Dear Mathew,
Facing the exact same situation, I solved it this way (systemd edition) #stop smartd sudo systemctl stop smartd #find the unit corresponding to your USB disk, will need it later sudo systemctl list-units #Proper way to add directive w/o changing the original file sudo mkdir /lib/systemd/system/smartd.service.d sudo nano /lib/systemd/system/smartd.service.d/custom.conf #add following line in custom.conf, use the name found with sudo systemctl list-units [Unit] Requires=XXXXXX.mount After=XXXXXX.mount #make system aware of unit change sudo systemctl daemon-reload #start smartd sudo systemctl start smartd (+check if all is fine in log) Reboot your device to make a test. I hope it will help BR's Darkbox
