Are you saying that smartctl's/the kernel's inability/refusal to do SMART txns with the drive may be due to drawing insufficient power from the Pi? That seems surprising as this is supposed to be a bus-powered device and surely the Pi meets the minimal spec requirements in that regard.Without realizing, I already skipped the option that you use RPI4 for examining the drive(s). Also other cheap SBC's that only can accept 5V you might experience similar problems. I have experienced that several times, so I use normal PC/motherboard with some recent Linux in such cases. 1 PC I have has an extra Renesas USB3 card, it behaves different then the native Intel one or AMD chipsets when connecting USB devices.I certainly want to do more analysis but as I showed in my reply to you, smartctl will not read this drive. From further reading I see that there may be workarounds for this too, but one has a performance penalty and the other depends on something I don't know how to verify (that the drive supports SAT passthrough despite the kernel thinking otherwise) and may carry some risk if I get it wrong.
[Regarding my buying priorities, my main one is not needing to buy another one for as long as possible.]
The sad thing here is that is an integrated storage solution, so you can't open the device and take out the NVMe or SSD and connect it to native storage port via M.2 M-key slot or SATA port respectively (and apply own/different power). You can use lsusb command to see what USB chip it is, but there is no option to change it, as that is the usual advice to people who connect separate SSD to USB-SATA adapter cable (if JMicron, get an ASMedia thing).
So re-purpose I think, I get the feeling those devices are not really for main storage. So, as for example, my 1TB 840 EVO has served 10 years or so as block-cache for HDDs earlier and still no sign of wear-out. On the other hand, I have a similar concept WD Elements, integrated/soldered HDD, was 99 euros for 5GB, but totally rotten/unusable now due to SMR; Seems only meant for cold backup once a year or so maybe, not every month like I did.
That USB based storage can be problematic is more than a decade old, so you are better off with skipping the USB part in a chain. That means no RPI4 for me anymore at least, I have several M.2 and SATA 'ARMs' and it works great for just a secondhand NMVe (256GB, 10 euros) and several 4-8TB 3.5 inch HDDs I pulled out of my older PC's.
I'll check the drive with my laptop when I get the chance but it needed to be back in service for now, and the other comments have suggested I'm not likely to need to replace it urgently at this stage now that TRIM has been activated.
Statistics: Posted by Havinit — Sat Dec 13, 2025 3:30 pm