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Forum Discussion
Clicking sound with Seagate Barracuda LP ST32000542AS 2TB
Hi I got a new NVX and at that moment these Seagate disks were the only ones on the compatibility list, so I was stupid enough to buy 4 of them. (Shame on you Netgear for not having more disks on t...
Wesleydma – While I am far too technically lacking to answer your root cause of the clicking/clunking issue question, I can tell you about my experience.
I recently upgraded my NV+ from four Seagate 750 GB drives to four Seagate LP ST32000542AS 2 TB drives. The hot-swap expansion and sync process went exactly as it should, no problems. For my NV+ environment, I have been impressed with how much quieter and cooler my unit is running compared to the Seagate drives I replaced. My power consumption running went from around 54 watts to 28 watts, which also increased my UPS available run time by far more then I would have thought.
Once the sync process completed for all four drives and the volume was fully redundant, I began to hear that somewhat subtle metallic clink noise. Just as funkybizkit indicated, the noise would not occur when the disks were being accessed (which is why it never appeared when I was expanding the XRAID) it only intermittently occurs after the unit sits idle. Also, whenever the sound occurs, the NV+ front green activity LED light, indicating disc access, blinks. My NV+ is always on and I do not enable disk spin-down. All SMART reading indicated healthy drives, FW is CC34.
If you haven’t already, I found an incredible amount information on this issue out there on various forums, including Seagate’s, including a lot of speculation as to what the cause is. One post from a Seagate representative told another NV+ user with the same issue I am now having, that the ST32000542AS are not recommended by Seagate for use in NAS devices, the recommend their enterprise drives instead. This was also posted on other sites. However, I quickly dismiss this as these drives are on the HCL and I know the ReadyNAS staff take the list very seriously, thoroughly testing hardware before endorsing. Several sites say force the FW upgrade to CC35, many people say that solved their problem, but an equal amount say it did not. Another posting by a Seagate representative said the noise was normal if the SMART attributes (SeaTools) indicated a healthy drive. One consistent trend I found was those who had the clicking noise, later posted drive failures.
I decided to contact Seagate. I first called their technical support side and then their warranty support group. For both contacts I spoke with very knowledgeable, helpful and competent individuals. I was impressed because some had posted horror stories. The short version of my call: They ran all four serial numbers and told me I did not have to upgrade to CC35, my drives had the latest FW. The noise is not normal. These drives can be used in a NAS. Even though the drives show healthy in SeaTools, there could be hardware/mechanical problem which will not become evident until pending failure. They recommend sending the clanking drive(s) back for replacement. The warrant support gentleman was also very helpful and worked to find a replacement means that fit my needs; including sending all four drives back to receive four replacement drives. Seagate seems to have a liberal return practice, I did not have to first identify which drive is problematic. In the end, sending all the drives at once did to work for me, I am currently going through each drive to determine which one or ones are making the noise and then I will send back. When I purchased the drives I bought five, one to use as a hot spare, as I am a home user and my content size grows very slowly. With four 2 TB drives, I will be living with these for sometime to come.
This is my experience to date, I do not know how accurate the information I was given is as there is much posted out there to the contrary, although if things change I will certainly add to the post.
If one of the Jedi Council members has more insight and could shed light on this, I am sure there are many out there with similar issue.
Hope this helps.
I recently upgraded my NV+ from four Seagate 750 GB drives to four Seagate LP ST32000542AS 2 TB drives. The hot-swap expansion and sync process went exactly as it should, no problems. For my NV+ environment, I have been impressed with how much quieter and cooler my unit is running compared to the Seagate drives I replaced. My power consumption running went from around 54 watts to 28 watts, which also increased my UPS available run time by far more then I would have thought.
Once the sync process completed for all four drives and the volume was fully redundant, I began to hear that somewhat subtle metallic clink noise. Just as funkybizkit indicated, the noise would not occur when the disks were being accessed (which is why it never appeared when I was expanding the XRAID) it only intermittently occurs after the unit sits idle. Also, whenever the sound occurs, the NV+ front green activity LED light, indicating disc access, blinks. My NV+ is always on and I do not enable disk spin-down. All SMART reading indicated healthy drives, FW is CC34.
If you haven’t already, I found an incredible amount information on this issue out there on various forums, including Seagate’s, including a lot of speculation as to what the cause is. One post from a Seagate representative told another NV+ user with the same issue I am now having, that the ST32000542AS are not recommended by Seagate for use in NAS devices, the recommend their enterprise drives instead. This was also posted on other sites. However, I quickly dismiss this as these drives are on the HCL and I know the ReadyNAS staff take the list very seriously, thoroughly testing hardware before endorsing. Several sites say force the FW upgrade to CC35, many people say that solved their problem, but an equal amount say it did not. Another posting by a Seagate representative said the noise was normal if the SMART attributes (SeaTools) indicated a healthy drive. One consistent trend I found was those who had the clicking noise, later posted drive failures.
I decided to contact Seagate. I first called their technical support side and then their warranty support group. For both contacts I spoke with very knowledgeable, helpful and competent individuals. I was impressed because some had posted horror stories. The short version of my call: They ran all four serial numbers and told me I did not have to upgrade to CC35, my drives had the latest FW. The noise is not normal. These drives can be used in a NAS. Even though the drives show healthy in SeaTools, there could be hardware/mechanical problem which will not become evident until pending failure. They recommend sending the clanking drive(s) back for replacement. The warrant support gentleman was also very helpful and worked to find a replacement means that fit my needs; including sending all four drives back to receive four replacement drives. Seagate seems to have a liberal return practice, I did not have to first identify which drive is problematic. In the end, sending all the drives at once did to work for me, I am currently going through each drive to determine which one or ones are making the noise and then I will send back. When I purchased the drives I bought five, one to use as a hot spare, as I am a home user and my content size grows very slowly. With four 2 TB drives, I will be living with these for sometime to come.
This is my experience to date, I do not know how accurate the information I was given is as there is much posted out there to the contrary, although if things change I will certainly add to the post.
If one of the Jedi Council members has more insight and could shed light on this, I am sure there are many out there with similar issue.
Hope this helps.
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