Samsung HD204UI write error rate

memphis_1220

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 28, 2004
Messages
499
Hi,

I have two Samsung HD204UI HDD's. Both of these show an increasing number of write errors via SMART (C8 - Write Error Rate) (as you can see below).

On one drive the raw data is 29 and the other is over 50. The current/worst values on both of the drives are still at the original 100. There are no other problems reported, like Raw Read Error Rate, Reallocated Sector Count, etc; only B5 - Program Fail Count which I hear are false positives caused by Windows.

These drives have had over 1.5 TB written to them so far.

Is this normal? Should I only start to worry when the current/worst values start to drop?

Does anyone know how the current value of attribute C8 is calculated? Is it perhaps relative to attribute 09 - Power On Hours Count?

Code:
HD Tune Pro: SAMSUNG HD204UI Health

ID                                  Current  Worst    ThresholdData     Status   
(01) Raw Read Error Rate            100      100      51       0        ok       
(02) Throughput Performance         252      252      0        0        ok       
(03) Spin Up Time                   67       67       25       10156    ok       
(04) Start/Stop Count               100      100      0        18       ok       
(05) Reallocated Sector Count       252      252      10       0        ok       
(07) Seek Error Rate                252      252      51       0        ok       
(08) Seek Time Performance          252      252      15       0        ok       
(09) Power On Hours Count           100      100      0        59       ok       
(0A) Spin Retry Count               252      252      51       0        ok       
(0B) Calibration Retry Count        252      252      0        0        ok       
(0C) Power Cycle Count              100      100      0        23       ok       
(B5) Program Fail Count             100      100      0        2374116  ok       
(BF) G-sense Error Rate             252      252      0        0        ok       
(C0) Unsafe Shutdown Count          252      252      0        0        ok       
(C2) Temperature                    64       64       0        983063   ok       
(C3) Hardware ECC Recovered         100      100      0        0        ok       
(C4) Reallocated Event Count        252      252      0        0        ok       
(C5) Current Pending Sector         252      252      0        0        ok       
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable          252      252      0        0        ok       
(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count      200      200      0        0        ok       
(C8) Write Error Rate               100      100      0        29       ok       
(DF) Load/Unload Retry Count        252      252      0        0        ok       
(E1) Load/Unload Cycle Count        100      100      0        23       ok       

Health Status         : ok

I have updated the firmware on both drives as well. I have refrained from checking the SMART data while copying data to the drive.

Cheers
 
I'm seeing the same behavior on my WD10EALS. I only got one response in my thread, which I'm interpreting more as a "don't worry about it"...but mine has increased from the original 3, to 10, to 33, and now 44. You can bet I'm worried now.

My current/worst values are still at the default (like yours), which is the only thing giving me optimism at this point.
 
Do you know if you had the write errors before or after the firmware update?
 
Can anyone offer any advice on the latest in this saga?

I have access to another one of these HDD's from a different retailer (different mfr date as well). All three have had the firmware update applied several times. All three are showing increasing write errors. These errors have caused some of my ISO rips to become corrupt (they keep skipping).

This evening I have:

  • Updated the BIOS on my P6T Deluxe V2.
  • Connected the HDD to an ASUS USB3/SATA3 add on card.
The write errors have continued to rise. One of the drives is now at 353 write errors. There are no reallocated sectors or other errors.

I've booted to a Ubuntu 10.10 live CD and so far copied 450 GB to the aforementioned HDD with no increase in write errors. Previously on Windows these were increasing after every 5-10 GB.

I am going to leave this going until it copies the full 1.5 TB. If this ends with no increase in write errors this suggests it is a Windows problem.

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit on the i7 920 system in my sig. Can anyone offer any suggestions?

Cheers.
 
@OP

Have you considered the possibility of bad cables? They can easily cause write errors.
 
The copy finished (1.5 TB) within Ubuntu with no increase in write errors :S

I downloaded smartmontools from Ubuntu's APT so it should be the latest version. It is recognising the SMART attribute 200 0xC8 as Write error rate rather than the Multi zone error rate. It is identical to smartmontools, HD Tune and Crystal Disk within Windows.

I will post the results of smartmontools later this afternoon.

@parityboy, I think I am using two different sets of SATA cable between the three drives but I'll try another one.
 
I have tried another SATA cable and also enabled AHCI and disabled write caching in Windows. The write errors continue to increase. I didn't restart after disabling the write cache on the disks as I was not prompted. I will try this later.

Back on Ubuntu here is the output of smartctl on one of the offending HDD's.

Code:
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdd
smartctl 5.40 2010-03-16 r3077 [x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model:     SAMSUNG HD204UI
Serial Number:    **************
Firmware Version: 1AQ10001
User Capacity:    2,000,398,934,016 bytes
Device is:        Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  ATA-8-ACS revision 6
Local Time is:    Tue Feb 22 18:23:19 2011 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:  (0x00)    Offline data collection activity
                    was never started.
                    Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (  41)    The self-test routine was interrupted
                    by the host with a hard or soft reset.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection:          (20460) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:              (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                    Suspend Offline collection upon new
                    command.
                    Offline surface scan supported.
                    Self-test supported.
                    No 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.
SCT capabilities:            (0x003f)    SCT Status supported.
                    SCT Error Recovery Control 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   100   100   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0026   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0023   066   066   025    Pre-fail  Always       -       10379
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       37
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   252   252   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   252   252   051    Old_age   Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0024   252   252   015    Old_age   Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       111
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   252   252   051    Old_age   Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       41
181 Program_Fail_Cnt_Total  0x0022   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       40836541
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x0022   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0022   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   064   064   000    Old_age   Always       -       28 (Lifetime Min/Max 15/34)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x003a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   252   252   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0036   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x002a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       356
223 Load_Retry_Count        0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
225 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       42

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Offline             Interrupted (host reset)      90%       106         -
# 2  Extended captive    Self-test routine in progress 90%       106         -
# 3  Extended offline    Aborted by host               90%       106         -

Note: selective self-test log revision number (0) not 1 implies that no selective self-test has ever been run
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 0
Note: revision number not 1 implies that no selective self-test has ever been run
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Interrupted [90% left] (0-65535)
    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.

I have found from dmesg that write cache is disabled for this disk in Ubuntu:

Code:
[    7.516745] ata4: SATA link up 3.0 Gbps (SStatus 123 SControl 300)
[    7.522946] ata4.00: ATA-8: SAMSUNG HD204UI, 1AQ10001, max UDMA/133
[    7.522950] ata4.00: 3907029168 sectors, multi 16: LBA48 NCQ (depth 31/32), AA
[    7.529287] ata4.00: configured for UDMA/133
[    7.546800] scsi 3:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ATA      SAMSUNG HD204UI  1AQ1 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[    7.546910] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdd] 3907029168 512-byte logical blocks: (2.00 TB/1.81 TiB)
[    7.546937] sd 3:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg4 type 0
[    7.546956] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdd] Write Protect is off
[    7.546959] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdd] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[    7.546987] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdd] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[    7.547068]  sdd: sdd1
[    7.592598] sd 3:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI disk

I am running another large copy to this disk within Ubuntu to see if yesterday was just a one off. If there are no more write errors I will enable write (write back?) cache and see how that fairs under Linux.
 
Also, your drive seems to be running really hot - 65C? That can't be good, would it?
 
The 64 is the normalized value for the temperature. The real value is 28 degrees celsius.
 
Time for an update.

My second large copy on Ubuntu returned two write errors after about 300 GB so I stopped it. The previous copy was copying to an ext4 partition whereby this one was an existing NTFS partition. Not sure if this would make a difference.

This evening I installed Intel Rapid Storage Technology manager and found that both of my HD204UI's say that disk write cache is enabled even though the option is unticked in Windows. I read that when they are running in AHCI mode that you control write cache via Windows. If this is true it does not seem to have worked. Write errors are still increasing. I switched to RAID mode (with no array; just standalone disks) and it made no difference.

I switched back to IDE and turned off "Windows write-cache buffer flushing on the device" and ran another copy. One minute into the copy there were seven more write errors!

Without any third party application like HD Tune or Crystal Disk open does Windows 7 have anything that will actively monitor SMART in the background. I am starting to wonder whether the firmware update was successful and that I may be falling victim to the bug. Any thoughts?
 
Well I'm hoping that you didn't update the firmware right. From an email that someone posted Samsung used the excuse that they didn't change the firmware number because it would take like a month to do it. Well it's been over a month now.

I tried numerous times and the only way I got it to work was with a flash drive with FreeDOS.

I ran the ESTools 3.01v (IIRC) before and it failed. Then did the patch and it passed. Did this for both of my drives and same results. Have you ran that yet?

This is what I did, Jayman took my post and made it much better.
 
Well I'm hoping that you didn't update the firmware right. From an email that someone posted Samsung used the excuse that they didn't change the firmware number because it would take like a month to do it. Well it's been over a month now.

I tried numerous times and the only way I got it to work was with a flash drive with FreeDOS.

I ran the ESTools 3.01v (IIRC) before and it failed. Then did the patch and it passed. Did this for both of my drives and same results. Have you ran that yet?

This is what I did, Jayman took my post and made it much better.

I have read of people having a lot of issues flashing the firmware but I have run it about 3-4 times per drive. I even did it the other day by plugging in one drive only and running the update. All times I have received a message saying it was successful.

I am at a loss on this. I think my next step needs to be trying them in another computer. Just have to find one. My old system has SATA-150 ports and when I tried it last it would not boot up with them in. Is there any jumper seting on these drives to knock them down to SATA-150?
 
My backup PC, an old P4 Asus MB (motherboard) has the SATA-150 also. It has worked fine for me in that one. But I use it in my main Intel P35 MB.
---------
However the Samsung booklet says:

In some rare cases SATA 1.5Gb/s hosts can NOT establish SATA interface connection with SATA 3.0Gb/s devices due to interface protocol issues. In this case you should switch you drive to SATA 1.5Gb/a with a software which we are providing via www.samsunghdd.com.
--------

So that seems like it's a MB hardware issue or a BIOS one.
Not seeing a jumper fix on the instructions, but I'm sure there is one, I don't see how a software solution is better than a jumper one. If it's not DOS then in your case how can you install it then, seems stupid on Samsung's part.
 
My old system has SATA-150 ports and when I tried it last it would not boot up with them in. Is there any jumper seting on these drives to knock them down to SATA-150?
There's no jumper; to limit the speed you have to run Samsung's ESTOOL utility and go into its UDMA menu. The problem isn't the HD but the controller, and not because it's maximum speed is SATA-150 but because it was designed wrong. The VIA VT8237/8237A/8237R/8237R+ controller is famous for this, but newer VIA VT6421A PCI controllers handle SATA-300/600 drives fine, as do fairly old Intel controllers and the original SATA controllers from Promise and Silicon Image.
 
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Time for an update on this thread.

I have since purchased and built a HTPC. Here is the spec:

ASUS P8H67--M PRO
i3 2120
8GB Corsair XMS3

It has one 500 GB Seagate 7200.12 HDD which is not suffering from any problems. SATA mode is set to AHCI. Two of the Samsung drives have been tested in this machine. The firmware has been (reportedly) flashed twice more. They are still suffering from write errors.

I have tried three different system. All the Samsung drives are showing increasing write errors when attached to my HTPC and i7 1366 system. However, no write errors have occurred when attached to my old computer which is a S754 AMD 3000+ on an MSI K8N Neo Platinum.

I have tried different SATA cables (new, old, straight, right angled), different SATA ports, IDE/AHCI modes, SATA 150/300 UDMA modes, Ubuntu, Windows 7.

The fact that I managed to write a total of 3 TB without the number increasing to the worst affected HDD under Ubuntu on my old computer seems to suggest a compatibility problem with my other two systems. The common items between these two are:

Corsair RAM.
ASUS motherboard's.
Intel chipset's.
Intel CPU's.

Here is the latest SMART info for two of the drives:

Code:
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   100   100   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0026   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0023   067   066   025    Pre-fail  Always       -       10022
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       70
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   252   252   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   252   252   051    Old_age   Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0024   252   252   015    Old_age   Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       167
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   252   252   051    Old_age   Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       77
181 Program_Fail_Cnt_Total  0x0022   098   098   000    Old_age   Always       -       49168400
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0022   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   064   062   000    Old_age   Always       -       33 (Lifetime Min/Max 15/38)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x003a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   252   252   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0036   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x002a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       971
223 Load_Retry_Count        0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
225 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       78
Code:
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   100   100   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  2 Throughput_Performance  0x0026   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0023   067   067   025    Pre-fail  Always       -       10003
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       12
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   252   252   010    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   252   252   051    Old_age   Always       -       0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   0x0024   252   252   015    Old_age   Offline      -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       5
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   252   252   051    Old_age   Always       -       0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       12
181 Program_Fail_Cnt_Total  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       1459191
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      0x0022   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0022   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   064   064   000    Old_age   Always       -       33 (Lifetime Min/Max 21/35)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x003a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   252   252   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0036   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x002a   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       2
223 Load_Retry_Count        0x0032   252   252   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
225 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       12
Both HDD's pass ESTOOL's diagnostic test.

Am I right in thinking that these write errors are uncorrectable write errors? I have ripped over 1TB worth of data to one of these drives and have found a few (so far) which had problems. I put it down to these write errors.

Can anyone offer any further assistance?
 
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The computer that has no problem with the drive -- is the drive mounted in the same orientation as it is in the computer that does have a problem with it?

I ask because my two HD204UIs also recently started spewing write errors (I'm at 4681 errors on one drive in a few days!), and the issue seems to have started when I switched cases. So I've started to wonder if maybe they don't like being oriented certain ways.

Also I can't find any information online on the precise meaning of a "write error" but my assumption was that it's not actually a data-corrupting error, just an event that causes a write to be re-attempted. My evidence is that whenever I see a spike in write errors, my write speed decreases accordingly.
 
TheSpoon, I've just read through the latest posts in your thread. I'm going to try removing the hdd, taking it out and away from the case altogether.

The hdds have always been laid flat during operation.

My tests comprise of duplicating a 2.4 GB file full of alphanumeric characters. Last night I wrote a little shell script so that I could compare the md5 hashes of all of the files copied. I had to cut it short as I had to leave but it checked over half of the files and found no differences. I'll try to continue tonight. If they are correctable write errors I may just manage to live with them.

On your drive that has over 4600, has your smart value dipped below 100 yet?
 
TheSpoon, I've just read through the latest posts in your thread. I'm going to try removing the hdd, taking it out and away from the case altogether.

The hdds have always been laid flat during operation.

My tests comprise of duplicating a 2.4 GB file full of alphanumeric characters. Last night I wrote a little shell script so that I could compare the md5 hashes of all of the files copied. I had to cut it short as I had to leave but it checked over half of the files and found no differences. I'll try to continue tonight. If they are correctable write errors I may just manage to live with them.

On your drive that has over 4600, has your smart value dipped below 100 yet?

Sorry for the late reply. That drive now has a write error count of 6197, but still normed value is at 100. How did your out-of-case experiment go?
 
Hi Just to share my experience. I had Samsung 1TB (HD103SJ) and 2TB (HD204UI).
I too also suffer the same fate of increasing write error rate for samsung drive (They are rather high over 10 thousands in value). But I also suffer high G-sense atrribute like people mentioned in other forums.

For my case, I think the G-sense play a part in increasing the write error rate. The Samsung 1TB & 2TB drives are programmed to be very Highly Sensitive to vibration. By vibration, I don't mean one physically going about touching or knocking or shaking the drive/case . Even the slightest form of movement inside your CPU Tower will trigger the G-sense, be it fans or other devices that moves inside the tower.

Some tower the case metal material are lighter and not as heavy-weight as the old computer in those days. Any slightest movement of the 12" fans causing the minimal vibration will make samsung drive thinks there is vibration and henceforth increasing the G-sense attribute.

Now with many people using HDD Docking Station these days of which many of these chinese made docking station are made of AB plastics and not heavy-weight, so any form of the HDD activities will cause some soft rattling noise to the Docking Station Housing, which again make samsung drive thinks there is vibration (resulting an increase in G-sense Attribute).

Whenever the Samsung HDD detected vibration, it will slow down the write process which correspond towards logging to the write error rate value. A searching on the web as we can see, there are many people reported that the Samsung 1TB & 2TB write speed to be very slow.

There were many times when my write speed drop to 5MB/s. Though it varies as well to 20 MB/s, 10 MB/s.

I think Samsung needs to refine it's firmware and the way how the drive handle vibration. In those days, where the drive didn't detect G-sense attribute or not as sensitive as these, it had work so well for me. But now I really don't know what to do with these Samsung 1TB and 2TB drive as they are horribly slow for me (Write Speed).
 
Sorry to resurrect this old thread... but just to reply to Janmae: my G-Sense error rate has stayed almost constant since I bought the drives. But the "Multi Zone Error Rate" is now at 12679 (!). Nonetheless the drives do seem to function more or less OK ... but I'll replace them with WD drives eventually. I don't use them for any critical data so their failure would not devastate me.
 
but I'll replace them with WD drives eventually.

I am not sure that would make much of a difference. I am also not sure if Multi Zone Error Rate is an indicator of failure. I have never seen that be the case at work where I have had 200+ drives spinning (obviously replaced a few times) for the last 14+ years.

I don't use them for any critical data so their failure would not devastate me.

You should have backups for all critical data no matter who is the drive manufacturer. Especially since the expectation of a 2% to 8% annual failure rate for SATA drives you are playing with fire if you do not backup.
 
I am not sure that would make much of a difference. I am also not sure if Multi Zone Error Rate is an indicator of failure. I have never seen that be the case at work where I have had 200+ drives spinning (obviously replaced a few times) for the last 14+ years.
The one WD drive in my system does not experience these problems. I'm not talking merely about some number climbing up in SMART. I'm talking about the drives slowing down to a crawl when this happens.
You should have backups for all critical data no matter who is the drive manufacturer. Especially since the expectation of a 2% to 8% annual failure rate for SATA drives you are playing with fire if you do not backup.

I do maintain daily backups of all critical data :).
 
The one WD drive in my system does not experience these problems.

That does not mean the next WDC you buy will not. I have RMA'd drives from all 4 manufacturers this year at work..

In either case I am not seeing any excessive Multi Zone Error Rates for either of my 3 Samsung F4s at home. I believe you should just RMA the drives that you are having problems with.
 
I thought the data value was meaningless in SMART and each manufacturer used them in different ways. I thought all that matters is the Current value.

If you are getting read or write errors and the current value is still 100 or 255 then I'm pretty sure they have all been corrected properly. This is how the drive is supposed to work. Errors are normal and the drive should be able to correct them which is also normal.
 
That does not mean the next WDC you buy will not. I have RMA'd drives from all 4 manufacturers this year at work..

In either case I am not seeing any excessive Multi Zone Error Rates for either of my 3 Samsung F4s at home. I believe you should just RMA the drives that you are having problems with.

They won't send me drives in advance, right? The several-week downtime would be too disruptive. I'd rather just amortize their cost for a bit longer and then throw them out.

And you're right that any drive can be faulty. But I have a peculiar situation. These Samsung drives are allergic to my case (Raven RV02-E). WD drives are not. So my next drives will be WD. This also makes me doubt that this issue would be resolved by an RMA.
 
I thought the data value was meaningless in SMART and each manufacturer used them in different ways. I thought all that matters is the Current value.

If you are getting read or write errors and the current value is still 100 or 255 then I'm pretty sure they have all been corrected properly. This is how the drive is supposed to work. Errors are normal and the drive should be able to correct them which is also normal.

Yes, I realize that this doesn't cause any data corruption, which is why I've kept the drives as long as I have. But it does cause slowness.
 
For those who have this increasing Write_Error (aka Multi_Zone...), are you sure your partitions are aligned to account for the 4KB sectors of this model?

Not that unaligned would justify Samsung throwing all these errors, but given other sloppiness I have seen from them, it might (help) explain it.

--UhClem
 
There is an updated firmware for the HD204s that effectively change it from 1AQ1 to 1AQ3 but your firmware text will not change fooling you into thinking it has failed.

Worth flashing if I were you. I did 5 of mine last night.
 
If you need to update the firmware just go here hit where it says download. Burn the ISO file to a disk. And then follow these picture instructions. You do NOT need to read the written instructions on top . Just follow the picture instructions .

I updated the firmware all all my drives. Well at least I tried since all my drives came with the newest firmware.

When I updated my drives I did them one at a time. If I remember correctly all i did for step 5 was type F4EG and press enter
 
Thanks, but I updated the firmware on all my drives as soon as I got them, and verified that the write problem no longer exists. My problem with the drives is not caused by the firmware bug.
 
sorry to bump an old thread but it's still high in google search.

my HD155UI died after a few months, was backing up data to it and computer BSOD'd, restarted and S.M.A.R.T. error, then it didn't detect. this was a drive i threw tons of tests at in the beginning too.

my replacement came 7 days after I contacted samsung for warranty, (fast turnaround!) and now my new drive has this increasing number of Write Error Rate too. (at 4007 currently) but it has no G-Sense errors.

My pair of 1TB F3's have some interesting smart results too, with some raw read errors, ultra DMA CRC error count, and write errors too. I've changed SATA cables and even changed motherboards. these drives certainly are quirky but so far no issues from my 1TB's
 
write error rate now over 3400 after 3 months on my HD155UI (HD205UI with one less platter), and the current/worst value is "1"

FYI this thread is still #1 in google for "samsung write error rate" but no real official answer on the matter?

HD Tune: SAMSUNG HD155UI Health

ID Current Worst ThresholdData Status
(01) Raw Read Error Rate 100 100 51 0 Ok
(02) Throughput Performance 54 54 0 15855 Ok
(03) Spin Up Time 76 66 25 7554 Ok
(04) Start/Stop Count 100 100 0 23 Ok
(05) Reallocated Sector Count 252 252 10 0 Ok
(07) Seek Error Rate 252 252 51 0 Ok
(08) Seek Time Performance 252 252 15 0 Ok
(09) Power On Hours Count 100 100 0 1394 Ok
(0A) Spin Retry Count 252 252 51 0 Ok
(0B) Calibration Retry Count 252 252 0 0 Ok
(0C) Power Cycle Count 100 100 0 17 Ok
(B5) (unknown attribute) 100 100 0 172659 Ok
(BF) G-sense Error Rate 252 252 0 0 Ok
(C0) Power Off Retract Count 252 252 0 0 Ok
(C2) Temperature 64 62 0 1572894 Ok
(C3) Hardware ECC Recovered 100 100 0 0 Ok
(C4) Reallocated Event Count 252 252 0 0 Ok
(C5) Current Pending Sector 252 252 0 0 Ok
(C6) Offline Uncorrectable 252 252 0 0 Ok
(C7) Ultra DMA CRC Error Count 200 200 0 0 Ok
(C8) Write Error Rate 1 1 0 34681 Ok
(DF) Load/Unload Retry Count 252 252 0 0 Ok
(E1) Load/Unload Cycle Count 100 100 0 23 Ok

Power On Time : 1394
Health Status : Ok
 
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