EXSi 6.0 | Seagate 4tb External USB shows 0B capacity

[Arry74]

Hi, I am very new to EXSI however i have a domain and virtual router all setup and running well.

Problem is that I just purchased an external USB powered Seagate Hardisk (4tb) that only shows up as 0bytes.

It works well if i plug it into my physical Windows 10 client machine.

See picture below:

Anyone have any idea?

It says Local USV Direct-Access (mpx.vmhba32 etc etc type says disk, status says normal, capacity says zero bytes, queue depth says 1 and Vendor says Seagate?

If anyone could help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Azza

[Alim786]

External USB Drives mounted as Datastores on ESXi servers are officially NOT supported. However there is an article below that suggests a way of doing it. I have not tried it myself, but the author is well regarded :-

http://www.virten.net/2015/10/usb-devices-as-vmfs-datastore-in-vsphere-esxi-6-0/‌

It would be good to know if it works for you. Good Luck !

[Arry74]

Cheers mate, however that is the article that I followed.

When I type in "/etc/init.d/usbarbitrator stop" it says that it is not running?

Should it be running?

When i type in ls /dev/disks/" it shows it is there as mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0

When I type in partedUtil mklabel /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32\:C0\:T0\:L0 gpt

it then says

Error: The device /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0 has zero length, and can't possibly store a file system or partition table.  Perhaps you selected the wrong device?

Unable to get device /dev/disks/mpx.vmhba32:C0:T0:L0

As I am a newbie i have no idea?

I also do not care if I can just get a Windows VM to see it and then share it out etc but I am unable to do that also?

[Alim786]

In that case it probably is not a compatible device with ESXi. Please refer to the guide below to check :-

VMware Compatibility Guide - I/O Device Search‌

[Arry74]

hmmm doesn't seem to have any seagate usb harddisks on the list.

Any other way to get it to work, ie with USB passthrough or anything?

[Alim786]

If it is unsupported, then it is a risk in the first place. However, you have proven that ESXi does not recognise it and so cannot be used as a passthrough either

[Arry74]

hmmm ok what in PITA

so even though EXSi sees it and shows the Vendor etc but not the size means that it is a no go?

[Alim786]

It seems that way.

[Arry74]

hmmm painfull, waste of money on that drive.

Thanks anyway buddy.