Advanced format (4K) Drives and Hardware RAID Controllers.

TheBay · Jul 20, 2011

Hi All,
Been lurking on this forum for many many years!, decided to sign up today as it seems a wealth of decent information.

Looking to order a few hard drives, however the majority seem to be based on Advanced Format 4k sectors, opposed to the more traditional 512b system.

I've scoured the net all day today trying to find out on how these drives work with a hardware RAID card (Such as the HP P212/P410 Smart Array cards I have), and no information at all on my specific cards or any other HBA's, Are these cards compatible with 4k sectors, can you align the sectors, what is the general consensus?. I will be running a 3 disk RAID5 with a 4th Drive as a hot spare, this is all inside a HP Microserver btw.

I'm having a hard time picking some 2TB drives, I'm torn between the Samsung F4EG/HD204UI which is a 4k Drive and the Hitachi5K3000 which is a 512b drive, however I have not recently had much experience with Hitachi drives from a reliability point of view, I haven't used a "Deskstar" drive since the days of the infamous 75GXP glass platter "Deathstars" and always stayed clear of them.

Interestingly, I spoke to HP today who I happen to actually work for but in a different part of the company, who wouldn't give me any advice over 4k drives and kept refering me to a list of part numbers for drives rebranded HP at 4x the cost!!!.

Any help with advice for the above greatly appreciated.

raiderj · Jul 23, 2011

You shouldn't have to do any alignment, WinXP is really the only odd one out that starts off on a weird sector alignment. RAID controllers should also work just fine with 4K drives.

I had 4 of those F4EG drives running for a bit in my old file server - it was a PCI Intel RAID 5 controller and didn't have any problems. If a 7 year old RAID controller can handle them, I'd be shocked to hear of a controller that couldn't.

From a performance perspective, you might incur some loss on a controller that doesn't natively recognize 4K drives. Otherwise you shouldn't notice any difference.

checksix · Nov 7, 2011

Hi

I got a HP P410 raid controller with 10 Samsung Spinpoint F4EG HD204UI harddrives running windows home server 2011.
2 of my drives reports eminent drive failure. but when testet with estool no problem found when testet in windows 7 no problem found.

When reinserted in my server fault is still there does anybody know why this is and how i can solve this?

drescherjm · Nov 7, 2011

but when testet with estool no problem

Did you look at the SMART with a program like crystaldiskinfo? There can still be a problem.

checksix · Nov 7, 2011

no i did not do that. but when samsungs own test tool and windows 7 does not find any faults would that be needed?

if so then i will try crystaldiskinfo and see what it finds.

drescherjm · Nov 7, 2011

no i did not do that. but when samsungs own test tool and windows 7 does not find any faults would that be needed?

Yes. Manufacturer tools do not always tell you a bad drive is bad. I have seen more than a few instances of this at work. Also looking at the SMART can reveal other problems that the drive is having like cabling.

checksix · Nov 7, 2011

will crystaldiskinfo work when my disks are in a raid array on a raid controller?

drescherjm · Nov 7, 2011

checksix said:
will crystaldiskinfo work when my disks are in a raid array on a raid controller?

Probably not. Does your raid controller have a way to show you the SMART raw data?

checksix · Nov 7, 2011

here is the data from cristaldiskinfo when looking at one of the harddrives reporting faults. hope you can se what the problem is and find a fix for me
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskInfo 4.1.3 (C) 2008-2011 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

OS : Windows 7 Ultimate Edition SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)
Date : 2011/11/07 17:24:34

-- Controller Map ----------------------------------------------------------
+ Virtual CloneDrive [SCSI]
- ELBY CLONEDRIVE SCSI CdRom Device
+ Intel(R) ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO/PCH SATA RAID Controller [SCSI]
- ST3750528AS
- ATAPI DVD A DH16AASH
- SAMSUNG HD204UI

-- Disk List ---------------------------------------------------------------
(1) ST3750528AS : 750.1 GB [0-0-0, pd1]
(2) SAMSUNG HD204UI : 2000.3 GB [1-X-X, pd1]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) ST3750528AS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model : ST3750528AS
Firmware : CC44
Serial Number : 5VP1YQJG
Disk Size : 750.1 GB (8.4/137.4/750.1)
Buffer Size : Ukendt
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 1465149168
Rotation Rate : 7200 RPM
Interface : Serial ATA
Major Version : ATA8-ACS
Minor Version : ATA8-ACS version 4
Transfer Mode : SATA/300
Power On Hours : 6051 timer
Power On Count : 1147 gange
Temparature : 35 C (95 F)
Health Status : God
Features : S.M.A.R.T., AAM, 48bit LBA, NCQ
APM Level : ----
AAM Level : D0D0h [ON]

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 118 _99 __6 00000A6BC1A6 Read Error Rate
03 _95 _95 __0 000000000000 Spin-Up Time
04 _99 _99 _20 00000000047A Start/Stop Count
05 100 100 _36 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 _78 _60 _30 0000045DFBE7 Seek Error Rate
09 _94 _94 __0 0000000017A3 Power-On Hours
0A 100 100 _97 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0C _99 _99 _20 00000000047B Device Power Cycle Count
B7 100 100 __0 000000000000 Unknown
B8 100 100 _99 000000000000 End-to-End Error
BB 100 100 __0 000000000000 Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BC 100 100 __0 000000000000 Command Timeout
BD 100 100 __0 000000000000 High Fly Writes
BE _65 _57 _45 000023210023 Airflow Temperature
C2 _35 _43 __0 000F00000023 Temperature
C3 _60 _40 __0 00000A6BC1A6 Hardware ECC recovered
C5 100 100 __0 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 100 100 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 200 200 __0 000000000000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
F0 100 253 __0 4C2800002469 Head Flying Hours
F1 100 253 __0 00001314BC5D Vendor Specific
F2 100 253 __0 0000B5C767B5 Vendor Specific

-- IDENTIFY_DEVICE ---------------------------------------------------------
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 0C 5A 3F FF C8 37 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 3F 00 00 .Z?..7.......?..
010: 00 00 00 00 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 ....
020: 35 56 50 31 59 51 4A 47 00 00 00 00 00 04 43 43 5VP1YQJG......CC
030: 34 34 20 20 20 20 53 54 33 37 35 30 35 32 38 41 44 ST3750528A
040: 53 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 S
050: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 80 10 ..
060: 00 00 2F 00 40 00 02 00 02 00 00 07 3F FF 00 10 ../.@.......?...
070: 00 3F FC 10 00 FB 01 10 FF FF 0F FF 00 00 00 07 .?..............
080: 00 03 00 78 00 78 00 78 00 78 00 00 00 00 00 00 ...x.x.x.x......
090: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1F 05 06 00 00 00 48 00 40 .............H.@
0A0: 01 F0 00 29 34 6B 7F 61 41 63 34 69 BE 01 41 63 ...)4k.aAc4i..Ac
0B0: 40 7F 00 4A 00 4A 00 00 FF FE 00 00 D0 D0 00 00 @..J.J..........
0C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 66 F0 57 54 00 00 00 00 ........f.WT....
0D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 50 00 C5 00 1C 1A C7 DB ........P.......
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 1E ..............@.
0F0: 40 1C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 @...............
100: 00 21 66 F0 57 54 66 F0 57 54 20 20 00 02 01 40 .!f.WTf.WT ...@
110: 01 00 50 00 3C 06 3C 0A 00 00 00 3C 00 00 00 08 ..P.<.<....<....
120: 00 00 00 00 00 4F 02 80 00 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 .....O..........
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3F 00 80 00 ............?...
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
150: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
170: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 3F 00 00 .............?..
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1B0: 00 00 1C 20 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 10 00 00 ... ............
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B5 A5 ................

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) SAMSUNG HD204UI
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model : SAMSUNG HD204UI
Firmware : 1AQ10001
Serial Number : S2H7J9EB310464
Disk Size : 2000.3 GB (8.4/137.4/2000.3)
Buffer Size : 32767 KB
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 3907029168
Rotation Rate : 5400 RPM
Interface : Serial ATA
Major Version : ATA8-ACS
Minor Version : ATA8-ACS version 6
Transfer Mode : SATA/300
Power On Hours : 1678 timer
Power On Count : 202 gange
Temparature : 30 C (86 F)
Health Status : God
Features : S.M.A.R.T., APM, AAM, 48bit LBA, NCQ
APM Level : 0000h [OFF]
AAM Level : FE00h [OFF]

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 100 100 _51 000000000007 Read Error Rate
02 252 252 __0 000000000000 Throughput Performance
03 _67 __1 _25 0000000027EC Spin-Up Time
04 100 100 __0 0000000000CC Start/Stop Count
05 252 252 _10 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 252 252 _51 000000000000 Seek Error Rate
08 252 252 _15 000000000000 Seek Time Performance
09 100 100 __0 00000000068E Power-On Hours
0A 252 252 _51 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0B 100 100 __0 000000000185 Recalibration Retries
0C 100 100 __0 0000000000CA Device Power Cycle Count
B5 100 100 __0 00000000525D Unknown
BF 100 100 __0 000000000003 G-Sense Error Rate
C0 252 252 __0 000000000000 Power-off Retract Count
C2 _64 _47 __0 00350012001E Temperature
C3 100 100 __0 000000000000 Hardware ECC recovered
C4 252 252 __0 000000000000 Reallocation Event Count
C5 252 252 __0 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 252 252 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 200 200 __0 000000000000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
C8 100 100 __0 0000000000AD Write Error Rate
DF 100 100 __0 000000000185 Load/Unload Retry Count
E1 100 100 __0 000000000255 Load/Unload Cycle Count

-- IDENTIFY_DEVICE ---------------------------------------------------------
+0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 +A +B +C +D +E +F
000: 00 40 3F FF C8 37 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 3F 00 00 .@?..7.......?..
010: 00 00 00 00 53 32 48 37 4A 39 45 42 33 31 30 34 ....S2H7J9EB3104
020: 36 34 20 20 20 20 20 20 00 00 FF FF 00 04 31 41 64 ......1A
030: 51 31 30 30 30 31 53 41 4D 53 55 4E 47 20 48 44 Q10001SAMSUNG HD
040: 32 30 34 55 49 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 204UI
050: 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 80 10 ..
060: 40 00 2F 00 40 00 02 00 02 00 00 07 3F FF 00 10 @./.@.......?...
070: 00 3F FC 10 00 FB 01 10 FF FF 0F FF 00 00 00 07 .?..............
080: 00 03 00 78 00 78 00 78 00 78 00 00 00 00 00 00 ...x.x.x.x......
090: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1F 17 06 00 00 00 4C 00 44 .............L.D
0A0: 01 FF 00 28 74 6B 7F 69 41 23 74 69 BC 41 41 23 ...(tk.iA#ti.AA#
0B0: 40 7F 00 9A 00 9A 00 00 FF FE 00 00 FE 00 00 00 @...............
0C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 88 B0 E8 E0 00 00 00 00 ................
0D0: 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 50 02 4E 92 04 DA 88 4C ....@...P.N....L
0E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 40 1C ..............@.
0F0: 40 1C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 @...............
100: 00 21 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .!..............
110: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
120: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
130: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
140: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
150: 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
160: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
170: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
180: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
190: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3F 00 00 .............?..
1A0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1B0: 00 00 15 18 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 10 1F 00 00 ................
1C0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1D0: 00 00 00 00 00 01 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1E0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
1F0: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 EB A5 ................

drescherjm · Nov 7, 2011

Both drives look fine to me from this information. C4 to C7 = 0. Also 05 = 0

checksix · Nov 7, 2011

that is my problem my raid controller reports iminent failure on tha samsung f4eg

mwroobel · Nov 7, 2011

On one of the drives, spin up time is out of whack, could be a bad motor on the drive or could be a power supply problem.

drescherjm · Nov 7, 2011

I did not notice that (spin up time) although I usually do not look at this parameter.

checksix · Nov 7, 2011

just had one die. so status is 2 failing one dead... what is happening????

Advanced format (4K) Drives and Hardware RAID Controllers.

TheBay

n00b

raiderj

Limp Gawd

checksix

n00b

drescherjm

[H]F Junkie

checksix

n00b

drescherjm

[H]F Junkie

checksix

n00b

drescherjm

[H]F Junkie

checksix

n00b

drescherjm

[H]F Junkie

checksix

n00b

mwroobel

Supreme [H]ardness

drescherjm

[H]F Junkie

checksix

n00b