Running Ubuntu desktop 8.04.2 (LTS), updated to latest packages. I had a bad server crash, and picked up a backup from one of my virtual machines from the previous day (lucky me). I moved the vm (which happens to be a file server) to a USB drive, fresh-installed ubuntu and vmware server 2.0, and to my shock and horror, the USB disconnects after a random amount of time, crashing the VM in the process. worse still, the directory where it was mounted previously (/media/disk) hangs with an IO error, I can't move it or otrhewise do anything with it. The device is remounted on a different directory (/media/disk-1). VMWare does not like it at all, so I have to restart the whole system to bring back the VM. ---------- output of uname -a: Linux fileserver 2.6.24-23-generic #1 SMP Mon Jan 26 00:13:11 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux --------- tail of dmesg: [ 1164.424147] usb 4-1: USB disconnect, address 3 [ 1164.424363] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=DID_ERROR driverbyte=DRIVER_OK,SUGGEST_OK [ 1164.424369] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 680117055 [ 1164.424375] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 85014624 [ 1164.424379] lost page write due to I/O error on sdb1 [ 1164.424387] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 85014625 [ 1164.424390] lost page write due to I/O error on sdb1 [ 1164.424393] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 85014626 [ 1164.424396] lost page write due to I/O error on sdb1 [ 1164.424400] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 85014627 [ 1164.424403] lost page write due to I/O error on sdb1 [ 1164.424406] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 85014628 [ 1164.424409] lost page write due to I/O error on sdb1 [ 1164.424413] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 85014629 [ 1164.424415] lost page write due to I/O error on sdb1 [ 1164.424419] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 85014630 [ 1164.424422] lost page write due to I/O error on sdb1 [ 1164.424425] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 85014631 [ 1164.424428] lost page write due to I/O error on sdb1 [ 1164.424431] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 85014632 [ 1164.424434] lost page write due to I/O error on sdb1 [ 1164.424437] Buffer I/O error on device sdb1, logical block 85014633 [ 1164.424440] lost page write due to I/O error on sdb1 [ 1164.425094] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=DID_NO_CONNECT driverbyte=DRIVER_OK,SUGGEST_OK [ 1164.425099] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 680117295 [ 1164.426041] sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Result: hostbyte=DID_NO_CONNECT driverbyte=DRIVER_OK,SUGGEST_OK [ 1164.426045] end_request: I/O error, dev sdb, sector 680117535 [ 1164.442854] Aborting journal on device sdb1. [ 1164.442887] journal commit I/O error [ 1164.442991] ext3_abort called. [ 1164.442993] EXT3-fs error (device sdb1): ext3_journal_start_sb: Detected aborted journal [ 1164.442997] Remounting filesystem read-only [ 1864.510439] usb 4-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 4 [ 2331.229034] usb 4-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice [ 2331.240690] scsi3 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices [ 2331.242566] usb-storage: device found at 4 [ 2331.242574] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning [ 1167.242925] usb-storage: device scan complete [ 1167.243546] scsi 3:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic External 1.03 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4 [ 1167.255763] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] 1465149168 512-byte hardware sectors (750156 MB) [ 1167.256873] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off [ 1167.256877] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 21 00 00 00 [ 1167.256880] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through [ 1167.257992] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] 1465149168 512-byte hardware sectors (750156 MB) [ 1167.258868] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off [ 1167.258871] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 21 00 00 00 [ 1167.258874] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through [ 1167.258878] sdc: sdc1 [ 1167.274080] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI disk [ 1167.274134] sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0 [ 3134.868550] kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds [ 3134.870509] EXT3 FS on sdc1, internal journal [ 3134.870519] EXT3-fs: recovery complete. [ 3134.871251] EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. [ 3320.434207] vmmon: Had to deallocate locked 65782 pages from vm driver ef174a00 [ 3320.439024] vmmon: Had to deallocate AWE 3767 pages from vm driver ef174a00 [ 3320.442280] device eth0 left promiscuous mode [ 3320.442302] audit(1237626776.772:4): dev=eth0 prom=0 old_prom=256 auid=4294967295 [ 3320.442332] bridge-eth0: disabled promiscuous mode ---------------------- I am not a C/C++ programmer, but I want to help debugging this one with all the information I can provide. What can I do to help (besides addin a 'me too' to this bug report)?