USB HD enclosure “sleeps”, file system errors ensue, can't remount, device disappears. Help interpreting these logs?

Question

I am using this enclosure over USB2 with Ubuntu 11.10: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817173042

After a period of inactivity, the enclosure seems to sleep and Ubuntu isn't able to wake it. I have confirmed that the internal drive is working (no bad blocks, etc). Furthermore, in Windows when the enclosure sleeps it seems as though Windows is able to wake it upon accessing the drive. In Ubuntu I only get I/O errors when accessing the mount point.

The relevant portion of syslog is shown below. Can someone tell me if this confirms my thoughts above? What should I do?

Mar 11 14:35:30 iwill-x61 kernel: [320435.920084] usb 2-2: reset high speed USB device number 34 using ehci_hcd
Mar 11 14:35:30 iwill-x61 kernel: [320436.052429] usb 2-2: device firmware changed
Mar 11 14:35:30 iwill-x61 kernel: [320436.052496] usb 2-2: USB disconnect, device number 34
Mar 11 14:35:30 iwill-x61 kernel: [320436.053107] sd 16:0:0:0: Device offlined - not ready after error recovery
Mar 11 14:35:30 iwill-x61 kernel: [320436.056960] XFS (sdc1): xfs_do_force_shutdown(0x1) called from line 1052 of file /build/buildd/linux-3.0.0/fs/xfs/linux-2.6/xfs_buf.c.  Return address = 0xffffffffa04abc43
Mar 11 14:35:30 iwill-x61 kernel: [320436.056976] XFS (sdc1): I/O Error Detected. Shutting down filesystem
Mar 11 14:35:30 iwill-x61 kernel: [320436.056982] XFS (sdc1): Please umount the filesystem and rectify the problem(s)
Mar 11 14:35:30 iwill-x61 kernel: [320436.276053] usb 2-2: new high speed USB device number 38 using ehci_hcd
Mar 11 14:35:30 iwill-x61 kernel: [320436.412175] scsi17 : usb-storage 2-2:1.0
Mar 11 14:35:30 iwill-x61 mtp-probe: checking bus 2, device 38: "/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb2/2-2"
Mar 11 14:35:31 iwill-x61 mtp-probe: bus: 2, device: 38 was not an MTP device
Mar 11 14:35:40 iwill-x61 kernel: [320446.048060] XFS (sdc1): xfs_log_force: error 5 returned.
Mar 11 14:35:53 iwill-x61 kernel: [320458.960073] usb 2-2: reset high speed USB device number 38 using ehci_hcd
Mar 11 14:36:03 iwill-x61 kernel: [320469.204057] usb 2-2: reset high speed USB device number 38 using ehci_hcd
Mar 11 14:36:10 iwill-x61 kernel: [320476.128565] XFS (sdc1): xfs_log_force: error 5 returned.
Mar 11 14:36:19 iwill-x61 kernel: [320485.448076] usb 2-2: reset high speed USB device number 38 using ehci_hcd
Mar 11 14:36:20 iwill-x61 kernel: [320485.696111] usb 2-2: reset high speed USB device number 38 using ehci_hcd
Mar 11 14:36:30 iwill-x61 kernel: [320495.940068] usb 2-2: reset high speed USB device number 38 using ehci_hcd
Mar 11 14:36:30 iwill-x61 kernel: [320496.072729] scsi 17:0:0:0: Device offlined - not ready after error recovery
Mar 11 14:36:40 iwill-x61 kernel: [320506.208076] XFS (sdc1): xfs_log_force: error 5 returned.
Mar 11 14:37:10 iwill-x61 kernel: [320536.288054] XFS (sdc1): xfs_log_force: error 5 returned.
Mar 11 14:37:40 iwill-x61 kernel: [320566.368072] XFS (sdc1): xfs_log_force: error 5 returned.
Mar 11 14:38:10 iwill-x61 kernel: [320596.448067] XFS (sdc1): xfs_log_force: error 5 returned.

Answer 1

First of all, sorry for the slow response.

Consider using cron and touch to wake your disk. This will awaken the disk every minute.

Run, in a terminal, crontab -e

Now, pick nano if it prompts for an editor.

Add to the end of the file, on a new line:

*/1 * * * * touch /media/usbdisk/touch.txt

Press Ctrl+O(That's the letter O) then Ctrl+X. If the syntax was correct, the command should succeed. Please replace /media/usbdisk/ with the HDD's mountpoint.