External usb HDD disconnects, system gets messed up

[Marcin Wisnicki]

On Fri, 26 Nov 2010 08:17:47 +0100, Hans Petter Selasky wrote:
> 
> I think that the USB part of your USB disk has died or there has been a
> firmware crash. Other OS'es will perform a complete device reset in this
> situation and sometimes that help, but still that is hiding a problem
> about the device. We don't do that on FreeBSD, and that might be the
> reason it does not recover.

Then print a warning. A lot of self-powered 2.5 disks I've used had the 
same problem.

Also, would it be possible to somehow keep the kernel device if physical 
device reappears within few seconds (with i/o temporarily frozen) such 
that existing mount points keep working ?

> 
> Check that your disk has external power supply! Sometimes the power
> supplied on the USB port is not sufficient.

> 
> --HPS