> it doesn't want to play nice with USB drives.
Ok: I finally found the problem: my test disks all were a portable
ones -powered from the USB bus-.
Cause that's what I had around the house.
I know the USB port needs to deliver enough juice to make it work, and
I had taken that into
account: I had plugged in the power only connector on another USB
port, getting more power
if needed.
But apparently that's still not enough power from that server's
motherboard. Only after plugging it
in on a standalone power supply the drive seems to spin up. (I had not
heard it trying to spin
up and fail (the server makes way too much noise to ever hear the
quite silent drive).
So yeah: 3.9 does support it and I can now order some external 1Tbyte
drives to use as backup
medium, they now are cheaper than tape anyway.
Next step will be to figure out how to get dump to fill disks like it
can fill tapes, or something
somewhat similar. But at least I now have a path out of that corner I
found myself in.
Lesson:
- don't assume the drive gets enough power, not even if you plug it in
on 2 USB ports
Wishlist:
Error messages telling you something (if that's possible at all to
start with).
"I'm giving it all she's got Jim, need more dilithium crystals"
