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From: jeffj@panix.com (Jeff Jonas)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.hardware
Subject: Re: Disappearing USB drives
Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2020 02:37:30 +0000 (UTC)
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> I'm trying to find the solution to USB drives 'disappearing'
> while being accessed.
> The drives affected are THREE different external USB drives,
> two Western Digital 8TB drives
> and a smaller Seagate 2TB drive

If the problem is happening while writing,
check the log with 'dmesg' for USB or drive errors.
That's the best clue for what's triggering the cascade of problems.

If the drive goes offline after being idle for 1/2 hour,
the drive is going into "power save mode",
something Linux knows nothing about.
My workaround was to put the drive on a Windows system
and using the mfgr's utility to set power-save to "never"
so the drive stays spinning.

-- jeffj
--