WD15EARS keep droping partition.

[MoxFalder]

Brief:

- i have 1500Tb HDD
- partition created with parted for AdvancedFormat 4096b cluster size
- formated with format m: /FS:NTFS /A:4096 /X [no errors/bad-blocks found]

Problem:

- after moving around 500GB of data to the drive, process is slowed to infinity
- i shutdown and powered on pc, and partition is gone
- with the drive attached windows is booting very long, and no letter assignment to the drive[partition]
- now recovering with testDisk

Question:

- what is the reason for this and how to fix/prevent this [happened with this drive 3 times]

Thanks.

[guru]

Have a read here http://community.wdc.com/t5/Desktop/Pro ... /td-p/6395


Maybe you will find something useful

[Vulcan]

@MoxFalder,

If this is the same drive as in your previous thread, then IMHO you should have followed your own suggestion from the last line of your post:

wd15ears-stopped-working-t21947.html#p147215

... and return / RMA the drive.

- with the drive attached windows is booting very long

= sick drive.

- what is the reason for this and how to fix/prevent this [happened with this drive 3 times]

Since you say it has happened to this drive 3 times, then I expect it is the same drive you described in your last thread. Why didn't you replace it, as you said you were going to do?

You may get more evidence to confirm the drive is sick from either the full, raw SMART data (e.g. smartmontools) or from the tests you can run from WD Data LifeGuard (WD DLG), which you can download from the WD website.

[MoxFalder]

Yes,
this is the same drive.

Right now i testing writing [test]data again to fill full drive[completed %35].
I cleared drive, created new mft, reformated, and by now all looks ok.

I will try fullfill drive with test data and then i run all possible test like "chkdsk m: /f /r", WD DLG, smart..., and will post result.

After investigation, i found out why windows is booting longer:
- win can't recognize file system on the drive partition, and after un-assign drive letter, all back to normal.

I'll keep posting.

[Vulcan]

Yes,
this is the same drive.

So why did you not replace the drive, as you said you were going to do?

Right now i testing writing [test]data again to fill full drive[completed %35].
I cleared drive, created new mft, reformated, and by now all looks ok.

IMHO this is a waste of time, since even if the drive "looks ok" that does not mean there is no problem. That is why I gave very specific advice about useful tests.

I will try fullfill drive with test data and then i run all possible test like "chkdsk m: /f /r"

Again, even if there is no reported error, that does not mean there is no problem. I would not spend time doing that.

WD DLG, smart..., and will post result.

Remember to collect the full, raw, SMART data. Some versions of WD DLG do not show that detail of the SMART data, but smartmontools does (as well as many other utilities). You need to run WD DLG for its testing, even though its SMART data reporting is not the best.

After investigation, i found out why windows is booting longer:
- win can't recognize file system on the drive partition, and after un-assign drive letter, all back to normal.

That is expected when the drive is sick - e.g. trying to read the filesystem on the drive causing lots of retries = delay during boot.

[MoxFalder]

Just won't to find reason why his not working like it should.

Since it's AdvancedFormat new for me, i assume that can be me, because i remember when i just bought this drive, i didn't set jumper, and didn't aligned partition.

Now i read some amount of info and trying make right from start point.

If it fails again, then this is drive, if not, then i learned some useful information.

[Vulcan]

Since it's AdvancedFormat new for me, i assume that can be me

No. A mis-aligned partition on an Advanced Format disk can cause (relatively) slow writing to that disk, but not to "slow to infinity" which you described, and not for a partition which has been used successfully, to then "disappear".

So I still believe the most likely cause of your problems is a faulty disk (or, much less likely, some problems with the SATA interface you are using - I don't know if you have tried more than one). I look forward to seeing the full, raw SMART data, and results of the WD DLG tests:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/940/

[MoxFalder]

Also i should be mention:

- i use pci sata card "Promise FastTrak 378"
- and the second drive connected to this card is 2TB AdvancedFormat from Seagate
- and no problem with Seagate drive at all
- and i attached Seagate only after WD start act strange.

Right now WD if fulfilled completely and running chkdsk e: /f /r

[MoxFalder]

1465137151 KB on the drive.
1465010248 KB in 288 files.
108 KB in 54 index.
0 KB in bad sectors.
110835 KB used by sestem.
65536 KB used by jurnal file.
15960 KB free space.

Cluster size: 4096 байт.
All Clusters on the drive: 366284287.
3990 clusters on drive.

[made a quick translation from russian]

[MoxFalder]

Code:

smartctl 5.41 2011-06-09 r3365 [i686-linux-3.1.6-pmagic] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-11 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Western Digital Caviar Green (Adv. Format)
Device Model:     WDC WD15EARS-00Z5B1
Serial Number:    WD-WMAVU2097376
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 002017825
Firmware Version: 80.00A80
User Capacity:    1,500,301,910,016 bytes [1.50 TB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated
Local Time is:    Tue Feb 21 07:55:14 2012 UTC
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x82)   Offline data collection activity
               was completed without error.
               Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0)   The previous self-test routine completed
               without error or no self-test has ever
               been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection:       (33000) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:           (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
               Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
               Suspend Offline collection upon new
               command.
               Offline surface scan supported.
               Self-test supported.
               Conveyance Self-test supported.
               Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003)   Saves SMART data before entering
               power-saving mode.
               Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01)   Error logging supported.
               General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time:     (   2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:     ( 255) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:     (   5) minutes.
SCT capabilities:           (0x3031)   SCT Status supported.
               SCT Feature Control supported.
               SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x002f   200   200   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       802
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0027   182   179   021    Pre-fail  Always       -       5900
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   097   097   000    Old_age   Always       -       3019
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   079   079   000    Old_age   Always       -       15449
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   098   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       2565
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   197   197   000    Old_age   Always       -       2509
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   180   180   000    Old_age   Always       -       60833
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   113   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       37
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       1
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       13
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0008   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2

SMART Error Log Version: 1
Warning: ATA error count 11617 inconsistent with error log pointer 1

ATA Error Count: 11617 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
   CR = Command Register [HEX]
   FR = Features Register [HEX]
   SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
   SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
   CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
   CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
   DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
   DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
   ER = Error register [HEX]
   ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Conveyance offline  Completed without error       00%     13826         -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.


[MoxFalder]

DLGDIAG:

Code:

Test Option: EXTENDED TEST
Model Number: Promise 1+0 Stripe/RAID0
Unit Serial Number: 
Firmware Number: 1.10
Capacity: 1500.30 GB
SMART Status: Not Available
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 15:03:04, February 21, 2012


Also i need to mention that after last partition disappearing i replaced sata cable on this drive.

So drive looks good, will try use with some real data, will see what happend [or nothing happend].

So may it be just a sata cable, and bad connection ?

[MoxFalder]

Also under gparted i made a "check" partition and got this strange result"

Code:

GParted 0.11.0-pmagic --enable-libparted-dmraid

Libparted 2.3
Check and repair file system (ntfs) on /dev/sda1  00:00:24    ( SUCCESS )   
         
calibrate /dev/sda1  00:00:01    ( SUCCESS )   
         
path: /dev/sda1
start: 2,048
end: 2,930,276,351
size: 2,930,274,304 (1.36 TiB)   
check file system on /dev/sda1 for errors and (if possible) fix them  00:00:23    ( SUCCESS )   
         
ntfsresize -P -i -f -v /dev/sda1   
         
ntfsresize v2011.4.12 (libntfs-3g)
Device name : /dev/sda1
NTFS volume version: 3.1
Cluster size : 4096 bytes
Current volume size: 1500300440064 bytes (1500301 MB)
Current device size: 1500300443648 bytes (1500301 MB)
Checking for bad sectors ...
ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000004 size: 1024 usa_ofs: 0 usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
Record 366 has no FILE magic (0x4)
ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000004 size: 1024 usa_ofs: 0 usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
Record 367 has no FILE magic (0x4)
ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000004 size: 1024 usa_ofs: 0 usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
Record 366 has no FILE magic (0x4)
ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000004 size: 1024 usa_ofs: 0 usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
Record 367 has no FILE magic (0x4)
Checking filesystem consistency ...
Accounting clusters ...
Space in use : 1494415 MB (99.6%)
Collecting resizing constraints ...
Estimating smallest shrunken size supported ...
File feature Last used at By inode
$MFT : 1 MB 0
$MFTMirr : 750151 MB 1
Ordinary : 1500301 MB 291
You might resize at 1494414098432 bytes or 1494415 MB (freeing 5886 MB).
Please make a test run using both the -n and -s options before real resizing!
grow file system to fill the partition  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )   
         
run simulation  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )   
         
ntfsresize -P --force --force /dev/sda1 --no-action   
         
ntfsresize v2011.4.12 (libntfs-3g)
Device name : /dev/sda1
NTFS volume version: 3.1
Cluster size : 4096 bytes
Current volume size: 1500300440064 bytes (1500301 MB)
Current device size: 1500300443648 bytes (1500301 MB)
New volume size : 1500300440064 bytes (1500301 MB)
Nothing to do: NTFS volume size is already OK.
real resize  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )   
         
ntfsresize -P --force --force /dev/sda1   
         
ntfsresize v2011.4.12 (libntfs-3g)
Device name : /dev/sda1
NTFS volume version: 3.1
Cluster size : 4096 bytes
Current volume size: 1500300440064 bytes (1500301 MB)
Current device size: 1500300443648 bytes (1500301 MB)
New volume size : 1500300440064 bytes (1500301 MB)
Nothing to do: NTFS volume size is already OK.
========================================


[Vulcan]

- i use pci sata card "Promise FastTrak 378"

This might be involved with your reported symptom of "dropped partition" and it is causing problems with diagnosis - see below. If I was in your situation, I would immediately stop using this HBA, and use a normal (e.g. on-board, non-RAID, standard ACPI or even IDE-emulation) HBA, until you have found the cause(s) of your problem (or, of course, your problems might stop after you use a normal HBA ).

SMART data shows the drive is not perfect, but much better than I had expected in my hypothesis - however I thought you had done a full Windows format recently, in which case there should be zero sectors pending reallocation, but...:

Code:

197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       1
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   200   200   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2


... that is therefore a surprise, if the drive has just been zero-filled.

This next attribute suggests there have been SATA errors at some point in the past:

Code:

199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       13


... but without seeing previous SMART data for comparison, we don't know when this value was increasing, and when (or if!) it has stopped increasing. I see you mention that you have replaced the SATA cable recently. However SATA cables are not the only cause for this counter to increase. Further monitoring of this counter is needed IMHO.

Code:

Warning: ATA error count 11617 inconsistent with error log pointer 1


This is bad news in 2 ways - 11617 logged errors is a big number, but due to an apparent problem with reading the drive's internal log, we cannot see what commands were failing and exactly how they were failing. This is very bad news for diagnosis.

I guess that you still had the WD drive attached to that Promise HBA, when you ran smartctl to gather the SMART data you supplied. If so, then smartctl probably used a pass-through command to try to gather the SMART data from the drive, even though the HBA stopped WD DLG from getting this direct access (see below). Again, I would move that drive to a "dumb" HBA and re-run the gathering of SMART data, to see if the problem reading the SMART ATA error log is caused by the pass-through functionality needed when attached to the Promise HBA, or is actually a drive problem.

FYI this SMART data was gathered with no recent SMART tests having been done on the drive (last SMART test was done 1623 power-on hours before this SMART data was collected on 21 Feb), and that was not a full test, but a "conveyance" test.

From dlgdiag:

Code:

Test Option: EXTENDED TEST
Model Number: Promise 1+0 Stripe/RAID0 [<<< This shows test was NOT accessing the drive directly]
Unit Serial Number: [<<< Serial number missing for same reason]
Firmware Number: 1.10
Capacity: 1500.30 GB
SMART Status: Not Available [<<< SMART status not available for the same reason, which prevented the main reason for running DLG, which is that it can perform proprietary checks of WD drives, to give greater confidence of correct diagnosis]


This is typical when a RAID HBA is used, and it prevents normal direct access to the individual drives, so that is affecting the testing which DLG can do.

Also under gparted i made a "check" partition and got this strange result

I didn't ask for that test, and I don't have time to review all that data at the moment. You can ask whoever suggested that test, to analyse the result for you. My brief suggestion would be to review the Linux dmesg (or /var/messages, or however you can see the Linux messages when gparted was being run) to see if there were any errors being logged. The errors from gparted seem to suggest logical, not physical, problems and again that could be related to the HBA and/or its drivers (but the Linux kernel messages do also need to be checked).

Therefore yet again, to eliminate any problems being introduced by that HBA or its drivers, I would use a standard HBA instead for all testing now, until you are confident in the drive itself. Then re-run SMART data collection and re-run DLG tests, after confirming that the drive model is correctly recognised by DLG.

[MoxFalder]

Ok,
thanks for help.

I think i will run some test on the weekend, but
i understand that if drive fail again, his not worth time for problem investigation.

Thank you.

[Vulcan]

I think i will run some test on the weekend, but
i understand that if drive fail again, his not worth time for problem investigation.

That is not what I was saying in my reply above! I explained in detail why a different configuration would be much better for your testing, and testing using that different configuration might show that the drive itself is usable.

If you do not change the configuration as I suggested, then you cannot correctly perform the most necessary testing. But it's your disk, so it's your choice what you do