SOLVED WD Utility for RED drives with High Load Cycle Counts

[Yatti420]

With an 8 second idle timer it can cause buffering during streaming.. Do the drives fail SMART? You can certainly RMA them then..

 

[joeschmuck]

My only issue is, can I RMA these drives now? It is a question I keep asking that nobody can seem to answer. But this might be why video hangs for a second or two at random.

I think I answered your question a few postings up about the RMA. I doubt the 8 second timer will cause video streaming issues, the drives only park the heads and it takes only a fraction of a second to reload the heads and lets say you can buffer 10 seconds of video data, your application should continue to buffer data when it needs it well before it must go out over your Ethernet cable. If your video hangs randomly, it's probably not your drives unless you have them sleeping.

 

[9C1 Newbee]

LOL should have been more clear. What I mean is, now that I have tweaked the drives, will WD tell me to pack sand when I go to RMA them when they fail in the future. So far so good. It really is a big difference in performance. XBMC is much more responsive. Browsing directories is much more snappy as well. I didn't think the 8 second timer would cause any issues while streaming. But it happens every night like clockwork. I am curious if it will be resolved or not.

 

[joeschmuck]

WD will not tell you to pack sand. You used their utility to adjust the drives and several of us have had correspondence with WD to get those utilities. As for your streaming video issue, I'd place a posting for the streaming media service you are using, Plex or MiniDLNA. When you post a question of that nature, include all of your hardware makeup because it's going to be a hardware issue. Also include the streaming player device and if it's wired or wireless. Cover it from End to End and your help will be better.

 

[9C1 Newbee]

WD will not tell you to pack sand. You used their utility to adjust the drives and several of us have had correspondence with WD to get those utilities.

That is good to know. As far as I can see, there is no significant down side to WDIDLE other than potential power savings keeping the platters spinning while the heads are unparked. I am sure it takes power to park and unpark the heads every 8 seconds as well. I couldn't care less about the few cents of potential power wasted to be honest.

As for your streaming video issue, I'd place a posting for the streaming media service you are using, Plex or MiniDLNA. When you post a question of that nature, include all of your hardware makeup because it's going to be a hardware issue. Also include the streaming player device and if it's wired or wireless. Cover it from End to End and your help will be better.

I am streaming a samba share via wired GB lan to i3 boxes running OpenELEC. I have not had one hiccup (knock knock knock) since WDIDLE. If any issues crop back up, I will do what you say. Thank you.

 

[joeschmuck]

I run OpenElec on a Raspberry Pi, works very well for streaming video and a bit cheaper than an i3. Also ensure you are running FreeNAS 9.2.1.3 or later as Samba had a significant fix in this version.

 

[Lordadmiral Drake]

So, I let my drive run for some time now an monitored the values.
ATM I have 548 Power On Hours and 8378 Load Cycle Count which means one Load Cycle about every 4 minutes. I guess I should run the tools on my drive?

 

[9C1 Newbee]

I run OpenElec on a Raspberry Pi, works very well for streaming video and a bit cheaper than an i3. Also ensure you are running FreeNAS 9.2.1.3 or later as Samba had a significant fix in this version.

I almost went that route. i3 is WAY overkill. Isn't XBMC great?

So, I let my drive run for some time now an monitored the values.
ATM I have 548 Power On Hours and 8378 Load Cycle Count which means one Load Cycle about every 4 minutes. I guess I should run the tools on my drive?

Without a damn doubt ;)

 

[cyberjock]

So, I let my drive run for some time now an monitored the values.
ATM I have 548 Power On Hours and 8378 Load Cycle Count which means one Load Cycle about every 4 minutes. I guess I should run the tools on my drive?

Not necessarily.. calculate the load cycle count at 3 years, 4 years, and even 5 years if you think you'll keep the drive that long. You going to go over the 350k expected lifespan? If so, then I would.

Gotta think big picture in terms of what you are trying to achieve and how bad things are.

 

[9C1 Newbee]

Not necessarily.. calculate the load cycle count at 3 years, 4 years, and even 5 years if you think you'll keep the drive that long. You going to go over the 350k expected lifespan? If so, then I would.

Gotta think big picture in terms of what you are trying to achieve and how bad things are.

Other than a miniscule amount of additional (and I think it's very questionable) power used, what is the downside of disabling it?

 

[cyberjock]

Other than a miniscule amount of additional (and I think it's very questionable) power used, what is the downside of disabling it?

Your question is different than his question. His question was "should" he. To me, "should" means "is the benefit gained worth more than what is lost(including time)". That's why I have the answer he gave.

Your question is different in that you are asking a blank statement that encompasses virtually all servers everywhere that have these Red/Green disks that have a short cycle Intellipark setting. For your case, I'd say the downside is more time the heads are riding on the cushion of air on the platter(which means slightly more wear and tear and room for problems) and slightly more power loss.

I don't recommend everyone change the setting. It's something that has to be handled on a case-by-case basis. In my case, i decided that 300 seconds is better than disabled because I do want them to be parked if I'm away for the weekend and the system is idle.

But, it's your choice.... your hardware, your responsibility, your choice, and your consequence if you don't set it appropriately. ;)

 

[9C1 Newbee]

Gotcha. I can't deny your logic. I can only offer this. I have gone un-WDIDLE-ed for over a year. After the WDIDLE, I perceive my server to be WAY more responsive. I say perceive because I can't prove it. I guess this is also like a religion as well :D. To me it is a no brainer based on performance alone. If a month goes by without having to replace a drive, I will get some special underwear, go door to door, light a candle, or whatever.

 

[cyberjock]

Really? You've been replacing hard drives monthly!? Geez. I have 24 drives and my last replacement was about 9 months or so ago.

 

[9C1 Newbee]

You are making my case for me LOL!!! For a while there, I really was RMAing one a month. To be honest, the last 3 months has been problem free (knock knock knock). I am only running 6 of the 3Tb Greens. My 2Tb Green drive has been rock solid for years. I only modded the drives a few days ago. I really think your luck is mostly due to performing modification. If not, I need to switch over to a server case like yours.

 

[joeschmuck]

And I agree it's a case by case basis. For me and the way I have my FreeNAS server setup, I have disk I/O several times in a 10 minute period. I haven't investigated what is going on but then again I really don't care (I don't want to speculate on this in this thread since it's not related) because my drives spin all the time and the heads stay loaded all the time as well so disk activity is good for me. But as Cyberjock stated, case by case. I am still on my original six 2TB Red drives and I have until October 2015 before the first four exceed the warranty.

 

[DJABE]

After running official tool for RED drives, my 'problematic' drive now doesn't go up with LCC value anymore!
Not a single LCC occurred after patching, and it's been running for 5 days now! :)

 

[Johhhn]

Adding to the fiasco.
I have 3 TB reds running for a little over a month with crazy LCC- 71K+! These were purchased last winter.
One of them already failed, new replacement came in today.
Going to replace and will try the red f/w util and update once done.

Code:

Disk: /dev/ada0
Device Model:    WDC WD30EFRX-68EUZN0
Serial Number:    WD-WMC4N09xxxxx
Firmware Version: 80.00A80
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      14
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032  099  099  000    Old_age  Always      -      1053
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032  200  200  000    Old_age  Always      -      7
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032  177  177  000    Old_age  Always      -      71416
----------
Disk: /dev/ada1
Device Model:    WDC WD30EFRX-68EUZN0
Serial Number:    WD-WMC4N09xxxxx
Firmware Version: 80.00A80
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      15
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032  099  099  000    Old_age  Always      -      1053
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032  200  200  000    Old_age  Always      -      8
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032  177  177  000    Old_age  Always      -      71701
----------
Disk: /dev/ada2
Device Model:    WDC WD30EFRX-68EUZN0
Serial Number:    WD-WMC4N08xxxxx
Firmware Version: 80.00A80
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      14
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032  099  099  000    Old_age  Always      -      1053
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032  200  200  000    Old_age  Always      -      7
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032  177  177  000    Old_age  Always      -      71644
----------
Disk: /dev/ada3
Device Model:    WDC WD30EFRX-68EUZN0
Serial Number:    WD-WMC4N09xxxxx
Firmware Version: 80.00A80
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      15
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032  099  099  000    Old_age  Always      -      1053
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032  200  200  000    Old_age  Always      -      8
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032  176  176  000    Old_age  Always      -      72052
----------
Disk: /dev/ada4
Device Model:    WDC WD30EFRX-68EUZN0
Serial Number:    WD-WMC4N10xxxxx
Firmware Version: 80.00A80
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      15
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032  099  099  000    Old_age  Always      -      1053
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032  200  200  000    Old_age  Always      -      8
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032  177  177  000    Old_age  Always      -      71950
----------
Disk: /dev/ada5
Device Model:    WDC WD30EFRX-68EUZN0
Serial Number:    WD-WMC4N08xxxxx
Firmware Version: 80.00A80
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032  100  100  000    Old_age  Always      -      15
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032  099  099  000    Old_age  Always      -      1053
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032  200  200  000    Old_age  Always      -      8
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0032  177  177  000    Old_age  Always      -      71443

 

[Johhhn]

GRRRRRRRR. Just slapped in my replacement drive from WD and BAM, NO GO. clicks and doesn't even register with the computer.
Date on Drive is 10 Mar 2014. Looks new to me as well.

SIGH. but what can you expect when the drive is shipped in a tiny simple box barely bigger than the drive?

 

[9C1 Newbee]

Not to sound condescending or anything. Did you swap power and sata with a working drive?

 

[Johhhn]

Not to sound condescending or anything. Did you swap power and sata with a working drive?

Even better, tried it in an entirely different machine ;)