Drive Timeouts with 3ware 9650SE-16ML

S

Syntax Error

2[H]4U
Joined
Jan 14, 2008
Messages
2,782
Great. :mad:

LAME.png


Seems like the infamous Seagate 1.5TB drives are striking back, it appears. I've recently begun to get drive timeouts from random drives in my array, and when the array rebuilts in 3DM2 all the disks register as "OK". I've also tested random drives through SeaTools and they all pass the short and long diagnostic and scan tests.

I'd just like to know if anyone has also been experiencing these symptoms with their 3ware controllers and their ST31500341AS drives. At times, I get drive timeouts two hours or so after the rebuild and another drive at some random port times out and the array will have to be rebuilt.

Sometimes, another drive will time out a few minutes or hours after the first drive, so that leaves my RAID 6 unprotected to another timeout or actual drive failure. :mad:

I might just have to pony up and start using reliable drives, maybe WD 1TB Blacks or something. :mad:
 
Do not be so quick to blame the drives. You might have incompatible drives, it's happening a lot lately and people should do their homework before buying a controller and a pile of drives. I've been burned, axan has been burned, and odditory has been burned by similar issues.

Call the vendor and see if you can find anything on these drives in terms of compatibility. Once you have done so and confirmed, then narrow down onto the drives.
 
Timeouts like those are why you typically only find the Seagate ES.2 drives on RAID controller hard drive HCLs.
 
Have you rebooted the box lately? I was having the same issue with WD Green drives on a 9550SX and it turned out to be related to the spinup delay. Try something like 4 secs.
 
geiger said:
Have you rebooted the box lately? I was having the same issue with WD Green drives on a 9550SX and it turned out to be related to the spinup delay. Try something like 4 secs.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I'll give it a shot.

I'm assuming that spinup delay settings are in the Windows Power Management panel? Or is it in the controller BIOS?
 
UPDATE:

Alright, I finally got arsed to plug in a monitor to the server and check out the controller BIOS, but I haven't really found anything relating to drive timeouts or delays or such in the 3Ware BIOS. I'm pretty pissed that it looks like drives are timing out every two days or so, one shortly followed by a second drive timeout, leaving me theoretically unprotected to actual disk failure during the rebuild time. :mad:

I'd like some feedback on this...there's gotta be someone out there with the same drivers and controller. :(

BTW, I'm on the most recent 3ware controller firmware and 5 drives are CC1G while the other two are CC1H, if that matters at all.
 
Have you checked the voltages from the PSU that is powering the hard drives? It might be overloaded.
 
Do you think so? I'm using a quality 450W Corsair PSU, and I'm pretty sure that 8 drives won't be overloading its 5V rails...

I am using splitters to hook up all the molex connectors, perhaps that could be it?
 
A 450 should be fine unless if it's acting up. If you are excessive on the splitters that could also be an issue, but I doubt it.
 
The spinup delay is in the same area of the bios as the autocarving settings. You can see what it is currently set at in 3DM2 under management->controller settings.
 
geiger said:
The spinup delay is in the same area of the bios as the autocarving settings. You can see what it is currently set at in 3DM2 under management->controller settings.
Click to expand...

Any recommended settings? I put the spinup delay at 1 second, but I was under the impression that this setting only messes with the initially spinup of the disks when the server is turned on for staggered spinups.
 
Try something like 3 or 4 and see if it helps.

Another thing I'd check just for S&G is that the 1.5 limiter jumper is removed on all drives. Check the port level page in 3dm2 and see if any drives are reporting wacky RPMs or different interface rates than the others.
 
geiger said:
Try something like 3 or 4 and see if it helps.
Click to expand...
I'll give that a shot later this week. :)

geiger said:
Another thing I'd check just for S&G is that the 1.5 limiter jumper is removed on all drives.
Click to expand...
IIRC, none of my drives had the 1.5Gbps jumper, but I'll check next time the server is off and remove them. I believe the Seagate jumpers are kinda deep in there, so I'll need a pair of good needle-nosed pliers or something to pop 'em out if they are there.

geiger said:
Check the port level page in 3dm2 and see if any drives are reporting wacky RPMs or different interface rates than the others.
Click to expand...
All the drives are reporting 3.0Gbps links but my port 5 drive is reporting 43554RPM, which is obviously wrong. Sometimes I've seen 65536RPM on some drives reported if that's any indicator.

Thanks for the tips so far, any more aid would be appreciated. :)
 
Hi,

I remember hearing that these cards don't support 1.5TB drives - or is this just a limitation with the 9590? Would be interested to know since I plan on buying one of these controllers ASAP. Will be using them with 1TB and 1.5TB Seagates, CC1H based Barracuda 7200.11 series.

I can't seem to find the ES.2 in a 1.5TB flavour, or at least I couldn't when I bought the 1.5s.
 
I have lots of 9650SE-8's at work that work fine with 1.5 TB drives (as long as they weren't the SD1 or whatever that bad firmware was). So I think it might be worth trying a different PSU. I personally would never use drives over 1TB with them though as a 9690 died and took two arrays with it (1tbx24 raid6) and (1.5tbx24 raid6). Eventually I was able to recover the data but 3ware's utilities don't even work with drives over 1TB and will tell you are SOL like they told me and you will be on your own to recover it.

I would go with an ARC-1280ML or ARC-1231ML. I have 8x1.5 TB seagates in my server with an ARC-1231ML and its been rock solid.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top