Background
When I assembled one of my servers with brand new disks WD Red 3TB, I have possibly made grave error in judgement, which was to use one older and one really old SATA (wikipedia) cables. My question is essencially of hardware background with a bit of history in running under Debian 10 Linux system.
Those cables I talk about, there were 2 of them:
One 5+ years old, but still SATA III certified, data cable. This one IMHO could go wrong if excessively bended or something, I am not aware of any maltreatment though, so maybe shielding got better in those years(?) I'm thinking, etc.
I was surprised to find in the same server maybe 15+ years old SATA cable with only Serial ATA written on it, nothing else, and considering I have had smaller and bigger problems with my
mdadm
RAID 1 array since I have assembled this server in form of variousdmesg
disk I/O error messages and degrading the array in the end, I'm thinking if this single cable or possibly both of them could have caused me errors when reading and writing to the array.
Replacing cables
What I did today was to buy 2 German-made (found on stickers), possibly higher quality, SATA III certified new cables, and see what happens.
Testing
I booted the server up, un-mounted the array and stopped it.
Have started running these two separate reading disk commands over night:
pv < /dev/sdX > /dev/null
Have also started monitoring errors in
dmesg
and speed withnmon
. After 1 hour, no single error or slowdown so far...
Question
Supposing, I wake up and there are no errors in dmesg
after those HDDs are read in full, may I consider the old cables be the origin of errors, or there are things I have not considered?
I could not decide if to post here or on SuperUser. If more suited elsewhere I will re-post in the morning if a lot of such comments arrive. Thank you for your time in any case.
smartctl
WD-WCC4N6EZXNSD
smartctl 6.6 2017-11-05 r4594 [x86_64-linux-4.19.0-9-amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-17, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Western Digital Red
Device Model: WDC WD30EFRX-68EUZN0
Serial Number: WD-WCC4N6EZXNSD
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 210a9a0ef
Firmware Version: 82.00A82
User Capacity: 3,000,592,982,016 bytes [3.00 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: Sat Jun 20 08:47:05 2020 CEST
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: (40380) 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: ( 405) 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 179 178 021 Pre-fail Always - 6050
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 31
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 097 097 000 Old_age Always - 2443
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 - 31
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 3
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 2423
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 116 109 000 Old_age Always - 34
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
ATA Error Count: 2033 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
CR = Command Register [HEX]
FR = Features Register [HEX]
SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
ER = Error register [HEX]
ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.
Error 2033 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 424 hours (17 days + 16 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 61 02 00 00 00 a0 Device Fault; Error: ABRT
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.795 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.794 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 46 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.794 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.794 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.793 IDENTIFY DEVICE
Error 2032 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 424 hours (17 days + 16 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 61 46 00 00 00 a0 Device Fault; Error: ABRT
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
ef 03 46 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.794 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.794 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.793 IDENTIFY DEVICE
c8 00 08 00 00 00 e0 00 2d+13:04:28.779 READ DMA
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.779 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
Error 2031 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 424 hours (17 days + 16 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 61 02 00 00 00 a0 Device Fault; Error: ABRT
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.794 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.793 IDENTIFY DEVICE
c8 00 08 00 00 00 e0 00 2d+13:04:28.779 READ DMA
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.779 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.778 IDENTIFY DEVICE
Error 2030 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 424 hours (17 days + 16 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 61 08 00 00 00 e0 Device Fault; Error: ABRT 8 sectors at LBA = 0x00000000 = 0
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
c8 00 08 00 00 00 e0 00 2d+13:04:28.779 READ DMA
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.779 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.778 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 46 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.778 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.778 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
Error 2029 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 424 hours (17 days + 16 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 61 02 00 00 00 a0 Device Fault; Error: ABRT
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.779 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.778 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 46 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.778 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.778 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 00 2d+13:04:28.777 IDENTIFY DEVICE
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.
WD-WCC4N5EKLTNX
smartctl 6.6 2017-11-05 r4594 [x86_64-linux-4.19.0-9-amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-17, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family: Western Digital Red
Device Model: WDC WD30EFRX-68EUZN0
Serial Number: WD-WCC4N5EKLTNX
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 2bb548051
Firmware Version: 82.00A82
User Capacity: 3,000,592,982,016 bytes [3.00 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: Sat Jun 20 08:50:48 2020 CEST
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: (39540) 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: ( 397) 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 180 179 021 Pre-fail Always - 5975
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 32
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 097 097 000 Old_age Always - 2443
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 - 31
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 4
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 2443
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 115 107 000 Old_age Always - 35
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
ATA Error Count: 45 (device log contains only the most recent five errors)
CR = Command Register [HEX]
FR = Features Register [HEX]
SC = Sector Count Register [HEX]
SN = Sector Number Register [HEX]
CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX]
CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX]
DH = Device/Head Register [HEX]
DC = Device Command Register [HEX]
ER = Error register [HEX]
ST = Status register [HEX]
Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as
DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes,
SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days.
Error 45 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2416 hours (100 days + 16 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 61 02 00 00 00 a0 Device Fault; Error: ABRT
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.066 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.066 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 46 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.066 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.065 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.065 IDENTIFY DEVICE
Error 44 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2416 hours (100 days + 16 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 61 46 00 00 00 a0 Device Fault; Error: ABRT
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
ef 03 46 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.066 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.065 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.065 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.046 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
Error 43 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2416 hours (100 days + 16 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 61 02 00 00 00 a0 Device Fault; Error: ABRT
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.065 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.065 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.046 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.046 IDENTIFY DEVICE
Error 42 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2416 hours (100 days + 16 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 61 02 00 00 00 a0 Device Fault; Error: ABRT
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.046 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.046 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 03 46 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.046 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.045 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.045 IDENTIFY DEVICE
Error 41 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 2416 hours (100 days + 16 hours)
When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle.
After command completion occurred, registers were:
ER ST SC SN CL CH DH
-- -- -- -- -- -- --
04 61 46 00 00 00 a0 Device Fault; Error: ABRT
Commands leading to the command that caused the error were:
CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- --------------------
ef 03 46 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.046 SET FEATURES [Set transfer mode]
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.045 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
ec 00 00 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.045 IDENTIFY DEVICE
ef 10 02 00 00 00 a0 08 04:26:20.030 SET FEATURES [Enable SATA feature]
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.
Warranty
Both of those HDDs are under warranty, so I can get them exchanged if having proof of fault.