Guys, I have 4x2TB drives in the X-RAID2 on my NVX and things have been fine for a year or so. Volume is 75% full, but that still leaves 1.2TB of free space on the volume. Anyway, the last 5 days or so, I get an alert saying that SMART assessment has found a problem with Disk1 and that it should be replaced as soon as possible. Not buying this completely, after ensuring all data and config are totally backed up elsewhere, I did a reboot with Volume Scan, and the NVX came back saying No problems found in the volume scan. However, as soon as it completed boot, I got the email alert again saying the same SMART assessment detected a problem message.
So my questions are: 1. Which do I believe? SMART assessment, or the Volume Scan I just performed moments ago? 2. What is the next recommended step? I have Western Digital's Diagnostic program on a Windows machine of mine, and so I could pull the drive in question and attach it to the Windows machine and do perhaps a more complete diagnostics on the drive. Would that be advisable? And if I do that, can I assume that with my X-RAID2 setup, that the NVX will continue operating per normal without a disk in Slot 1? I don't want to ass-u-me 🙂
Thanks a ton for the help, I just don't want to go buying a drive replacement if I don't really need to. And yes, I have robust backup elsewhere on the network for all data as well as remote storage for all relevant data. Thanks again.
The volume scan and SMART assessment are complimentary but totally separate tests.
The Volume Scan tests the integrity of your data volume on the disks - a software function implemented within the NAS firmware comparable to running chkdsk on a windows PC. The SMART diagnostics are a function of the disks themselves and test the hardware (The NAS just reads the results)
Therefore, one test reporting errors and the other not is not atypical - the disk may be experiencing intermitent HW related issues, but that does not mean the data volume has been corrupted (yet)
Best option is to run the vendor diagnostics on the disk - particularly as the SMART error would suggest a potential hardware fault. Rather than hot remove the drive and run the NAS is degraded mode you could shut the NAS down, remove and test the drive, and then replace before powering up - that way the NAS would not even recognise the disk had been removed and prevent a resync of your disks.
Thanks sphardy...I will proceed right now, and will be post my results when finished. Not sure if the WD diagnostics can actually fix some problems on drives, or if it's just analysis, but we'll see I guess. If anyone knows, please advise.
Okay, so I've run the Western Digital diagnostics software on the drive via Windows. I performed both the short and the Extended test. Both are showing the drive as "Pass" and drive okay. That's all I get, no stats in the report or nothing, so not sure where this leads me. The Extended test was definitely doing something in depth, as it took 21 hours to complete on the 2TB drive. So, I've placed the disk back into the NVX and booted her back up. So far, so good, I have not yet gotten a Smart Test error alert (but then again they usually come in overnight). I look at the Smart button link for the drive under Status, Health and it still only has Errors in the area called "Raw Read Error Rate". The number of these is high, and after letting it run for several hours, I note that the number of these went up by about 1000 in 3 hours or so. Not sure if they are meaningful, again, no other errors anywhere. I'm thinking of just running this drive til it dies. I really don't think there are problems with it in reality. Why would WD's own diagnostics not show some alert, not even any noted problem after an Extended Test? I'm gonna play chicken on this one and see who blinks first. I've got a spare drive at the ready now, and if/when this one drive fails, I can throw in the same model/make/size of drive to replace it. So I run in a lessened state for a while as it resyncs the X-RAID2, big deal, right?
Please let me know if I'm crazy here. But I just don't think these Raw Read Error Rate issues are indicative of hard drive failure. Correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm gonna play chicken on this one and see who blinks first. I've got a spare drive at the ready now, and if/when this one drive fails, I can throw in the same model/make/size of drive to replace it. So I run in a lessened state for a while as it resyncs the X-RAID2, big deal, right?
