ATA error count increasing- Bad disk or bad chassis?

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als-chups wrote:

 

 

So, my conclusion is that it is a problem with slot 4 on the chassis, unless you guys can think of an alternative reason. The power supply seems OK.

 

 I have a couple of questions:-

    Does it matter? It looks like there are increasing ATA errors on start-up  which seem to be sorted within a 5 second timeframe on start-up and then give no further increase during the up-time of the unit. Performance is fine, and it does not look as if the disk involved is failing. The ATA errors are an increase of either 3 or 4 on each boot. If I monitor this for a sudden change, would that give me warning that the disk  may be the problem?

 The unit is still under hardware warranty, but any interaction with Netgear Support  makes me lose the will to live. I  could simply return it to the original vendor for a replacement.

 How do I re-establish my old volume and data with the other 4 drives I've pulled?

 My plan is:-

 1.Power down. Remove the drive from slot 4. 

2. Boot up with no drives.  Factory re-set the device.

3. Re-install configuration files downloaded before first factory reset. Power down.

4. Re-install the 4 drives in their correct order.

5. Re-boot.

 

Will this work, or is there a chance it will see the 4 drives as new and re-format them? 

I agree with your conclusion that it's the chassis.  You should check and make sure there isn't just something in the SATA connector that can be blown or picked out before you give up on it completely.

Does it matter?  Well, it will likely get worse and will eventually matter.  I would do a warraty replacement now, before it gets worse, possibly corrupting the data volume, or your warranty expires.

A factory default without drives does nothing.  A factory default re-initializes the drives from the flash; so no drives, no reset.  And your problem is not with the firmware, anyway, so no need to do a reset at all.