WD Hard drive failing in RAID 10 setup?

[TeaganP]

Hi all...

I recently built a new machine not all that long ago. My intention was to build a RAID 10 system. I did build the same system about 18 months ago. I used 4 Western Digital Caviar Green hard drives at 1TB a piece. The exact code for my drives are WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1.

I have had this machine running now for over 18 months with these 4 hard drives, as stated, running on a RAID 10 and it has been fine, no problems at all. But this machine that I've recently built I've started having a problem with one of the drives which is on Port 1. I've paid very close attention to the motherboard manual whilst building my latest PC and I've done everything right as far as this RAID 10 is concerned, just like my other machine. The problem is that I keep getting the drive failure message now and that the RAID has been degraded.

This has happened twice now, it happened last Wednesday and it's happened again tonight one week later. The last time I managed to rebuild the RAID by simply marking the failed drive as normal and it took about 3.5 hours to rebuild. I'm doing this again now right at the moment, the same as last time. But seriously though does this mean that there's something wrong with the drive in question? The one that's connected to Port 1.

I was thinking that maybe I could take the drive back to the place I bought it from tomorrow during the day, I was also thinking about phoning them up in the morning and talk to their techical support but I thought it would probably be best to come here first and post a thread on overclockers forum.

I'm quite sure considering my other machine that it's totally fine to use Western Digital Caviar Green drives in RAID. If you go to their website and read the PDF for the drive it does state they can be used in consumer RAID applications. I trust this comment but still what should I do about it?

Do I go and take the drive back and get a replacement? Or maybe do I consider something else instead? It's weird on my previous RAID machine 18 months of totally free problems so surely it should work just fine?

I dunno what to do really, maybe either take it back and try another drive will fix it?

Please can somebody help me, I'm kind of stuck with this....

The thing with it is, my other machine I've been running the RAID 10 on for ages I've not used it that often but this new machine I've built the other week I'm running it quite a lot more, like leaving it running for long periods of time when I'm in...

 

[TeaganP]

I just phoned the place where I bought my drives from. I told this guy what was happening and he said it could well be a faulty drive so he said if it drops out again then to take it back and they will test it. So next week if it happens again at some point I think I will do that and see if I can get it replaced. Obviously this does happen, it shouldn't be dropping out really but it is so I hope I can resolve the problem soon

 

[wonko]

Are there any event logs that would give clues as to why the drive dropped out of the array?
Also, can you access the SMART data or run the WD diagnostics on the disk (may not be possible while the disk is part of an array)?

 

[TeaganP]

Are there any event logs that would give clues as to why the drive dropped out of the array?
Also, can you access the SMART data or run the WD diagnostics on the disk (may not be possible while the disk is part of an array)?

I honestly don't know, all I know is what's in the Intel Matrix Storage Console. If there's maybe some sort of other log you know about?

There's a report here that I've created from the console:

System Information

Kit Installed: 8.9.0.1023
Kit Install History: 8.9.0.1023, Uninstall
Shell Version: 8.9.0.1023

OS Name: Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Version: 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3 Build 2600
System Name: *****
System Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
System Model: P7P55D-E
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 760 @ 2.80GHz
BIOS Version/Date: American Megatrends Inc. 1504 , 12/14/2010

Language: ENU



Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager

Intel RAID Controller: Intel(R) ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO/PCH SATA RAID Controller
Number of Serial ATA ports: 6

RAID Option ROM Version: 8.9.0.1023
Driver Version: 8.9.0.1023
RAID Plug-In Version: 8.9.0.1023
Language Resource Version of the RAID Plug-In: 8.9.0.1023
Create Volume Wizard Version: 8.9.0.1023
Language Resource Version of the Create Volume Wizard: 8.9.0.1023
Create Volume from Existing Hard Drive Wizard Version: 8.9.0.1023
Language Resource Version of the Create Volume from Existing Hard Drive Wizard: 8.9.0.1023
Modify Volume Wizard Version: 8.9.0.1023
Language Resource Version of the Modify Volume Wizard: 8.9.0.1023
Delete Volume Wizard Version: 8.9.0.1023
Language Resource Version of the Delete Volume Wizard: 8.9.0.1023
ISDI Library Version: 8.9.0.1023
Event Monitor User Notification Tool Version: 8.9.0.1023
Language Resource Version of the Event Monitor User Notification Tool: 8.9.0.1023
Event Monitor Version: 8.9.0.1023

Array_0000
Status: No active migrations
Hard Drive Data Cache Enabled: Yes
Size: 3726 GB
Free Space: 0 GB
Number of Hard Drives: 4
Hard Drive Member 1: WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1
Hard Drive Member 2: WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1
Hard Drive Member 3: WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1
Hard Drive Member 4: WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1
Number of Volumes: 1
Volume Member 1: Volume10

Volume10
Status: Normal
System Volume: Yes
Volume Write-Back Cache Enabled: No
RAID Level: RAID 10 (striping and mirroring)
Strip Size: 64 KB
Size: 1863 GB
Physical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Logical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Number of Hard Drives: 4
Hard Drive Member 1: WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1
Hard Drive Member 2: WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1
Hard Drive Member 3: WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1
Hard Drive Member 4: WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1
Parent Array: Array_0000

Hard Drive 0
Usage: Array member
Status: Normal
Device Port: 0
Device Port Location: Internal
Current Serial ATA Transfer Mode: Generation 2
Model: WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1
Serial Number: WD-WCAV5R884677
Firmware: 80.00A80
Native Command Queuing Support: Yes
Hard Drive Data Cache Enabled: Yes
Size: 931.5 GB
Physical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Logical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Number of Volumes: 1
Volume Member 1: Volume10
Parent Array: Array_0000

Hard Drive 1
Usage: Array member
Status: Normal
Device Port: 1
Device Port Location: Internal
Current Serial ATA Transfer Mode: Generation 2
Model: WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1
Serial Number: WD-WCAV5R884737
Firmware: 80.00A80
Native Command Queuing Support: Yes
Hard Drive Data Cache Enabled: Yes
Size: 931.5 GB
Physical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Logical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Number of Volumes: 1
Volume Member 1: Volume10
Parent Array: Array_0000

Hard Drive 2
Usage: Array member
Status: Normal
Device Port: 2
Device Port Location: Internal
Current Serial ATA Transfer Mode: Generation 2
Model: WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1
Serial Number: WD-WCAV5R848189
Firmware: 80.00A80
Native Command Queuing Support: Yes
Hard Drive Data Cache Enabled: Yes
Size: 931.5 GB
Physical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Logical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Number of Volumes: 1
Volume Member 1: Volume10
Parent Array: Array_0000

Hard Drive 3
Usage: Array member
Status: Normal
Device Port: 3
Device Port Location: Internal
Current Serial ATA Transfer Mode: Generation 2
Model: WDC WD10EARS-00Y5B1
Serial Number: WD-WCAV5R882615
Firmware: 80.00A80
Native Command Queuing Support: Yes
Hard Drive Data Cache Enabled: Yes
Size: 931.5 GB
Physical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Logical Sector Size: 512 Bytes
Number of Volumes: 1
Volume Member 1: Volume10
Parent Array: Array_0000

Unused Port 0
Device Port: 4
Device Port Location: Internal

Unused Port 1
Device Port: 5
Device Port Location: Internal

I don't know about testing software for the drive? I'm gonna go and have a look now on the WD website to see if there's anything but like you say it might not be possible if it's part of an array. This is the first time that I've had trouble with a RAID 10 before, as I said in my first post my old system has been trouble free for 18 months. I did suggest to the guy on the phone today where I bought the drives that these might be the wrong drives for RAID but he said they're fine. He said it's probably a faulty drive so I should take it back but if it does it again. With my old system the drives have never failed and they're completely identical to these ones.

 

[TeaganP]

*PROBLEM SOLVED*

To anybody who has read/reads this thread I posted the other week. I have solved this problem, I now know what it causing my hard drive to drop out of the raid...

It is simply this, the problem is related to Intel and it's their fault. Intel have made a boobie The sad thing about it is that when I bought my motherboard last month the disc that comes with it, they ship Intel Matrix Storage Manager version 8.9. But there has been problems with that version of it and there has been many people complaining that drives have dropped out of the raid when clearly there's nothing physically wrong with the drives at all. I have discovered this myself, because of Intel and their poor version of the Matrix Manager they have released I am now left with the choice that the only solution to resolve this problem is by having to start all over and wipe my PC, recreate the raid again and then install Windows XP all over again etc.. etc.. which right at this moment in time I simply cannot be bothered and have more interesting things to do with my time lol

If Intel had released a more stable and better produced Matrix Manager than the release of 8.9 I wouldn't have to be rebuilding all my operating system again so it's their fault really. The only choice really is to go to version 8.8 instead.

It makes sense really, my older machine, which was created 18 months ago was installed with something like Matrix Manager version 8.0.... This version seems very good, I've never had a problem.

I wish there was a simple way of removing the Matrix Manager I have on my computer at the moment and reinstalling the 8.8 version but sadly if I do take it off then my RAID won't run anymore so I'll have to start over anyway lol Sod's law really...

At least I know what it is now, dam those Intel people you'd think they would take more care over something like that but I guess they're not bothered anyway. Just like a lot of things these days, never get made properly like also some Graphics Card drivers, there's a lot of them that suck also because these people aren't doing their jobs properly and can't even made a driver work right without making a complete mess of it lol

Oh well...

I'm glad I didn't take my hard drive back to the place I bought it, that would have been a complete waste of time