Freenas 11 Boot SSD overheating

[Aidan]

Hi,

I’m looking for a bit of advice here ref Boot Drives for Freenas 11.3 installed in a school. The SSD in my current build seems to be overheating. Based on reading various threads, I bought a Crucial SSD (Crucial BX500 120 GB CT120BX500SSD1). Now that that has been installed it is complaining about overheating and sending out warnings to the logs.

FREENAS is reporting it daily e.g.:

"Aug 21 13:17:55 NASDRIVE smartd[1201]: Device: /dev/ada0, Failed SMART usage Attribute: 194 Temperature_Celsius." .

I went into SHELL and ran the command:

smartctl -a /dev/ada0

and the relevant line is:

ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE

194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 037 036 050 Old_age Always FAILING_NOW 63 (Min/Max 57/64)

The unit is rated between 0 and 70C but has a threshold of 50C and from checking using the above command a few times, it is running at between 59 and 64C.

I’ve moved the box to a place with more airflow and enabled a fan that was on the side of the case. I will look at the physical arrangement of the drives in the box to see if it can help and am considering a heatsink. However, the question is, do I perhaps need to change to a different SSD? If so, could I have a recommendation, please? Do you think this one might be faulty? FYI - I originally built the system (2018) with Sandisk Cruzer USBs but they were running very hot, then (2019) tried a 120GB SSD (Western Digital Green) and it had the known (Checksum/ Trim) error, I thought I had it cracked with this SSD until it reported overheating...Suggestions welcome. Thanks.

 

[Alecmascot]

Is the System Data Set running on the Boot Pool or a Data Pool ?

 

[Yorick]

Fascinating. Good question re system dataset, and take a look here: https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/efa6gr/thermal_throttling_crucial_bx500/

WD Green is also DRAM-less and a review states this, which is what you appear to be running into, emphasis mine:

While the Green label has connotations of better than average power efficiency when applied to WD's hard drives, the low performance of DRAM-less SSDs usually leads to poor energy efficiency during active use and the idle power savings tend to be minimal.

Ideas might be:
- Intel 320 40GB off eBay, around USD 20
- Samsung 860 EVO 250GB, around USD 50
- Transcend M.2 2242 SATA (does have a DRAM cache) with a USB enclosure

Amazon.com: Transcend 32GB SATA III 6GB/S MTS400S 42 mm M.2 SSD 400S Solid State Drive TS32GMTS400S: Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: Transcend 32GB SATA III 6GB/S MTS400S 42 mm M.2 SSD 400S Solid State Drive TS32GMTS400S: Computers & Accessories

www.amazon.com

and

https://www.amazon.com/Aluminium-Enclosure-NG-2242A-Extension-Converter/dp/B082CJ2V76/?ozlp-20

also around USD 50, only worth it if you really need that SATA port
- Patriot Burst 120GB for USD20? Edit: Hard NO, also a plastic case.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Fascinating. Good question re system dataset, and take a look here: https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/efa6gr/thermal_throttling_crucial_bx500/

A plastic enclosure on an SSD? I know it's the "budget line" but still, that's the only way to dissipate heat in a low or no-airflow situation (which laptops often are.) Shame on you, Crucial.

- Intel 320 40GB off eBay, around USD 20
- Samsung 860 EVO 250GB, around USD 50

Also try the Intel DC S3500 - the 80GB model is popular on eBay as a used-pull and is even available in M.2 format.

 

[Aidan]

Thanks folks for the replies, it's really appreciated.
The box is in a school, so I don't get access too easily. I will check ref the System Data Set location but can't say off the top of my head. It was a default installation using the SSD as Boot and two mirrored WD Red HDDs as data store etc. If it was something that I could or should have moved, I didn't (or even know about). Is the recommendation that I should move it, regardless of changing the SSD? Basically, I need a low-maintenance set up given the opportunities to access the box being infrequent.
I might seek an exchange or whatever with Amazon, it wasn't very dear but so far I've bought the 2 USB Cruzers and 2 SSDs so it'd be good not to buy something inappropriate this time. At least I have alternative uses for the Cruzers.
Looking at the suggestions, some of them are showing up in Amazon as 'Currently Unavailable', though I do see the Samsung. I can't see in the details any indicator of DRAM/ DRAM-Less though. Can you say that the recommendations will avoid the 'Checksum/ Trim' error and won't overheat or are not in other ways a bad idea for FreeNAS etc? Do they have DRAM? I plan to use the standard 2.5" SATA type, mounted in the tower.
Thanks again.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Amazon reviews often lack the critical technical information that you need to know - you'll often have to go to a vendor's datasheet to see that kind of information, or else ask other users.

All of the three devices suggested thus far though (Intel 320, Intel DC S3500, Samsung 860) are all MLC with DRAM - although the lack of DRAM isn't a terrible concern on a boot device per se, it just appears to be this model lacking the necessary passive cooling.

 

[Aidan]

Hi - quick update. Amazon have accepted the SSD drive (Crucial BX500) should be refunded so I am looking at the recommended Samsung 860 SSD. I hope it's the one to keep, it'll be the 4th build (having tried USBs(really very hot), WD Green(Checksum errors) and Crucial BX500(very hot)) so far.
By the way, before I looked for the refund, I checked the System Data Pool and it's on the storage drives (HDDs). I also re-configured the layout of the box keeping the HDDs away from the SSD, spacing them apart, replacing a case fan and generally ensuring good airflow including ensuring the box is in a well-ventilated place. The temp of the (Crucial) SSD remained around 60C. Note that Crucial model also has a plastic outer skin, so heatsink ideas were not a runner.
Thanks for the help ref recommendations.

 

[Newfoundland.Republic]

I have two Kingston SA400s in my server for boot (120 GB) and they average between 28-30C for the server in my home office. Room temperature is 25-28C (I need some A/C in there - too easy to fall asleep in conference calls).

 

[Aidan]

Hi final update (hopefully!) on this. I installed the Samsung and uploaded the config file and with the system up a couple of hours working doing stuff like replication, the SSD remained under 30C. Before I did the install, the Crucial BX500 was still reading 60C. So looks like a recommendation for the Samsung Evo SSD.
Thanks guys.