Comment 33 for bug 1366538

I can confirm same with old LACIE 250GB

However adding usb-storage quirks 'uw' for it _may_ work around the issue;
e.g. add (just substitute vendor and product id for yours)

options usb-storage quirks=059f:0651:uw

dmesg with above quirks / kernel 3.16.0-31-generic
[ 57.952732] usb 2-4: new high-speed USB device number 3 using ehci-pci
[ 58.085433] usb 2-4: New USB device found, idVendor=059f, idProduct=0651
[ 58.085442] usb 2-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 58.085447] usb 2-4: Product: LaCie Hard Drive USB
[ 58.085451] usb 2-4: Manufacturer: LaCie
[ 58.085454] usb 2-4: SerialNumber: 10000E000CD8F66F
[ 58.086821] usb-storage 2-4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 58.088781] usb-storage 2-4:1.0: Quirks match for vid 059f pid 0651: 800200
[ 58.088857] scsi11 : usb-storage 2-4:1.0
[ 59.088892] scsi 11:0:0:0: Direct-Access SEAGATE ST3250820A 3.AA PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[ 59.089927] sd 11:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg5 type 0
[ 59.090800] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdf] 488397168 512-byte logical blocks: (250 GB/232 GiB)
[ 59.090805] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming Write Enabled
[ 59.090808] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 59.110410] sdf: sdf1
[ 59.112295] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdf] Attached SCSI disk

relevant dmesg _without_ quirks;
[12768.255738] usb 2-4: new high-speed USB device number 3 using ehci-pci
[12768.388658] usb 2-4: New USB device found, idVendor=059f, idProduct=0651
[12768.388667] usb 2-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[12768.388672] usb 2-4: Product: LaCie Hard Drive USB
[12768.388676] usb 2-4: Manufacturer: LaCie
[12768.388679] usb 2-4: SerialNumber: 10000E000CD8F66F
[12768.389259] usb-storage 2-4:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[12768.389422] usb-storage 2-4:1.0: Quirks match for vid 059f pid 0651: 908420
[12768.389475] scsi11 : usb-storage 2-4:1.0
[12769.387735] scsi 11:0:0:0: Direct-Access SEAGATE ST3250820A 3.AA PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[12769.388477] sd 11:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg5 type 0
[12769.389527] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdf] 488397168 512-byte logical blocks: (250 GB/232 GiB)
[12769.395049] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdf] Write Protect is off
[12769.395056] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdf] Mode Sense: 53 00 00 08
[12769.397128] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdf] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[12769.423794] sdf: sdf1
[12769.427236] sd 11:0:0:0: [sdf] Attached SCSI disk