I see. It’s difficult to follow so many apparent issues in a single thread. However, that sure smells like a partition or filesystem error. Is the drive seated properly?
Perhaps try fsck to scan and attempt a repair, if needed. See man fsck for usage.
Yes, if I boot into Manjaro kernel 4.19 the external drive works perfectly. On newer kernels (I tested 5.x and 6.1) it fails with the error messages above.
You may also try to start with fallback-initrd (select it in grub)
OK, I selected fallback (kernel 6.1.55-1) in grub menu - no difference, still only works in kernel 4.19
Then I’ve gotta officially say:
Because it’s not a kernel problem. It may be related to the kernel version, but that doesn’t mean that the kernel doesn’t work. There’s more involved than just the kernel when it comes to mounting issues.
P.S.: Don’t pay too much attention to the category description. 
I pose this question not for the OP but for those who actually might know the answer:
When was the ntfs3 driver introduced to the kernel; or, specifically, which kernel was it introduced in?
Am I correct in assuming it’s not present in 4.19 kernel?
That being the case, my previous suggestion to use ntfs-3g and blacklist ntfs3 should only be applicable to 5.x kernel and upwards, or even 6.1 kernel and upwards.
Can someone either confirm or deny this with due accuracy?
Yes, you are correct. It was only much more recently that ntfs3 became the default. Definitely not before the release of 5.15, I would say.
Thank you.
Then my suggestion for the OP is to again install the 6.1 LTS kernel. Reboot. – and then apply the procedure I previously mentioned:
sudo pacman -S ntfs-3g
sudo bash -c 'echo "blacklist ntfs3" > /etc/modprobe.d/disable-ntfs3.conf'
Or, this as an alternative to forcing bash:
sudo pacman -S ntfs-3g
echo 'blacklist ntfs3' | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/disable-ntfs3.conf
Reboot again, and see if the apparent mount failure still persists.
Nothing ventured; nothing gained. Cheers.
OK:
Still the same dmesg errors 
(with kernel 4.19 there are no errors after [sdf] Attached SCSI disk, it gets mounted and works fine)
[ 80.153966] usb 3-5: new high-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[ 80.296415] usb 3-5: New USB device found, idVendor=14cd, idProduct=6116, bcdDevice= 1.50
[ 80.296420] usb 3-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=3, SerialNumber=2
[ 80.296422] usb 3-5: Product: Mobile HDD
[ 80.296423] usb 3-5: Manufacturer: Super Top
[ 80.296424] usb 3-5: SerialNumber: M6116018VE15
[ 80.296994] usb-storage 3-5:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 80.297266] scsi host10: usb-storage 3-5:1.0
[ 81.310992] scsi 10:0:0:0: Direct-Access Mobile HDD PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
[ 81.311372] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] 312581808 512-byte logical blocks: (160 GB/149 GiB)
[ 81.311504] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Write Protect is off
[ 81.311507] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Mode Sense: 03 00 00 00
[ 81.311632] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] No Caching mode page found
[ 81.311635] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 81.325420] sdf: sdf1
[ 81.325746] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] Attached SCSI disk
[ 93.891820] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_OK cmd_age=11s
[ 93.891824] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] tag#0 Sense Key : Illegal Request [current]
[ 93.891826] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] tag#0 Add. Sense: Invalid command operation code
[ 93.891827] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] tag#0 CDB: Read(6) 08 00 00 3f 08 00
[ 93.891828] critical target error, dev sdf, sector 63 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x80700 phys_seg 1 prio class 2
[ 93.892430] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] tag#0 FAILED Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_OK cmd_age=0s
[ 93.892432] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] tag#0 Sense Key : Illegal Request [current]
[ 93.892433] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] tag#0 Add. Sense: Invalid command operation code
[ 93.892434] sd 10:0:0:0: [sdf] tag#0 CDB: Read(6) 08 00 00 3f 08 00
[ 93.892435] critical target error, dev sdf, sector 63 op 0x0:(READ) flags 0x0 phys_seg 4 prio class 2
[ 93.892438] Buffer I/O error on dev sdf1, logical block 0, async page read
[ 93.892440] Buffer I/O error on dev sdf1, logical block 1, async page read
[ 93.892441] Buffer I/O error on dev sdf1, logical block 2, async page read
[ 93.892442] Buffer I/O error on dev sdf1, logical block 3, async page read
Still using 6.1 LTS kernel – Are you able to swap that USB drive for another one, reboot, and see if a similar message persists?
If it doesn’t then this again will point to the drive itself being the culprit; or the trigger.
Please provide the output of:
sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdf
…and
sudo lsmod | grep --ignore-case ntfs
From both the working- and non-working kernels, please.
This means hardware error - the disk - no matter what the smartctl with a questionable device type argument - which may or may not be correct.
Is this a result of a systematic tesing of application of device specific commands until one yield a result?
The device itself states it is a Western Digital device - with MBR partition layout
You don’t get to decide what is relevant and what is not …
While ntfs3 appears troublesome in some setup - there is nothing from from OP indicating that the device is actually ntfs since the requested inxi has been truncated at what OP decides is relevant.
There is something bad going on with your disk. Backup your data as soon as possible.
Kernel 6.1 LTS
fdisk: cannot open /dev/sdf: Input/output error
Kernel 4.19
Disk /dev/sdf: 149,05 GiB, 160041885696 bytes, 312581808 sectors
Disk model: HDD
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0xd5a11538
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdf1 * 63 312576704 312576642 149G 7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
Nothing on both
No, unfortunately I don’t have another USB HDD, but I’d guess a newer one would work just fine with the newer kernel. I suspect the problem is related to backwards compatibility with the controller of the old USB HDD.
Again,
…looks like the disk…
You think my display resolution, GPU etc. is related to this problem?
Yet it works perfectly fine in Manjaro kernel 4.19, Windows 10, Linux Mint…
It is known that Windows ignores problems easier. I have no idea what Kernel Mint uses, but perhaps it’s an older one.
And it makes sense that it might not work in the newer one, since things change. That’s the way of things, even for humans.
Perhaps not. But cutting only what you think is relevant removes a lot of context…that’s why I also asked it specifically, and why it’s posted to provide everything in all the tutorials and howtos.
The assumption of NTFS (or FAT/EXFAT) was based on:
I understand the frustration, however, perhaps the OP could refrain from misdirected sarcasm when the intention here, is only to help: