Can't see HDs on LSI controller on X10SL7-F board

[pgrnpacer]

Hey guys. I have been searching around the net all day today for a solution to this issue. Here is what I am trying to do...

I got my FreeNAS server hardware all put together and now I want to run tests on all of my (6) WD 4TB Red Drives to make sure that they are in good condition before I put any data on them. My idea was to load Windows 7 on a spare 80gb HD I had laying around so that I could use speedfan to monitor the HD temperatures and fan RPMs and run SMARTMON tests and the WD Data Lifeguard software on them. After I figured out whether my cooling solution was adequate and the hard drives were all in good order then I would dump the Windows HD and begin setting up FreeNAS on a USB thumbdrive I bought.

FYI I updated the motherboard BIOS and I flashed the LSI controller to IT mode successfully and while booting I configured the LSI controller to show all 6 WD RED drives while booting (and they all show up each time I boot).

My problem is that when I am in Windows 7 the WD Data Lifeguard software doesn't show any of the WD RED HDs.....only the 80gb HD with Windows 7 on it... When I run Speedfan it doesn't show any of the 6 WD hard drives either. All 6 of the reds are on the LSI card ports.

Is there a setting somewhere that will allow the SMART data to pass through?
I am guessing that I have a larger problem based on the fact that Windows doesn't recognize the drives being present either.

Any help would be most appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[gpsguy]

Windows 7 doesn't have out of the box support for your controller. You can download a driver for it from Super Micro.

Rather than use Windows tools, why not use jgreco's reommendation. See: https://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/building-burn-in-and-testing-your-freenas-system.17750/

 

[BigDave]

Rather than use Windows tools, why not use jgreco's reommendation.

Excellent advice ^^^^^
Get used to using FreeNAS instead of Windows to solve your issues, it's good practice.;)

 

[DrKK]

Indeed. I look back on my Windows-to-solve-things days with nostalgia, and horror.

 

[pgrnpacer]

I wanted to start up FreeNAS but maybe I misread this

"Find and run one of the CPU-stressing utilities to monitor temperature and fan behaviour in your chassis. Especially if you are attempting to build a "quiet" NAS, now is the opportunity to make sure that your cooling strategy is going to work.

Run SMART tests on all your drives, including the manufacturer's conveyance test and the long test. For this purpose it might be convenient to configure up an instance of FreeNAS."

I suppose I took that excerpt to mean that, due to the fact that he suggests configuring up an instance of FreeNAS AFTER he talks about the CPU stressing utilities, that there weren't any available in FreeNAS. My HD manufacturer is Western Digital and I did not see their conveyance software available for FreeNAS. Does SMARTMON tools provide real-time temperature monitoring of the hard drives? If not then I need something like speedfan to make sure that my fans are running quick enough to keep the drives cool and slow enough to be quiet.

Did I miss a thread that speaks to these issues? I am a complete rookie and tryin to stay afloat. =)

Thanks guys!

 

[pgrnpacer]

Thank you gpsguy for the driver issue solution! Windows sees all of the drives now and the SMART info populates in speedfan.

 

[Ericloewe]

You can definitely do drive burn-in on FreeNAS. The rest of the system is probably easier to do with Windows (or maybe Linux/vanilla FreeBSD, these days).