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Forum Discussion
Western Digital WD1002FBYS head click noise (#10987106)
Hi Everyone,
I need help with what appears to be a compatibility issue with the ReadyNAS Pro Pioneer and HCL approved Western Digital drives. For background please see:
Strange Problem with Western Digital WD10EADS
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=31572
Note: the difference between the WD10EACS and the WD10EADS is the size of the cache (16MB vs 32MB). Otherwise they are identical. Nevertheless, because the WD10EADS is not currently on the HCL, I removed it from subsequent testing.
Over the past three months, I have set up three entirely different Pro Pioneers with three entirely different WD1002FBYS RE3 drive sets. I have tried formatting in X-RAID, X-RAID-2 and Flex-RAID, with 1, 2, 3, and 4 disks.
In each case, after the RAID is fully set-up, re-synched and completely idle, I hear a constant head click sound every 10-15 seconds. You can download/listen to the sound at this link:
http://propaganda.com/dhl/media/click.aif
This sound is audible 20' away from the ReadyNAS. The sound only occurs when the ReadyNAS is idle. It happens with and without a network connection or data on the NAS.
I have spoken with and played the sound for WD level-2 technical support. Their engineers tell me this is *definitely not* normal behavior for these drives.
On WD's advice, I tested individual drives in a SATA dock connected to my computer. I found that they make this sound for a few seconds after mounting, then become completely quiet.
It appears that the drives are getting stuck in a calibration loop when used in the ReadyNAS.
I reported these results to WD. The WD engineers suggested a low-level SATA hardware or device-driver level incompatibility between the ReadyNAS and the drives may be the cause.
I've been reporting my findings to Netgear support (case# 9787229, now case# 10374423) for about three months.
I've been told that level-3 Netgear engineers say that this sound is normal, however, it's not clear to me that level-3 is actually testing this configuration.
These are enterprise class drives designed to run 24/7. Frankly, I can't believe these drives would pass QA with this behavior. Having the heads click every 10-15 seconds is *not* normal and can't be good in the long run.
Based on the difficulties I've read in other threads with the RE4, I suspect there may be problems with the RE3 that slipped thru the cracks.
Jedi's, I need your advice.
The only reason my partners and I bought these drives is because of WD's reputation and the fact that they were on the HCL. We need this resolved so that we can put our ReadyNAS's into production with confidence.
I'd also appreciate hearing from any other users of these drives on whether you experience these issues.
Thanks everyone for your help.
--dhl
I need help with what appears to be a compatibility issue with the ReadyNAS Pro Pioneer and HCL approved Western Digital drives. For background please see:
Strange Problem with Western Digital WD10EADS
viewtopic.php?f=24&t=31572
Note: the difference between the WD10EACS and the WD10EADS is the size of the cache (16MB vs 32MB). Otherwise they are identical. Nevertheless, because the WD10EADS is not currently on the HCL, I removed it from subsequent testing.
Over the past three months, I have set up three entirely different Pro Pioneers with three entirely different WD1002FBYS RE3 drive sets. I have tried formatting in X-RAID, X-RAID-2 and Flex-RAID, with 1, 2, 3, and 4 disks.
In each case, after the RAID is fully set-up, re-synched and completely idle, I hear a constant head click sound every 10-15 seconds. You can download/listen to the sound at this link:
http://propaganda.com/dhl/media/click.aif
This sound is audible 20' away from the ReadyNAS. The sound only occurs when the ReadyNAS is idle. It happens with and without a network connection or data on the NAS.
I have spoken with and played the sound for WD level-2 technical support. Their engineers tell me this is *definitely not* normal behavior for these drives.
On WD's advice, I tested individual drives in a SATA dock connected to my computer. I found that they make this sound for a few seconds after mounting, then become completely quiet.
It appears that the drives are getting stuck in a calibration loop when used in the ReadyNAS.
I reported these results to WD. The WD engineers suggested a low-level SATA hardware or device-driver level incompatibility between the ReadyNAS and the drives may be the cause.
I've been reporting my findings to Netgear support (case# 9787229, now case# 10374423) for about three months.
I've been told that level-3 Netgear engineers say that this sound is normal, however, it's not clear to me that level-3 is actually testing this configuration.
These are enterprise class drives designed to run 24/7. Frankly, I can't believe these drives would pass QA with this behavior. Having the heads click every 10-15 seconds is *not* normal and can't be good in the long run.
Based on the difficulties I've read in other threads with the RE4, I suspect there may be problems with the RE3 that slipped thru the cracks.
Jedi's, I need your advice.
The only reason my partners and I bought these drives is because of WD's reputation and the fact that they were on the HCL. We need this resolved so that we can put our ReadyNAS's into production with confidence.
I'd also appreciate hearing from any other users of these drives on whether you experience these issues.
Thanks everyone for your help.
--dhl
38 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- dhl
You are not alone!
I also have had this "tick" every few seconds since setup a few months ago. Not been able to correlate it with any network activity -annoying but the system works OK and will go to sleep if left. I have six WD1002FBYS RE3 firmware 03.100C06 installed in a Pioneer Pro.
I hope your perseverance comes up with something.
Regards
jknas jknas wrote: dhl
You are not alone!
I also have had this "tick" every few seconds since setup a few months ago. Not been able to correlate it with any network activity -annoying but the system works OK and will go to sleep if left. I have six WD1002FBYS RE3 firmware 03.100C06 installed in a Pioneer Pro.
I hope your perseverance comes up with something.
Regards
jknas
@jknas
Thanks for confirming the problem. I still haven't heard back yet from any of the Jedis but am hoping for an answer soon.
Anyone else using WD1002FBYS drives, please chime in with your experience.- hi guys justinsmith here,
first of all if you have an warranty card and your hard drive is under warranty period then you should go for the replacement of that drive by taking your data backup in another drive. justinsmith wrote: hi guys justinsmith here,
first of all if you have an warranty card and your hard drive is under warranty period then you should go for the replacement of that drive by taking your data backup in another drive.
Hi justinsmith,
The problem is not with the drives, it's with the ReadyNAS SATA drivers. I've confirmed this thru months of extensive testing, conversations with level 3 WD engineers and now have four independent examples of this behavior, in each case happening with new drive sets.
I haven't hear from Chirpa or any of the Jedis for weeks now. I imagine they're busy dealing with the current firmware mess, but it would be nice to get some kind of response just to know they're there.
I'm not dropping this case. Netgear has a real problem here and I want to see it solved.
--dhl- Thanks for the info guys. I was wondering if any WD drives had the same issues (head clicking caused by drive arm recalibration) that some Seagate drives had. Guess this is one of them.
Please keep everyone posted. I am interested in seeing a fix for this as well.
Thanks. - Happy New Year All,
Hope 2010 is treating everyone well so far. I have a window of time to follow up on this problem so here's where things are now.
I just got off the phone with Anthony in advanced support at WD. He thinks the ReadyNAS is sending arbitrary commands to the drives which is causing the drive heads to park and re-park. It is definitely NOT normal behavior and it is not a good thing.
Jedis - I have a WD case# that can be referenced if you want to talk directly with WD advanced support and get their assessment.
The Western Digital case number is: 081309-6585542
I have a new Netgear case number as well, noted in the new subject line for this thread.
I'm in touch with Netgear support with this case as well.
Please, let's work on fixing this. I'm happy to do whatever's needed to facilitate.
thanks,
--dhl - Hi all,
I own 2 WD1002FBYS drives. They are used in a Windows 2008 server, with an Adaptec Raid 1430SA Controller.
I have the same noise.
Also found this post:
http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-Drive-WesternDigitalRE3.html
where a Mac user is complaining about this sound.
So, it seems it's not just a Netgear problem. - @Pogo!
I got in touch with Lloyd Chambers, the author of that post in August and sent him the sound to listen to. Here's what he wrote back to me:
From: DIGLLOYD INC <info@diglloyd.com>
Date: August 19, 2009 8:50:39 PM PDT
To: David Lawrence <dhl@well.com>
Subject: Re: diglloyd inquiry: Western Digital 1TB RE-3
David,
I don't like the sound. Sounds like a failing drive.
Lloyd
.....
Lloyd L Chambers
info@diglloyd.com
http://diglloyd.com and http://MacPerformanceGuide.com/
Also note, in his article, he states:"...It might do this for 30 seconds or more, then it settles down to its normal quiet self...."
This is not the same behavior as with the ReadyNAS. On the ReadyNAS the noise begins immediately after the device boots and never stops.
Is this what you're seeing with your Windows 2008 server? If so, maybe the RAID controller or firmware are a factor.
In any event, WD engineers confirm this is *not* normal for the RE3 drive. - @dhl:
> This is not the same behavior as with the ReadyNAS.
Maybe it isn't, but i wanted to confirm that this isn't (only) a problem of the ReadyNAS, but a problem of these particular WD disks with ReadyNAS or other controllers.
When having disk activity, i don't hear the clicksound. When server is not busy for a while, the clicking starts. It doesn't stop after 30 secs.
> If so, maybe the RAID controller or firmware are a factor.
I think that is true... problem is where to complain, WD or the manufacturer of the controller.
Or maybe the drives can be configured in a way not to respond to a specific command ("park yourself") they receive?
BTW: i want to contact WD about this. Do you have a call-number i can refer to? - @dhl:
I have similar problems with ReadyNAS duo...
The Seagate LP 1tb drive that I bought starts to make some random clicking noise while on idle and the noise it makes is very loud, at least twice the noise as normal write/read operation.
I have also tested with Seagate 500GB ES.2, it has similar behavior and googled to see if anyone has this problem and it seems that a lot of people are having problems with clicking noise and eventually the drive fails.
some references:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/252416-14-seagate-barracuda-st31500541as-loud-random-clicking-noise
http://forums.seagate.com/stx/board/message?board.id=ata_drives&thread.id=17541
so maybe it has to do with the firmware.
regards
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