Samsung HD753LJ kicked from RAID (Adaptec 52445)

[kpbadger]

This is a new setup with an Adaptec 52445 controller and a SuperMicro SC846TQ case & backplane. Just for testing, since I had a couple drives lying around, I have attempted to set up a RAID-5 with a Samsung HD753LJ (750 GB SATA) that I bought a couple weeks ago from Newegg and two other 750 GB drives. On all of the drives I used the controller's "verify disk" program (all passed).

I then created a RAID-5 array and it stopped at about 10% and kicked out the HD753LJ. I tried again and got the same result. I swapped the drive's physical position with another working drive (to rule out loose connection, etc.) and then it initialized to 100%. However, as soon as I put any load on the array, it immediately kicked the HD753LJ. (Reproducible, just with "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sd...") At that point, the Adaptec will not even see the drive anymore, until I pull it out and insert it again. It will then start rebuilding, and eventually fail by kicking the Samsung.

Thinking I might have a bad drive, I ran the surface scan and low level format diagnostics with the Samsung tool (with the disk hooked to the SATA port on the system board, not through the 52445) and that all passed. I then did a low level format though the Adaptec controller and it worked also. So, I can't seem to get the disk to fail when operating on it manually.

I'm trying to decide whether to return the drive to newegg (within the 30 day period) and exchange it for another brand based on these results -- but before dealing with that, I was wondering if anyone here has any tricks or suggestions to either test the drive further, or to tweak any settings so that it will get along better with the controller card. Thanks in advance.

 

[Syntax Error]

I currently have eight HD753LJs on an Adaptec 31605 controller that I've done multiple OCEs, expansions, writes, reads, you name it for the past month now and I haven't had any drives drop out on me. Perhaps it's something inherent in the Adaptec 5-series design that is causing your problems, but being on a similar setup with a controller card made by the same company makes me leery about how your experiences are going with respects to the same exact drives that you have. Perhaps it's simply a bad drive, but as you've said, you've done multiple tests and they seem to check out.

Sorry I couldn't help you much in your problems, but speaking from my own personal experience with the HD753LJs and an Adaptec controller card, I haven't had issues as bad as a dropped drive, but I will be curious as to what your diagnostic testing goes with respect to those drives.

 

[gjvrieze]

This is a new setup with an Adaptec 52445 controller and a SuperMicro SC846TQ case & backplane. Just for testing, since I had a couple drives lying around, I have attempted to set up a RAID-5 with a Samsung HD753LJ (750 GB SATA) that I bought a couple weeks ago from Newegg and two other 750 GB drives. On all of the drives I used the controller's "verify disk" program (all passed).

I then created a RAID-5 array and it stopped at about 10% and kicked out the HD753LJ. I tried again and got the same result. I swapped the drive's physical position with another working drive (to rule out loose connection, etc.) and then it initialized to 100%. However, as soon as I put any load on the array, it immediately kicked the HD753LJ. (Reproducible, just with "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sd...") At that point, the Adaptec will not even see the drive anymore, until I pull it out and insert it again. It will then start rebuilding, and eventually fail by kicking the Samsung.

Thinking I might have a bad drive, I ran the surface scan and low level format diagnostics with the Samsung tool (with the disk hooked to the SATA port on the system board, not through the 52445) and that all passed. I then did a low level format though the Adaptec controller and it worked also. So, I can't seem to get the disk to fail when operating on it manually.

I'm trying to decide whether to return the drive to newegg (within the 30 day period) and exchange it for another brand based on these results -- but before dealing with that, I was wondering if anyone here has any tricks or suggestions to either test the drive further, or to tweak any settings so that it will get along better with the controller card. Thanks in advance.

I know this is not a huge help, but there are TONS of issues with Samsung drives and Areca cards, maybe Adaptec is having the same issues, a lot like the WD TLER bug.....
BTW: where did you get that card?

 

[kpbadger]

I've done a little further testing here and my results seem to suggest that the drive itself is probably fine but it does not get along at all with the controller. Here's what I did (after the above post):

1. Use the Adaptec card's "secure erase" function - not that there was any data on the drive, but because I figured this would cause the entire drive to get written to a few times. Result: completed OK.

2. Created a RAID-5 array again using this disk. About 30 seconds later, the alarm went off, and guess what - the array was degraded and the Samsung was offline.

3. Interestingly, I deleted the array through the management tool and then rebooted the machine. After the card POST there was an error message about an array that was offline. So I entered the tool and it was an offline RAID-5 consisting only of the Samsung disk. So it seems that the controller had entirely lost communication with the disk once it got kicked and it only got recognized on the reboot. (Rescanning the drives through the Adaptec utility seems to hang, at least beyond the limit of my patience, once this drive has been kicked.)

Thanks for the pointer about the Areca issues. I had googled quite a bit when choosing the card and drives and did not find any specific complains about Adaptec and Samsung compatibility. But after reading some other threads here about the Arecas, I'd say that I am having the same problems. (http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1328019)

I purchased the Adaptec card from ewiz.com - because Newegg didn't (doesn't) have it. The card did eventually arrive, decently packed and matching the description. However, the hoops I had to jump through to order there (sending a signed copy of my invoice, trying to reach them on the phone multiple times to "verify my order") makes it unlikely I'd use them again.

 

[Ockie]

I know this is not a huge help, but there are TONS of issues with Samsung drives and Areca cards, maybe Adaptec is having the same issues, a lot like the WD TLER bug.....
BTW: where did you get that card?

It's not just Areca cards and Samsungs, it's also some integrated chipsets, Adaptec, and some other more advanced raid controllers.

HP sent out a notice for windows home servers (for the smart server community) to not use samsungs because they are causing issues dropping on their integrated dumb controllers.


I'm going to sound like a broken record here: Buy Seagates!