"No external drive found" SSD not working after many tries

Hi, been trying to set up my 870QVO SSD but Umbrel keeps returning the same error after a minute of loading : “No external drive found”

I first used a cable then bought a case, nothing changed

One clue is the cable/case both have a led that lights up when SSD is connected to a PC, but does not light up when connected to my RP 4 (4gb), could this be an issue with the power supply?

I have flashed the SD card between every try, and tried without a partition on the SSD but also with the ext4 file system, to no avail. I also tried two different updates (0.4.10 and 0.4.09), different power supplies, plugging SSD into 2.0 port…
thank you for your help

Hey qbit - at first glance, it seems like a power issue, though just to confirm - the drive does work when connected to your PC?

Is anything else connected to your Pi? Other USB devices, or maybe a fan / heat-sink?

Power supplies (aside the official pi power supply) have a record of being spotty, and the pi itself has very specific limitations as to power consumption.

Yes SSD works fine on my PC

There is only a small fan connected to the pi, which I just tried to disconnect, gave it a go and still no sign of life from the SSD

I bought a cheap Pi kit off amazon, so maybe the power supply is to blame, but I did try with other USB-c power supplies, including one used for “fast charging” my phone…

I’m not sure what to try next, buy the official power supply? or buy a SSD case with a PSU dedicated to the SSD? Thank you

The official power supply should be sufficient, I’d start there.

I bought the official power supply and tried multiple times, I still get the same error (both w/ cable and case), and the led connected to the ssd still doesn’t light up, which tells me this isn’t caused by umbrel but rather some issue with power… don’t know what to try anymore, seems like my pi is cursed

Maybe your SD card is damaged. Try a new one, and I sugest you to flash it with version 4.7 of Umbrel, for me this gave less problems.

I don’t have another microSD on me, but I tried with version 4.7 to no avail, the errors displayed seem even more severe
While I don’t exclude the possibility of a damaged card, why would the light on my SSD still be off ? it should turn on as soon as it is plugged into the Pi, whether the OS is corrupted or working right?

SSH returns same error with 4.7, and here’s the web interface:

These errors don’t really mean a lot, it just means that your pi isn’t reading your drive at all. Do you happen to have another SSD (or even regular HDD) lying around? We need to figure out if it’s your SSD that’s bad, or if it’s the case/cable that’s the problem, or if it’s potentially the pi itself.

Just reload the page if you get that error page. Click the reload button of browser, don’t “return” command on keyboard

Hi Jon, tried with my (working) HDD and still nothing, led light isn’t on and disk not turning. I also finally bought the recommended case, doesn’t work either.
I’m thinking the Pi has an issue, I don’t see any other possibility (I have the official power supply), so I’ll be exchanging it

The new Pi works fine, currently synced at 81%
So if anyone has the same issue (SSD’s lights are off), your Pi may be faulty, but not the SSD
See you on the LN!

Hey guys I had to SSH into my node and restart from scratch and recover using my seed. when my node went to resync I noticed it didn’t notice my SSD storage anymore. Do I need to take the SSD and wipe it clean? and plug it back in? I’am on windows