I was getting file error messages in the health alerts. I ran chkdsk and it wont complete after days of running. It appears one of my disks is on the way out. I cant tell which though. There are no error lights and they are all reporting as healthy in disk management and in the console. My disks are all the same model which doesn't help locating it either. How do I tell which one?

Sorry I should have mentioned I have an HP EX490 with 4 2Tb WD greens.

Please install either Home Server SMART Classic (if running WHS v1) or Home Server SMART 2015. You can get both of these @ http://www.dojonorthsoftware.net -- these are disk health monitoring tools. Please either take a screen grab of what HSS reports, or use the export function to dump the SMART data to a text file and post it back here.

Windows reporting of disk failures is very limited. HSS reads the actual disk health metrics (self monitoring analysis and reporting technology, or SMART) from the disks so you can see exactly what's going on...things like bad sectors, end-to-end errors, temperature, etc.

_________________
Matt Sawyer
Owner, Dojo North Software, LLC

HP EX490, 4GB, E5300, 15TB - Server 2012 - Sharing and Streaming
HP EX487, 4GB, E5300, 13TB - Server 2012 Essentials - Backups

Thanks for your reply . As requested. Apologies for the extended text dump

Home Server SMART
SMART Disk Details Report

Computer Information
Computer Name EX490
Operating System Windows Home Server "v1"
OS Edition Standard
Service Pack Service Pack 2
Version 5.2.3790.131072
System Type 32-bit Operating System

Disk Information
Disk Path \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0 Advertised Capacity 2000.40
Model WDC WD20EURS-63S48Y0 Real Capacity 1863.01
Serial Number WD-WCAZAM099504 Bytes Per Sector 512*
Firmware Revision 51.0AB51 Cylinders 243201
Description Disk drive Heads 255
Interface IDE Total Sectors 3907024065
Media Type Fixed hard disk media Tracks 62016255
Partition Count 2 Tracks Per Cylinder 255
Status OK Total Bytes 2000396321280
Failure Predicted No
Solid State Disk No (Hard Disk) Spindle Speed Not Reported by Drive

* Home Server SMART reports Bytes Per Sector as reported by Windows. It MAY report 512 bytes/sector even on Advanced Format Disks (AFDs)
which have 4096 byte physical sectors. This is especially true on all versions of Windows prior to Windows Vista/Server 2008.


SMART Details
ID (Dec) ID (Hex) Attribute Critical Type Flags Thresh Value Worst Status Raw Data
1 01 Read Error Rate Yes Pre-Fail SP; ER; P; S; C 51 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
3 03 Spin-Up Time Yes Pre-Fail SP; P; S; C 21 171 171 Healthy 000000001919
4 04 Start/Stop Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 100 Healthy 000000000063
5 05 Reallocated Sectors Count Yes Pre-Fail SP; EC; S; C 140 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
7 07 Seek Error Rate No Advisory SP; ER; P; S 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
9 09 Power-On Hours No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 79 79 Healthy 000000003C29
10 0A Spin Retry Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 253 Healthy 000000000000
11 0B Recalibration Retries No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 253 Healthy 000000000000
12 0C Power Cycle Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 100 Healthy 000000000063
192 C0 Power-Off Retract Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000060
193 C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000002
194 C2 Temperature No Advisory SP; S 0 119 105 Healthy 00000000001F
196 C4 Reallocation Event Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
197 C5 Current Pending Sector Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
198 C6 Offline Uncorrectable Sector Count No Advisory SP; EC 0 100 253 Healthy 000000000000
199 C7 Ultra DMA CRC Error Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
200 C8 Write Error Rate/Multi-Zone Error Rate No Advisory ER 0 100 253 Healthy 000000000000

Manufacturer Set Flags: SP = Self-Preserving, ER = Error Rate, EC = Event Count, P = Performance, S = Statistical, C = Critical


Disk Self-Test Details
Test Details
Last Test Status Successfully completed (or no test ever run)
Short Test Supported, 2 minutes
Extended Test Supported, 255 minutes
Conveyance Test Supported, 5 minutes






Home Server SMART
SMART Disk Details Report

Computer Information
Computer Name EX490
Operating System Windows Home Server "v1"
OS Edition Standard
Service Pack Service Pack 2
Version 5.2.3790.131072
System Type 32-bit Operating System

Disk Information
Disk Path \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 Advertised Capacity 2000.40
Model WDC WD20EARX-00PASB0 Real Capacity 1863.01
Serial Number WD-WCAZA6532964 Bytes Per Sector 512*
Firmware Revision 51.0AB51 Cylinders 243201
Description Disk drive Heads 255
Interface IDE Total Sectors 3907024065
Media Type Fixed hard disk media Tracks 62016255
Partition Count 1 Tracks Per Cylinder 255
Status OK Total Bytes 2000396321280
Failure Predicted No
Solid State Disk No (Hard Disk) Spindle Speed Not Reported by Drive

* Home Server SMART reports Bytes Per Sector as reported by Windows. It MAY report 512 bytes/sector even on Advanced Format Disks (AFDs)
which have 4096 byte physical sectors. This is especially true on all versions of Windows prior to Windows Vista/Server 2008.


SMART Details
ID (Dec) ID (Hex) Attribute Critical Type Flags Thresh Value Worst Status Raw Data
1 01 Read Error Rate Yes Pre-Fail SP; ER; P; S; C 51 199 199 Healthy 0000000131C8
3 03 Spin-Up Time Yes Pre-Fail SP; P; S; C 21 175 173 Healthy 000000001848
4 04 Start/Stop Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 100 Healthy 0000000000F8
5 05 Reallocated Sectors Count Yes Pre-Fail SP; EC; S; C 140 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
7 07 Seek Error Rate No Advisory SP; ER; P; S 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
9 09 Power-On Hours No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 55 55 Healthy 00000000817B
10 0A Spin Retry Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 100 Healthy 000000000000
11 0B Recalibration Retries No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 100 Healthy 000000000000
12 0C Power Cycle Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 100 Healthy 0000000000F5
192 C0 Power-Off Retract Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Healthy 0000000000EC
193 C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 159 159 Healthy 00000001E225
194 C2 Temperature No Advisory SP; S 0 119 105 Healthy 00000000001F
196 C4 Reallocation Event Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
197 C5 Current Pending Sector Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 1 Degraded 000000000025
198 C6 Offline Uncorrectable Sector Count No Advisory SP; EC 0 200 200 Degraded 00000000006C
199 C7 Ultra DMA CRC Error Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
200 C8 Write Error Rate/Multi-Zone Error Rate No Advisory ER 0 198 198 Healthy 00000000030A

Manufacturer Set Flags: SP = Self-Preserving, ER = Error Rate, EC = Event Count, P = Performance, S = Statistical, C = Critical


Disk Self-Test Details
Test Details
Last Test Status Successfully completed (or no test ever run)
Short Test Supported, 2 minutes
Extended Test Supported, 255 minutes
Conveyance Test Supported, 5 minutes






Home Server SMART
SMART Disk Details Report

Computer Information
Computer Name EX490
Operating System Windows Home Server "v1"
OS Edition Standard
Service Pack Service Pack 2
Version 5.2.3790.131072
System Type 32-bit Operating System

Disk Information
Disk Path \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE2 Advertised Capacity 2000.40
Model WDC WD20EARX-00PASB0 Real Capacity 1863.01
Serial Number WD-WCAZA6529802 Bytes Per Sector 512*
Firmware Revision 51.0AB51 Cylinders 243201
Description Disk drive Heads 255
Interface IDE Total Sectors 3907024065
Media Type Fixed hard disk media Tracks 62016255
Partition Count 1 Tracks Per Cylinder 255
Status OK Total Bytes 2000396321280
Failure Predicted No
Solid State Disk No (Hard Disk) Spindle Speed Not Reported by Drive

* Home Server SMART reports Bytes Per Sector as reported by Windows. It MAY report 512 bytes/sector even on Advanced Format Disks (AFDs)
which have 4096 byte physical sectors. This is especially true on all versions of Windows prior to Windows Vista/Server 2008.


SMART Details
ID (Dec) ID (Hex) Attribute Critical Type Flags Thresh Value Worst Status Raw Data
1 01 Read Error Rate Yes Pre-Fail SP; ER; P; S; C 51 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
3 03 Spin-Up Time Yes Pre-Fail SP; P; S; C 21 172 170 Healthy 0000000018E7
4 04 Start/Stop Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 100 Healthy 0000000000F7
5 05 Reallocated Sectors Count Yes Pre-Fail SP; EC; S; C 140 191 191 Degraded 0000000000AC
7 07 Seek Error Rate No Advisory SP; ER; P; S 0 200 199 Healthy 000000000000
9 09 Power-On Hours No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 54 54 Healthy 0000000083D8
10 0A Spin Retry Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 100 Healthy 000000000000
11 0B Recalibration Retries No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 100 Healthy 000000000000
12 0C Power Cycle Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 100 Healthy 0000000000F4
192 C0 Power-Off Retract Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Healthy 0000000000EB
193 C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 159 159 Healthy 00000001E24F
194 C2 Temperature No Advisory SP; S 0 123 106 Healthy 00000000001B
196 C4 Reallocation Event Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 52 52 Degraded 000000000094
197 C5 Current Pending Sector Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Degraded 000000000001
198 C6 Offline Uncorrectable Sector Count No Advisory SP; EC 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
199 C7 Ultra DMA CRC Error Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
200 C8 Write Error Rate/Multi-Zone Error Rate No Advisory ER 0 200 199 Healthy 00000000002A

Manufacturer Set Flags: SP = Self-Preserving, ER = Error Rate, EC = Event Count, P = Performance, S = Statistical, C = Critical


Disk Self-Test Details
Test Details
Last Test Status Successfully completed (or no test ever run)
Short Test Supported, 2 minutes
Extended Test Supported, 255 minutes
Conveyance Test Supported, 5 minutes






Home Server SMART
SMART Disk Details Report

Computer Information
Computer Name EX490
Operating System Windows Home Server "v1"
OS Edition Standard
Service Pack Service Pack 2
Version 5.2.3790.131072
System Type 32-bit Operating System

Disk Information
Disk Path \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE3 Advertised Capacity 2000.40
Model WDC WD20EARX-00PASB0 Real Capacity 1863.01
Serial Number WD-WMAZA7615392 Bytes Per Sector 512*
Firmware Revision 51.0AB51 Cylinders 243201
Description Disk drive Heads 255
Interface IDE Total Sectors 3907024065
Media Type Fixed hard disk media Tracks 62016255
Partition Count 1 Tracks Per Cylinder 255
Status OK Total Bytes 2000396321280
Failure Predicted No
Solid State Disk No (Hard Disk) Spindle Speed Not Reported by Drive

* Home Server SMART reports Bytes Per Sector as reported by Windows. It MAY report 512 bytes/sector even on Advanced Format Disks (AFDs)
which have 4096 byte physical sectors. This is especially true on all versions of Windows prior to Windows Vista/Server 2008.


SMART Details
ID (Dec) ID (Hex) Attribute Critical Type Flags Thresh Value Worst Status Raw Data
1 01 Read Error Rate Yes Pre-Fail SP; ER; P; S; C 51 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
3 03 Spin-Up Time Yes Pre-Fail SP; P; S; C 21 173 170 Healthy 0000000018BD
4 04 Start/Stop Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 100 Healthy 0000000000EA
5 05 Reallocated Sectors Count Yes Pre-Fail SP; EC; S; C 140 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
7 07 Seek Error Rate No Advisory SP; ER; P; S 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
9 09 Power-On Hours No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 64 64 Healthy 00000000691E
10 0A Spin Retry Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 100 Healthy 000000000000
11 0B Recalibration Retries No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 100 Healthy 000000000000
12 0C Power Cycle Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 100 100 Healthy 0000000000E7
192 C0 Power-Off Retract Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Healthy 0000000000E3
193 C1 Load/Unload Cycle Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 164 164 Healthy 00000001AE23
194 C2 Temperature No Advisory SP; S 0 122 106 Healthy 00000000001C
196 C4 Reallocation Event Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
197 C5 Current Pending Sector Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
198 C6 Offline Uncorrectable Sector Count No Advisory SP; EC 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
199 C7 Ultra DMA CRC Error Count No Advisory SP; EC; S 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000
200 C8 Write Error Rate/Multi-Zone Error Rate No Advisory ER 0 200 200 Healthy 000000000000

Manufacturer Set Flags: SP = Self-Preserving, ER = Error Rate, EC = Event Count, P = Performance, S = Statistical, C = Critical


Disk Self-Test Details
Test Details
Last Test Status Successfully completed (or no test ever run)
Short Test Supported, 2 minutes
Extended Test Supported, 255 minutes
Conveyance Test Supported, 5 minutes

PS Network Health Alerts have changed. I have 2 disk health critical notifications. Yet the server storage page shows all disks healthy????.
I note the homeserver smart shows the disk serial numbers. Are these printed on the outside of the disks somewhere? Does the physical disk number have any correlation to which bay the disk is in. Note my bays seem out of sequence on the server storage page. ie: 1-3-2-4.

It would appear you've got a pair of feverish disks. It looks like disks 1 and 2 are showing bad sectors and/or pending bad sectors. And both have a pretty hefty bad sector/pending bad sector count. If you're getting file errors, you should definitely look at replacing these disks.

SMART is a hardware function of the drive, and much bad sector handling is handled by the drive, rather than Windows. This is why a disk can show bad sectors in SMART but not in CHKDSK.

So why are you seeing file errors? Chances are you've got file data residing in sectors that have gone bad. SMART will not trigger a sector reallocation on read operations; sectors are reallocated only on write operations. If sector read operations fail, the sector(s) in question will be marked as a pending bad sector; a subsequent failed write to that sector will result in the sector being reallocated. Reallocation means the sector in question is marked bad, and the drive dips into its pool of spare sectors.

If you've got file data residing in sectors that are pending bad sectors, you'll see file errors--this is because the disk cannot actually read back the data, so you've now got damaged files.

If I were you, I would retire both disks from service as soon as possible.

The serial numbers printed on the disks should match what Home Server SMART reports, so you can identify which disks need to be replaced.

I hope you found Home Server SMART beneficial too.

_________________
Matt Sawyer
Owner, Dojo North Software, LLC

HP EX490, 4GB, E5300, 15TB - Server 2012 - Sharing and Streaming
HP EX487, 4GB, E5300, 13TB - Server 2012 Essentials - Backups

Thanks that's great info. And yes, love the homeserver smart add-in. Don't know why I didn't come across it years ago.

(SMART) It's a must have for these servers and I use the paid version on my PC's so I can keep an eye on their drives as well. I don't like surprises.
Good luck.

_________________
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