[Solved] Seagate ST3000DM001-9YN166: Load Cycle Count

Hi,

I have the exact same setup (NV+v2 with 4 3TB ST3000DM001-9YN166 with firmware CCH4) and im getting the same warning for disk 1.

Detected increasing command timeouts[65537] on disk 1 [ST3000DM001-9YN166, W1F0NNDC]. This often indicates an impending failure. Please be prepared to replace this disk to maintain data redundancy

Command Timeout: Indicates a number of aborted operations due to hard disk timeout
this is a critical parameter
it would be a good idea to connect the drive to your computer and test with sea tools > http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/

This is the list of known S.M.A.R.T. attributes supported by IDE and Serial ATA hard disks.
Note: some manufacturers may use the attributes for different purposes also.
Attributes not listed here are "vendor specific" attributes (their purpose is not known)

Raw Read Error Rate - Errors occured while reading raw data from a disk
Indicate problem with the disk surface or the read/write heads.
Critical attribute

Throughput Performance - General throughput performance of the hard disk
Indicate problem with motor, servo or bearings.

Spin Up Time - Time needed by spindle to spin-up to full RPM
Indicate problem with motor or bearings.
Critical attribute

Start/Stop Count - Count of start/stop cycles of spindle
This value does not directly affect the condition of the drive.

Reallocated Sector Count (Reallocated Sectors Count) - Count of sectors moved to the spare area
Indicate problem with the disk surface or the read/write heads.
Critical attribute

Command Timeout - Indicates a number of aborted operations due to hard disk timeout
Critical attribute

Read Channel Margin - Margin of a channel while reading data
The exact function of this attribute is not specified.

Seek Error Rate - Rate of positioning errors of the read/write heads
Indicate problem with servo, head. High temperature can also cause this problem.
Critical attribute

Seek Time Performance - Average time of seek operations of the heads
Indicate problem with servo.
Critical attribute

Power-On Time Count - Total time the drive is powered on
The unit of the measure depends on the manufacturer.

Spin Retry Count - Retry count of spin start attempts
Indicate problem with motor, bearings or power supply.
Critical attribute

Drive Calibration Retry Count - Number of attempts to calibrate a drive
Indicate problem with motor, bearings or power supply.

Drive Power Cycle Count - Number of complete power on/off cycles
This value does not directly affect the condition of the drive.

Soft Read Error Rate - Number of software read errors
The number of uncorreactable read errors.

Airflow Temperature - Airflow temperature
The temperature of the air inside the hard disk housing.

Mechanical Shock - Count of problems caused by mechanical shock
Acceleration (for example falling) can cause mechanical shock.

Power off Retract Cycle - Count of power off cycles
This value does not directly affect the condition of the drive.

Load/Unload Cycle Count - Count of load/unload cycles
Number of cycles the head moved into landing zone position.

HDD Temperature - Disk temperature
The temperature inside the hard disk housing.

Hardware ECC Recovered - Count of correctable errors
Number of errors corrected by the internal error correcting mechanism.

Reallocation Event Count - Count of sector remap operations
Number of all (successful and failed) remap operations.
Critical attribute

Current Pending Sector Count - Count of unstable sectors
These pending sectors may be remapped to the spare area.
Critical attribute

Off-Line Uncorrectable Sector Count - Count of uncorrectable errors when reading/writing
Indicate problem with the disk surface or the read/write heads.
Critical attribute

Ultra ATA CRC Error Count - Count of errors during data transfer between disk and host
Indicate problem with the power supply or data cable.

Write Error Rate - Errors occured while writing raw data from a disk
Indicate problem with the disk surface or the read/write heads.

Soft Read Error Rate - Number of software read errors
The number of uncorreactable read errors.

Data Address Mark Errors - Number of data address mark errors
Number of incorrect or invalid address marks.

Run Out Cancel - Number of data correction errors
Invalid error correction checksum found during error correction.

Soft ECC Correction - Number of corrected data errors
Errors corrected by the internal error correction mechanism.

Thermal Asperity Rate - Number of thermal problems
Total number of problems caused by high temperature.

Flying Height - Head flying height
The height of the disk heads above the disk surface.

Spin High Current - Current value during spin up
The current needed to spin up the drive.

Spin Buzz - Number of cycles needed to spin up
The number of retries during spin up because of low current available.

Offline Seek Performance - Drive performance during offline operations
The seek performance of the drive during internal self tests.

Disk Shift - Distance of the disk has shifted relative to the spindle
Incorrect disk spin can be cause by mechanical shock or high temperature.

G-Sense Error Rate - Number of mechanical errors
Number of errors resulting from shock or vibration.

Loaded Hours - Number of powered on hours
This value is constantly increasing (once per every hour).

Load/Unload Retry Count - Number of load/unload operations
The number of drive head enters/leaves the data zone.

Load Friction - Mechanical friction rate
The rate of friction between mechanical parts. Indicate problem with the mechanical subsystem of the drive.

Load-in Time - Total time the heads are loaded
The time while the read/write heads are in the data zone.

Torque Amplification Count - Rate of torque increase
Torque increase during the spin up operation of the hard disk.

Power-off Retract Count - Number of power off cycles
The number of times the head was retracted as a result of power loss.

GMR Head Amplitude - Head positioning amplitude
Head moving distances between operations.

Hard Disk Temperature - Disk temperature
The temperature inside the hard disk housing.

Head Flying Hours - Number of head positioning hours
Time spent during the positioning of the drive heads.

Read Error Retry Rate - Number of retries during read operations
Number of errors found during reading a sector from disk surface.

I have the same configuration, a NV+v2 with 4 3TB ST3000DM001-9YN166 disks upgraded firmware CCH4 (the latest).

And the identical message error:

Detected increasing command timeouts[524296] on disk 1 [ST3000DM001-9YN166, S1F03ANB]. This often indicates an impending failure. Please be prepared to replace this disk to maintain data redundancy.

I just checked (two days ago, after the upgrade to new firmware) all the disks with seatools and there were no problems..

what command timeout count do you see in the smart stats?

I have the exact same setup too. A NV+ v2 with (3) Seagate ST3000DM001-9YN166 drives, all less than 90 days old. They have had spindown issues, increasing command timeouts, and eventually failed drives. Netgear support has been very slow in responding to me and have yet to receive any good answers. I am curious if anyone has figured out any answers. I wonder if these drives really shouldn't be used in this setup.

Sun Oct 14 13:11:01 PDT 2012Detected increasing command timeouts[65537] on disk 1 [ST3000DM001-9YN166, W1F0W1W4]. This often indicates an impending failure. Please be prepared to replace this disk to maintain data redundancy.
Sun Oct 14 11:07:23 PDT 2012If the failed disk is used in a RAID level 1, 5, or X-RAID volume, please note that volume is now unprotected, and an additional disk failure may render that volume dead. If this disk is a part of a RAID 10 volume,your volume is still protected if more than half of the disks alive. But another failure of disks been marked may render that volume dead. It is recommended that you replace the failed disk as soon as possible to maintain optimal protection of your volume.
Sun Oct 14 11:07:23 PDT 2012Disk failure detected. 

Hi all,

a quick update. After i posted this topic I went ahead and performed the HDPARM tweaks, after that all seemed well. Load cycle count only increases very slowly now.
But today, disk 1 failed. After rebooting the NAS, it recognized the drive again, and started resyncing the volume. When I checked the smart status, the command timeout on the disk turned out to have increased again. The three other disks are fine though, with command timeout still at 0.
Reading all replies here, it struck me as odd that it seems like it's always disk 1 that's having these problems... Is there maybe something different in the way the NV+v2 treats the drive in the first slot? Is it for instance always the parity drive that gets written to more often?
Either way, as long as it's always the same disk, and it can be fixed by reboot & resync, i guess it's ok to keep it like this for a while. I will eventually start swapping out these seagate drives for something more reliable though :-)
Or should I try to return the defective drive to seagate and hope the replacement will be fine?
EDIT: grammar

The NV+ v2 doesn't have a parity disk - it's RAID pattern spreads parity blocks evenly across all disks. That prevents the problem you are pointing out (a separate parity disk indeed gets written more often, it would get 1/2 the write requests no matter how many disks are in the array).

If the disk is too old to return to the seller, then the Seagate RMA process is the only recourse you have left. They generally don't provide the same model replacement (sometimes it is even a larger drive). It will also refurbished.

Ah ok, not a parity thing then. Still weird all guys in this thread are having the problem with disk 1, wonder if it's coincidence.
As for me, I will try to return the disk to the webshop, or else the RMA thing.
Thanks.

intothevoid wrote:
I will eventually start swapping out these seagate drives for something more reliable

Have a look at the WD red series specifically engineered to work with NAS devices,
WD RED WD30EFRX - 3 TB
WD RED WD20EFRX - 2 TB
WD RED WD10EFRX - 1 TB
All on the HCL for the NV+ v2