Find the broken hard drive!

no way....

I just came on here to search for some tips and found this thread!

I have exactly the same issue, I have 2 in Raid 0.

I tried running WD datalifeguard tools diag but it doesnt detect them properly for some reason.

Any advise would also be nice

Cheers :)
 
If it's RAID 1+0 then you should be able to pull any one disk out and it'll all keep going. You know the symptoms of a dodgy drive so can you not pull a drive, run with 3 for a while and if the symptoms recurr then the duffer is still in the PC. Put the drive you took out back in and pull another one, repeat until you run with three that work OK and the one which is out must be the dodgy one.

EDIT: might be a pain in the rear if the system wants to rebuild every time you put a drive back in.

Is there not a RAID monitoring doof in the mobo software?
 
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My mobo is a DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR EXPERT.

Yes, the nvidia media shield software tells you that a hard drive has dropped. Thing is all the hard drives are the same model so you cant tell wich one.

I cant stick the drives in another machine, nothing hanging around here has SATA. Probably wouldnt help anyways. Its intermittent.
 
Haha, someone has found the fatal flaw in a RAID0+1 array. I too need to replace a very loud drive (I think unhealthily so because I have 3 others which don't make the same noise).

In the nV specs, there is a light supposed to light up on the failed drive port however, I have not come across any manufacturer who implemented this - really good job there guys!! :rolleyes:

Luckily for me, each array is in a different rack/caddy so I can narrow it down to two drives... I intentionally set it up this way so as to not have too much hassle.

Monstermunch... I'm not a bottomless pit! :D :p.

One thing though, if the drive is new, surely the one with the latest date code should be your first port of call...
 
Trouble ive got is that the drive only falls over occasionally, just got my mate to try thr DIAg TOOLS on his ARRAY and he get the same issue (which is that it seems the WD toold wont read SMART logs from their drives when they are in an array).

Weird :confused:

So im gonna wipe them and place them in one by one to get the SMART logs......
 
smids said:
One thing though, if the drive is new, surely the one with the latest date code should be your first port of call...
Click to expand...

All baught from OC at the same time ;)

I thaught about the very scientific way myself, the "feel if its vibrating" way. Cant be assed to do that though!
 
Well they'll be numbered according to the SATA connector it's plugged into. Drive 1 = SATA1 connector, and so on.
Your array management software should indicate which drive is dead (say, drive 3... then just look at the drive on the No.3 SATA connector).

I've only used a Promise ATA array but had a similar problem until it dawned on me this is how it works....
 
ChrisLX200 said:
Well they'll be numbered according to the SATA connector it's plugged into. Drive 1 = SATA1 connector, and so on.
Your array management software should indicate which drive is dead (say, drive 3... then just look at the drive on the No.3 SATA connector).

I've only used a Promise ATA array but had a similar problem until it dawned on me this is how it works....
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Of course that would work on most nf$ mobo's but not on a DFI who managed to have different labels in BIOS and on the board and in the RAID BIOS - how handy of them!!!

And you can run the DIAG software from DOS, no? When in DOS, it doesn't matter about the array as usually it won't be seen.
 
I don't know about DFI, but most mobbo RAID controllers attempt to load it's BIOS extentions at boot time so should list the drives it can see at least... The Promise BIOS let you know which drive was broke if it was offline at boot (Ctrl-F I think). but an intermittant failure is more difficult!
 
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Yep, intermittent failure is more difficult!

The nvidia array program is crap as far as drive identification is concerned!

nvraid.jpg
 
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I might have found it.

After rebuilding with a faulty drive my XP install is now fudged. Im running the windows install and it doesnt like doing a quick format, it fails.

Ive laid the 4 hard drives out and im doing a full long winded format.

3 drives are hot as hell. The other one is stone cold in comparison.

Whats the chances that that is the duff one?
 
gtabomber said:
Ive laid the 4 hard drives out and im doing a full long winded format.

3 drives are hot as hell. The other one is stone cold in comparison.

Whats the chances that that is the duff one?
Click to expand...
Seriously, stop messing around with guess work.

Get the Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic and run it on every Raptor.

Yeah, it might take about 30 minutes for each drive to complete thorough tests. But that's the price you pay for piece of mind.
 
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