SOLVED Is it normal for the wizard to create a volume with only 3/4 disks?

[joeschmuck]

My advice is to just create your pool manually.

The drive in question (last on the list) appears to have been cannibalized from other equipment:

Code:

Serial Number Model Number Description Expiration Date Status
WCC4N1004959 WDBCTL0030HWT My Cloud 07/11/2016 In Limited Warranty
WMC4N0H1JAXT WD30EFRX WD Red 04/21/2018 In Limited Warranty
WMC4N0F4C1UJ WD30EFRX WD Red 04/21/2018 In Limited Warranty
WCC4N5AUEJ2C WDBYCC0030HBK My Book for Mac 07/03/2018 In Limited Warranty

I can't explain why the Mac Book hard drive has 128 sectors blocked, but it is likely due to a surface defect.

What I don't understand are some of the initial claims where if you remove one of the other hard drives, then the suspect hard drive doesn't complain. I'd be curious to see if it reports the same number of sectors/capacity under this situation as well, although I would expect it to report what it has previously.

As for the drive always being "da3", I would expect the OP has placed the SATA connections back in the original order and if not, the OP needs to speak up and correct that assumption.

 

[BigDave]

Are you still in the Christmas mode with the red/green highlighting?

I was on-call the week of xmas, working much of the time, sleeping the rest, so yeah, I guess I am :p

 

[AgedReason]

Yup, all drives in the same original order. (check the photo in the O.P.) In fact I have the drives and cables labelled according to motherboard port, so that in the event I should ever need to disconnect them after having pools set up, I can reconnect them in the correct order. The drives are also stacked in ascending order in their respective bays.

The only thing I did not do is alphabetize them by serial number.
(OCD growing...taking control...resisting...)

Since the issue appears to pose no danger to my setup, I'm not worried about it.
However, it is an interesting mystery that does make me curious. But that's all. I will try to find the WD maintenance tool and report back after running it.

 

[gpsguy]

It sure would have been helpful to know that 2 of these drives had been cannibalized from other equipment. In the OP's signature, he says he has "4x WD Red 3TB NAS WD30EFRX".

When I asked early on if one had been used before, I wrongly assumed that it was a bare drive, not one that had been removed from a "My Book for Mac" or "My Cloud" device.

As far as saying it worked with 3 drives or 1 drive, that trigged my (manual setup) idea, thinking they might be slightly different in size.

The drive in question (last on the list) appears to have been cannibalized from other equipment

 

[BigDave]

In fact I have the drives and cables labelled according to motherboard port, so that in the event I should ever need to disconnect them after having pools set up, I can reconnect them in the correct order.

As an aside, know that FreeNAS can and will change the assignments of da0 thru da3 at random. OCD not withstanding, there is no such thing as
drives having an "order" in the pool...
Actually, random is not correct at all, it has to do with spinup/ready condition. First drive "ready" gets da0, etc.

 

[AgedReason]

My advice is to just create your pool manually.

The drive in question (last on the list) appears to have been cannibalized from other equipment:

Code:

Serial Number Model Number Description Expiration Date Status
WCC4N1004959 WDBCTL0030HWT My Cloud 07/11/2016 In Limited Warranty
WMC4N0H1JAXT WD30EFRX WD Red 04/21/2018 In Limited Warranty
WMC4N0F4C1UJ WD30EFRX WD Red 04/21/2018 In Limited Warranty
WCC4N5AUEJ2C WDBYCC0030HBK My Book for Mac 07/03/2018 In Limited Warranty

I can't explain why the Mac Book hard drive has 128 sectors blocked, but it is likely due to a surface defect.

Cool. How did you get that detailed info?

What I don't understand are some of the initial claims where if you remove one of the other hard drives, then the suspect hard drive doesn't complain. I'd be curious to see if it reports the same number of sectors/capacity under this situation as well, although I would expect it to report what it has previously.

Actually, I have to remove all BUT the suspect drive. Even if ONE of the other drives is connected, the suspect drive is ignored.

 

[AgedReason]

As an aside, know that FreeNAS can and will change the assignments of da0 thru da3 at random. OCD not withstanding, there is no such thing as
drives having an "order" in the pool...

Ah, yes! Well said. I did discover that when I disconnected all but the "LSAS3" drive and it was naturally assigned da0. (unexpected, even though I knew that it would...another DERP moment for me.)
What I should have made clearer is that I label them by the port on the motherboard. As it happens, FreeNAS (so far) has assigned them by ascending port number, which I believe is how that works. In any case, it has assigned LSAS0 to da0, LSAS1 to da1, and so on reliably. So, I've been identifying them as such.

 

[AgedReason]

It sure would have been helpful to know that 2 of these drives had been cannibalized from other equipment. In the OP's signature, he says he has "4x WD Red 3TB NAS WD30EFRX".

When I asked early on if one had been used before, I wrongly assumed that it was a bare drive, not one that had been removed from a "My Book for Mac" or "My Cloud" device.

As far as saying it worked with 3 drives or 1 drive, that trigged my (manual setup) idea, thinking they might be slightly different in size.

Honestly, that's a new one on me too. I'm curious to know what tool showed all that info.

 

[AgedReason]

So, if I'm understanding this right, WD30EFRX is essentially just a shell. Mileage will vary depending on the application for which it is originally tailored?

 

[jgreco]

Honestly, that's a new one on me too. I'm curious to know what tool showed all that info.

The manufacturer's RMA qualification website.

 

[AgedReason]

The manufacturer's RMA qualification website.

Wow. Never RMA'd any WD stuff before.

Thanks everyone for helping me peel back this problem. The stuff I've learned from this one thread is like a masterclass.

 

[BigDave]

Honestly, that's a new one on me too. I'm curious to know what tool showed all that info.

Big Brother is WATCHIN' U BRA ;)


What wuz dat?
Did u see dat?

 

[gpsguy]

If you didn't shuck the two drives, then I sincerely apologize for implying that you had done it.

After the Taiwan floods, Backblaze was notorious for shucking portable drives, when the supply of bare 3.5" drives had dried up.

So, if I'm understanding this right, WD30EFRX is essentially just a shell.

 

[AgedReason]

Big Brother is WATCHIN' U BRA ;)


What wuz dat?
Did u see dat?

Ha! Yeah, I know. But I'm ready for them. There ain't enough bleach in the world to clean what's waiting for 'em.

Wait'll they get a load of me!

 

[BigDave]

Wait'll they get a load of me!

rotfl

 

[AgedReason]

If you didn't shuck the two drives, then I sincerely apologize for implying that you had done it.

Well, the good news is, if you were implying anything, I was waaay too ignorant to catch it. So, all good!

I'm still ignorant, so I don't even know if this is relevant; but the mfg date on that drive is May 16, 2015. Hopefully, whatever dodgy stuff was going on was over by then.

 

[Axemann]

If you really want to check to see if the missing sectors are due to being manually limited or "something else" (bad sectors, etc.), you can run 'camcontrol hpa da3' from the CLI and check the 'Enabled' column and sector count values reported. If it's enabled and they don't match, then it's likely someone (or some utility) set the HPA (Host Protected Area) to the smaller value for some reason.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[joeschmuck]

Honestly, that's a new one on me too. I'm curious to know what tool showed all that info.

Well someone beat me to the answer but it's amazing what you can find out about a drive at times. And it was good that you posted your serial numbers, many folks will delete them and in this particular case, I think it was helpful to post them.

 

[jgreco]

Ha! Yeah, I know. But I'm ready for them. There ain't enough bleach in the world to clean what's waiting for 'em.

Wait'll they get a load of me!

Making my eyes hurt like that may invoke an instant Grinchy reflex that causes a miniature black hole to appear in the middle of your forum account.

You have been Warned.

 

[AgedReason]

Making my eyes hurt like that may invoke an instant Grinchy reflex that causes a miniature black hole to appear in the middle of your forum account.

You have been Warned. :)

Sorry about that. Just proof to the spooks that any surveillance of my room down in my moms basement will only lead to PTSD. Definitely best kept to myself from here on out. ;)