HDD "heartbeat" at idle

[DeTrimmy]

Hello all, this if my first post to the free NAS community.

I have recent set up a system running plex and as a general file storage facility.

Specs
Base DELL T20
Processor - Xeon 1225-v3
Ram - 12gb ecc ram
HDD - x4 WD red

My issue is a rather small gripe, at idle once booted into free NAS the HDDs seem to take on a clicking heartbeat. I have used the word heartbeat as that is e aptly what it sounds like, it doesn't sound like a dying HDD. I came to this conclusion as all four dives make the sound at the same time, it's not the end of the world, however it's annoying.

If anyone can help or has some advice I would be very grateful.

 

[Bidule0hm]

Is it every 5 seconds (or a multiple of 5 seconds)?

 

[Ericloewe]

WD Reds? What's the date of manufacture, approximately? Nobody complains about WD Reds making unusual noises. Got any weird power-saving features activated?

 

[DeTrimmy]

The noise is every 5 seconds.

2 drives are new from Amazon, 2 are new from scan. I could check the dates but I imagine fairly new. The HDDs at boot have the usual HDD sounds, it's only when freenas has booted and is idle.

 

[Ericloewe]

The noise is every 5 seconds.

That's expected, it's the .system dataset writes.

However, it's unusual for the drives to be particularly audible. The output of smartctl -a /dev/adawhatever for a representative drive would be interesting to see.

 

[m0nkey_]

I'm guessing you have a few plugins or jails installed. If you do, then this is expected behavior.

 

[DeTrimmy]

Thanks for the replies, it may be normal however it's really annoying. Is there anyway of preventing it? Or increase the interval?

Thanks again

 

[Ericloewe]

The disk behavior is normal, but it's unusual for the disks to be audible enough to bother someone just seeking.

You could potentially offload the .system dataset and your jails to mirrored SSDs, but let's take this one step at a time. Post the output of smartctl -a /dev/adawhatever and tell us what, if any, power-saving settings you're using.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

it's unusual for the drives to be particularly audible

The T20 is so quiet that the only thing you hear is the drives. In a quiet office, with the machine at your feet, they are indeed audible.

 

[DeTrimmy]

Ericloewe, thanks for the help, im rather new to using shell, after typing in the command i am missing the majority of the output.

 

[Ericloewe]

If you must absolutely use the crap webshell, use

Code:

smartctl -a /dev/ada*whatever* | less

Navigate with arrow keys, q to quit.

 

[DeTrimmy]

Should i post for all of the drives? or just the one? as i said the sound comes from all of the drives at once.

Is there a better way of creating an output file from the shell?

 

[DeTrimmy]

Code:

smartctl 6.3 2014-07-26 r3976 [FreeBSD 9.3-RELEASE-p31 amd64] (local build)                                                       
Copyright (C) 2002-14, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org                                                       
                                                                                                                                  
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===                                                                                              
Model Family:     Western Digital Red (AF)                                                                                        
Device Model:     WDC WD20EFRX-68EUZN0                                                                                            
Serial Number:    WD-WCC4M4PFT7J2                                                                                                 
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 2b7558d42                                                                                              
Firmware Version: 82.00A82                                                                                                        
User Capacity:    2,000,398,934,016 bytes [2.00 TB]                                                                               
Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical                                                                          
Rotation Rate:    5400 rpm                                                                                                        
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]                                                                 
ATA Version is:   ACS-2 (minor revision not indicated)                                                                            
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)                                                                          
Local Time is:    Sun Jan 24 16:29:10 2016 GMT                                                                                    
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.                                                                        
SMART support is: Enabled                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                  
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===                                                                                          
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED                                                                          
                                                                                                                                  
General SMART Values:                                                                                                             
Offline data collection status:  (0x00) Offline data collection activity                                                          
                                        was never started.                                                                        
                                        Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.                                                   
Self-test execution status:      (   0) The previous self-test routine completed                                                  
                                        without error or no self-test has ever                                                    
                                        been run.                                                                                 
Total time to complete Offline                                                                                                    
data collection:                (25920) seconds.                                                                                  
Offline data collection                                                                                                           
capabilities:                    (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.                                                          
                                        Auto Offline data collection on/off support.                                              
                                        Suspend Offline collection upon new                                                       
                                        command.                                                                                  
                                        Offline surface scan supported.                                                           
                                        Self-test supported.                                                                      
                                        Conveyance Self-test supported.                                                           
                                        Selective Self-test supported.                                                            
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering                                                          
                                        power-saving mode.                                                                        
                                        Supports SMART auto save timer.                                                           
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.                                                                  
                                        General Purpose Logging supported.                                                        
Short self-test routine                                                                                                           
recommended polling time:        (   2) minutes.                                                                                  
Extended self-test routine                                                                                                        
recommended polling time:        ( 262) minutes.         
Conveyance self-test routine                                                                                                      
recommended polling time:        (   5) minutes.                                                                                  
SCT capabilities:              (0x703d) SCT Status supported.                                                                     
                                        SCT Error Recovery Control supported.                                                     
                                        SCT Feature Control supported.                                                            
                                        SCT Data Table supported.                                                                 
                                                                                                                                  
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16                                                                               
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:                                                                                 
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE                                  
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x002f   200   200   051    Pre-fail  Always       -       0                                          
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0027   177   171   021    Pre-fail  Always       -       4141                                       
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       39                                         
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   200   200   140    Pre-fail  Always       -       0                                          
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x002e   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0                                          
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       20                                         
10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0                                          
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032   100   253   000    Old_age   Always       -       0                                          
12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       39                                         
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       27                                         
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       17                                         
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   111   110   000    Old_age   Always       -       36                                         
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0                                          
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0                                          
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0030   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0                                          
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0                                          
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   0x0008   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0                                          
                                                                                                                                  
SMART Error Log Version: 1                                                                                                        
No Errors Logged                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                  
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1                                                                                   
No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]                                                            
                                                                                                                                  
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1                                                                    
SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS                                                                                      
    1        0        0  Not_testing                                                                                              
    2        0        0  Not_testing                                                                                              
    3        0        0  Not_testing                                                                                              
    4        0        0  Not_testing                                                                                              
    5        0        0  Not_testing                                                                                              
Selective self-test flags (0x0):                                                                                                  
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.                                                              
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.                                                       
                                                                            
                        

 

[Ericloewe]

The drives seem to be working as is default.

Sidenote: Be sure to run SMART tests on those drives before putting them into production, and your favorite HDD burn-in test.

So, if the noise is really bothering you, the only option is to offload that stuff onto mirrored SSDs (the .system dataset must live on reliable storage, or else bad things can happen).

 

[DeTrimmy]

The T20 is limited to 4 sata ports. Could i use two 8gb usb sticks for the data set? Thanks for the help

 

[Ericloewe]

The T20 is limited to 4 sata ports. Could i use two 8gb usb sticks for the data set? Thanks for the help

It's not something I'd advise. Expect them to die insanely quickly.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

The T20 is limited to 4 sata ports.

The official Dell accessory for adding two 2.5" drives to a T20 is the StarTech PEXSAT32. However, since you have the Xeon model of the T20, there's an optical drive where the 2.5" drives should go. One alternative would be a PEXMSATA3422 and a couple of suitable mSATA drives.

 

[MeJoho]

Hello. I have same problem as OP. The WD Red WD30EFRX 3 TB makes a heartbeat sound when CPUID HWMonitor is open. Every 2nd second it will make two beats almost exactly like a heartbeat.

I never could hear it in my Cooler Master Sniper case; I guess because it was mostly made out of metal.

I bought a new case, the Corsair 780T. It has a lot of platic and a window instead of mesh, so I think the sound from the drive resonates better through the case, like if it was a drum.

I have changed the power and SATA cables, but no luck.

I think it has something to do with the temperature sensor, because it only makes the sound when CPUID HWMonitor is open. And I really want that program to be open.
Maybe I should hang the NAS in a bunch of rubber bands.

What can we do???