[Fiery]

We've recently implemented support for ATA auto-detect and SMART information (including HDD temperature readout) for hard disks in USB enclosures with Cypress AT2, Oxford, JMicron and Sunplus USB-IDE bridge chip. Examples of such solutions:

- Enermax Vanguard EB206U
- Enermax Glory EB306U
- MacPower Pleiades
- MacPower Taurus
- Sharkoon Drivelink
- Spire Gigapod II
- Spire Gigapod III
- Spire GigaPod VIII
- Thermaltake Max 4
- Thermaltake Max 5
- Thermaltake Muse
- Viewcon VE-155
- Western Digital Passport
- Western Digital My Book
- etc.

If you have an USB enclosure with a Cypress or Oxford controller chip, try the following beta version of EVEREST Ultimate Edition, and let us know how it works for you.

http://www.lavalys.c...rq6shsxve2k.zip

Unfortunately this solution does not work with ULi, Myson, Prolific USB-IDE bridge chips.


Thanks,
Fiery

[IceMan]

with latest UE961 the temp of my externel hdd WDC-WD2500BB-22RDA0 is shown!!!

thx @Fiery for this

Ice

[Fiery]

Thanks for the feedback

[ecstech]

We've recently implemented support for ATA auto-detect and SMART information (including HDD temperature readout) for hard disks in USB enclosures with Cypress AT2 USB-IDE bridge chip. Examples of such solutions:

- Enermax Vanguard EB206U
- Enermax Glory EB306U
- Thermaltake Max 4
- Thermaltake Max 5
- Thermaltake Muse
- Western Digital Passport
- Western Digital Mybook Pro
- etc.

If you have an USB enclosure with a Cypress controller chip, try the following beta version of EVEREST Ultimate Edition 2007, and let us know how it works for you.

http://www.lavalys.c...dw3qelj6knx.zip

Unfortunately this solution does not work with ULi, Myson, Prolific USB-IDE bridge chips.


Thanks,
Fiery

The above link is no longer working.

Does the demo Everest Ultimate V4.20 support this feature yet?
I've a USB drive (Mobile Disk from Maplins) with a CY7C68300A chip in it. This is a EZ-USB AT2 chip.

[Fiery]

Sorry about that. Yes, you can use EVREST v4.20, it already implements that feature.


Regards,
Fiery

[Petr_Soucek]

Hello Fiery,

I have the following WD products and none reports SMART information in Everest (several version tested up to 4.20.1248:

WDXML1200UETE WD Passport Portable Hard Drive (silver, older, bigger)
WDXMS1200TE WD Passport Portable Hard Drive (black, newer, smaller)
WDG1U5000E My Book Essential Edition
WDH1CS10000E My Book Home Edition

WD DLGDIAG utility can read SMART information from all of the above mentioned disks.

Is there any way (other than to disasseble the disk) how to determine the USB<>ATA chip used?

Do you need any detail information?

Regards,

Petr

[Fiery]

I guess it's a matter of USB-ATA bridge chip vendor/device ID. To investigate that, it would be great if you could send me (uusi AT freemail.hu) a HTML report using the "Hardware-related pages" profile of each those drives connected. It would be best if you could have only one drive connected at a time.

Alternatively, you could check the USB controller chip vendor/device ID at the Devices / USB Devices page of EVEREST. The SMART layer of EVEREST detects Cypress AT2 chips with 04B4-6830 and 04B4-6831 ID.

BTW, does Hard Disk Sentinel work with those drives?


Thanks,
Fiery

[Petr_Soucek]

Hi Fiery

I have sent the reports by e-mail to you just now and regarding the USB ID, they are:

WDXML1200UETE WD Passport Portable Hard Drive (silver, older, bigger): 1058-0701 (Mass Storage)
WDXMS1200TE WD Passport Portable Hard Drive (black, newer, smaller): 1058-0701 (Mass Storage)
WDG1U5000E My Book Essential Edition: 1058-0901 (Mass Storage)
WDH1CS10000E My Book Home Edition: 1058-1102 (USB Composite Device)

HD Sentinel can read SMART data from both WD Passports, it detects Cypress AT2+ USB/ATA interface.

As I already mentioned, WD Diagnostics can read SMART data from all 4 drives.

Regards,

Petr

[Fiery]

Thanks for the data! We've added those new USB device IDs, but we're absolutely not sure if it would work with the Cypress AT2 method.

Please upgrade to the latest beta version of EVEREST Ultimate Edition available at:

http://www.lavalys.c...wr6l3fknfmx.zip

After upgrading to this new version, make sure to restart Windows to finalize the upgrade.

Let me know how it works.


Thanks,
Fiery

[Petr_Soucek]

Hello Fiery,

as expected, both Passports work now, both My Books not.

Sentinel shows AT2+ chip, Everest shows AT2 chip, is there any difference?

What is possible to do now?

1. Ask WD for more information
2. To try to open My Books - but I'm not skilled enough and both disks are still in the warranty period
3. To try to debug the USB communication between the My Book and PC - but I don't know about any.

Since My Book Home Edition contains HID interface maybe it contains CY7C68320/321?

Regards,

Petr

This post has been edited by Petr_Soucek: 15 January 2008 - 07:03 PM

[Fiery]

as expected, both Passports work now, both My Books not.

Thanks for the feedback!

Sentinel shows AT2+ chip, Everest shows AT2 chip, is there any difference?

AFAIK EVEREST should handle both just fine.

Does Sentinel show SMART info for only the Passport drives, or it can handle MyBooks either?

What is possible to do now?

1. Ask WD for more information
2. To try to open My Books - but I'm not skilled enough and both disks are still in the warranty period
3. To try to debug the USB communication between the My Book and PC - but I don't know about any.

Since My Book Home Edition contains HID interface maybe it contains CY7C68320/321?

Quite frankly, it all depends on the chip the MyBooks have. Unless we can figure that out, it's not much we can do about it.

In the case we cannot figure this out, we'll get a MyBook and open it up


Thanks,
Fiery

[Petr_Soucek]

Does Sentinel show SMART info for only the Passport drives, or it can handle MyBooks either?

Sentinel works with with Passport drivers only. Just WD Diagnostics can read SMART data from all of them.

Quite frankly, it all depends on the chip the MyBooks have. Unless we can figure that out, it's not much we can do about it.

In the case we cannot figure this out, we'll get a MyBook and open it up

There are many different variants of WD My Book, I have on my desk Home Edition and Essential Edition, I have access to Premium Edition and maybe Essential Edition 2.0. My Book Pro Edition II is on its way to me.

Here is nice description how to open My Book Essential Edition (older models): http://rebootdaily.b...al-my-book.html

Regards,

Petr

[Fiery]

We did some research, and it seems My Book Premium has Oxford Semiconductor OXUF924DSA chip, while My Book Pro has OXUF924DSB chip. So it's no surprise the Cypress AT2 method doesn't work But since we cannot find any documentation on the Oxford chip, it could be a bit tough to work this out...

However, if you could find out what chip is there in your My Books, let me know.

[Fiery]

Also, I've found a new HD Sentinel beta the claims to support WD MyBook drives with Oxford chip:

http://www.hdsentine...o_setup211b.zip

Let me know if it works on your MyBooks.


Thanks,
Fiery

[Petr_Soucek]

So I have tested this beta with My Book Home Edition and My Book Essential Edition and both work fine and show complete ATA and SMART information.

CODE

Hard Disk Summary
Hard Disk Number,4
Interface,Oxford USB/ATA
Hard Disk Model ID,WDC WD10EACS-00ZJB0
Hard Disk Revision,01.01B01
Hard Disk Serial Number,WD-WCASJ0540806
Hard Disk Total Size,953867 MB

CODE

Hard Disk Summary
Hard Disk Number,4
Interface,Oxford USB/ATA
Hard Disk Model ID,WDC WD5000AAJB-00UHA0
Hard Disk Revision,07.01N01
Hard Disk Serial Number,WD-WCAPW1156725
Hard Disk Total Size,476937 MB

This post has been edited by Petr_Soucek: 16 January 2008 - 10:04 AM

[Fiery]

Thanks for the feedback!

Please try the latest beta version of EVEREST Ultimate Edition available at:

http://www.lavalys.c...cmf0nq7xydp.zip

Let me know if it works on your MyBooks now. Make sure to check both the ATA and SMART page of EVEREST, the drives should appear in both places.

Please note that it will only work when the drives are connected using the USB cable. Even WD's own software doesn't seem to work when the drive is connected via a FireWire cable.


Thanks,
Fiery

[Petr_Soucek]

Hi Fiery,

great, Everest works with both WD My Book Home Edition and My Book Essential Edition.

I'll test other My Books later.

I have not tested Firewire yet but surprisingly even eSATA interface of My Book Home Edition does not support SMART.

[Fiery]

Thanks a lot for the feedback! In the case you have a chance to test EVEREST on other WD external storage devices, let us know how it goes, and also let us know the relevant USB vendor/device IDs


Thanks,
Fiery

[Petr_Soucek]

So other two My Books work with Sentinel but not with Everest. Maybe your ID checks are too strict.

WDH1U10000E - My Book Essential Edition 2.0 - USB ID 1058-0903
WDG1C5000E - My Book Premium Edition - USB ID 1058-1100

Regards,

Petr

[Fiery]

Thanks! You're right, it's because of the missing IDs.

Please upgrade to the latest beta version of EVEREST Ultimate Edition available at:

http://www.lavalys.c...acb3gdf8myr.zip

Let me know how it works.


Thanks,
Fiery