Disc serial numbers dont match up

[xbmcgotham]

Hi,

Normally, when having a NAS with many discs, you would write down the last 4 serial numbers of the discs and label them on the fronts of the disc bays. If there would be a failure, you can look at the discs config page, find the particular serial number and match it up with the labels.

However, it looks like none of the serial numbers displayed on the disc management pages match up to any of the physical disc serial numbers I wrote down, except for just one disc. Am I missing something here?

Hope some one can clear this up for me.

Kind regards,

 

[elvisimprsntr]

@xbmcgotham

Need more info on the config of your system.

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1. CORE or SCALE? Version?
2. Mobo and drive make/model?
3. SATA controller specs? What mode are you using the SATA controller in?
4. What is the output of the smartctl command?

CORE Example

Code:

root@NAS-1[~]# smartctl -a /dev/ada0 | grep -i serial
Serial Number:    W523L9JK

SCALE Example

Code:

root@NAS-3[~]# smartctl -a /dev/sda | grep -i serial
Serial Number:    Z4Z96ZG0

5. Have you checked the drive manufacturers web site to make sure they are valid serial numbers? Written on label or as reported by smartctl?

 

[xbmcgotham]

Hi again, sorry for the delay, had to find the info.

Attached the info of the server hardware. I have installed TrueNAS Core I believe. Not sure where to find the current version installed. Update page tells me: (Current Train: TrueNAS-12.0-STABLE - Release Train for TrueNAS 12.0 [release])

The output of the smartctl command give the same serial number as the properties page of each of the discs in the TrueNAS GUI. Still only 1 of these is similar to my Physical serial numbers on the discs themselves.

All discs are Seagate Constellation ES.3 model:ST4000NM0023 discs. I tried to check 2 discs for serial verification, however it only gave an error as I think the disc I have are old. I bought them secondhand from a professional IT hardware store so I assume they are genuine.

Hope some of this information can help.

 

[elvisimprsntr]

@xbmcgotham

Supermicro | Products | SuperStorage Servers | 4U | 6047R-E1R24N

From the landing page

5. 24x 3.5" Hot-swap SAS2 (with
Broadcom expander) / SATA3 HDD Bays

6. Hardware RAID controller and JBOD
Expansion; RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60

From the mobo manual

Page 1-2

Serial ATA
A SATA controller is also integrated into the chipset to provide two SATA 3 (6/Gbps) and four SATA 2 (3 Gbps) ports, which are RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 supported. The SATA drives are hot-swappable units. RAID 5 supported with Windows OS only).
Note: The operating system you use must have RAID support to enable the hot- swap capability and RAID function of the SATA drives.

My understanding is TrueNAS with expanders and RAID controllers do not mix.

1. TrueNAS ZFS requires direct access to the drives. Make sure the BIOS is configured in ATA or IT mode.

Supermicro | Products | Motherboards | Xeon® Boards | X9DRi-LN4F+

https://www.supermicro.com/manuals/other/HostRAID_ICH7R_ICH9R_ICH10R.pdf
2. If the BIOS does not give you the option, others have had success getting SuperMicro to send them the controller firmware to put it in IT mode. https://www.truenas.com/community/t...aid-controller-for-truenas.90192/#post-624418

I have had Supermicro support sending me current IT mode firmware after I opened a ticket with them.

3. I think your last option would be to install a separate controller card and bypass the onboard controller.

 

[xbmcgotham]

@xbmcgotham

Supermicro | Products | SuperStorage Servers | 4U | 6047R-E1R24N

From the landing page



From the mobo manual

Page 1-2



My understanding is TrueNAS with expanders and RAID controllers do not mix.

1. TrueNAS ZFS requires direct access to the drives. Make sure the BIOS is configured in ATA or IT mode.

Supermicro | Products | Motherboards | Xeon® Boards | X9DRi-LN4F+

https://www.supermicro.com/manuals/other/HostRAID_ICH7R_ICH9R_ICH10R.pdf
2. If the BIOS does not give you the option, others have had success getting SuperMicro to send them the controller firmware to put it in IT mode. https://www.truenas.com/community/t...aid-controller-for-truenas.90192/#post-624418



3. I think your last option would be to install a separate controller card and bypass the onboard controller.

Thanks for the detailed follow up. I will look into this and come back to you.

 

[xbmcgotham]

Hi @elvisimprsntr

I just checked and I have already done the last option.

The controller is already in IT mode.

I put in the following controller:

LSI 9207-8i IT mode SATA SAS LSI SAS2308 PCIe 3 for SSDs ZFS FreeNAS UnRAID

If not mistaken without it, TrueNAS would not have seen the 24 discs.

Any other ideas how to resolve this issue?

Have a nice weekend

 

[elvisimprsntr]

@xbmcgotham

I think you might want to isolate the problem between your TrueNAS HW/SW and the drives by installing the drives in another system (Windows or *nix) and determine what SN it reports. If there is still a SN discrepancy between what is written on the HD and what is reported by the OS or smartctl, then you have to consider the following:

1. Are they counterfeit drives and/or not what you think you paid for?
2. Did the "professional" IT hardware store somehow inadvertently and/or deliberately change the serial numbers using OEM disk utilities when checking the drives before resale. Perhaps when updating the HD firmware before resale using OEM tools and simply inadvertently re-used the same drive SN when flashing the new firmware.

How to Edit Seagate F3 Hard Drive Model and SN number

How to Edit Seagate F3 Hard Drive Model and SN number

www.youtube.com

In either case, you would have to reach out to whom ever you purchased the drives from.

 

[xbmcgotham]

@elvisimprsntr Thanks for getting back to me. I will double check with the IT store and also check one of the discs in another system.