy a gramophone on eBay, what’s your point? USB 3.0 drives have been out for 10 years. It’s time to support them all, not just some of them.
The drive works with systems made by manufacturers who know what they’re doing, and it doesn’t work with one system made by an amateur manufacturer. It’s pretty obvious which side of the chain is compliant and which hasn’t been tested with enough devices.
By the way, if the Vero destroys my hard drive, I will send the bill to Sam Nazarko Trading Ltd.
So you are ranting because you bought a USB 3.0 HDD while the specs of the Vero4K clearly specify it has 2 USB 2.0 ports. USB 3.0 can draw almost twice the power USB 2.0 can? You do realize the Vero4K is a low-power device. Which means you do not want to use it to power high power devices. Just check the USB-specs:
Basicly, you made a mistake. You did not check the specs of the Vero4K. You got a solution: use a powered HUB.
Please, check your bill of sale on the Vero4k. If you are still within the return window, please contact sales@osmc.tv and obtain an RMA to return the device. No amount of profit is worth dealing with a user like you.