My Synology NAS has reported a 'deteriorated volume' - basically, a broken
disc. It then checks the 4TB disk sector by sector, which takes at least a
day, reports it healthy, and after a few days, once the system has rebuilt
from the RAID, the disk is back to deteriorated. And round we go. The other
4TB is fine, and has a copy of the data (backed up elsewhere - it's not what
I'd call critical).

Is the problem really the disc? Or is Synology software especially critical?

I was wondering if there's some form of diagnostic I could do either on the
Synology, or I can plug it in to a PC, that gives me some information about
what the problem might be.

I've got as far as I can with Synology's apps, logs and utilities - they don't
seem to say anything more than healthy/deteriorated.
--
Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK

In article <u6ui7f$2qtlv$1@dont-email.me>, RJH wrote...
>
> My Synology NAS has reported a 'deteriorated volume' - basically, a broken
> disc. It then checks the 4TB disk sector by sector, which takes at least a
> day, reports it healthy, and after a few days, once the system has rebuilt
> from the RAID, the disk is back to deteriorated. And round we go. The other
> 4TB is fine, and has a copy of the data (backed up elsewhere - it's not what
> I'd call critical).
>
> Is the problem really the disc? Or is Synology software especially critical?
>
> I was wondering if there's some form of diagnostic I could do either on the
> Synology, or I can plug it in to a PC, that gives me some information about
> what the problem might be.
>
> I've got as far as I can with Synology's apps, logs and utilities - they don't
> seem to say anything more than healthy/deteriorated.

Given the timescales you're facing, I think it would be well worth-while
plugging the disk into a PC and running a SMART monitor on it. Here's a list
of untilities I've noted:

PassMark: Free for personal use
Acronis Drive Monitor@ Free, but showing its age
HD Sentinel: Paid
HDTune: Basic version free for personal use.
smartmontools: Free; gui available
CrystalDiskInfo: Free. Video

Such tools have saved my bacon many times, flagging up a deteriorating volume
while there's still enough time to recover everything on it. The one I use now
is HD Sentinel, which is paid, but good value. https://www.hdsentinel.com/
--

Phil, London

> Is the problem really the disc? Or is Synology software especially critical?
>
> I was wondering if there's some form of diagnostic I could do either on the
> Synology, or I can plug it in to a PC, that gives me some information about
> what the problem might be.
>

As the other responder said. I would try plugging it into a pc and
seeing what a utility that can access the SMART information from the
drive says about it.

Personally I would be ordering a replacement drive because I suspect it
is on its way out ...

Best regards,

--

IanJ

gopher://gopher.icu

RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
> My Synology NAS has reported a 'deteriorated volume' - basically, a broken
> disc. It then checks the 4TB disk sector by sector, which takes at least a
> day, reports it healthy, and after a few days, once the system has rebuilt
> from the RAID, the disk is back to deteriorated. And round we go. The other
> 4TB is fine, and has a copy of the data (backed up elsewhere - it's not what
> I'd call critical).
>
> Is the problem really the disc? Or is Synology software especially critical?

It's not anything related to this, perchance?
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/06/clearly-predatory-western-digital-sparks-panic-anger-for-age-shaming-hdds/

Theo

On 21 Jun 2023 at 12:03:01 BST, Philip Herlihy wrote:

> In article <u6ui7f$2qtlv$1@dont-email.me>, RJH wrote...
>>
>> My Synology NAS has reported a 'deteriorated volume' - basically, a broken
>> disc. It then checks the 4TB disk sector by sector, which takes at least a
>> day, reports it healthy, and after a few days, once the system has rebuilt
>> from the RAID, the disk is back to deteriorated. And round we go. The other
>> 4TB is fine, and has a copy of the data (backed up elsewhere - it's not what
>> I'd call critical).
>>
>> Is the problem really the disc? Or is Synology software especially critical?
>>
>> I was wondering if there's some form of diagnostic I could do either on the
>> Synology, or I can plug it in to a PC, that gives me some information about
>> what the problem might be.
>>
>> I've got as far as I can with Synology's apps, logs and utilities - they don't
>> seem to say anything more than healthy/deteriorated.
>
> Given the timescales you're facing, I think it would be well worth-while
> plugging the disk into a PC and running a SMART monitor on it. Here's a list
> of untilities I've noted:
>
> PassMark: Free for personal use
> Acronis Drive Monitor@ Free, but showing its age
> HD Sentinel: Paid
> HDTune: Basic version free for personal use.
> smartmontools: Free; gui available
> CrystalDiskInfo: Free. Video
>
> Such tools have saved my bacon many times, flagging up a deteriorating volume
> while there's still enough time to recover everything on it. The one I use now
> is HD Sentinel, which is paid, but good value. https://www.hdsentinel.com/

Thanks - I'll take a look.
--
Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK

On 21 Jun 2023 at 17:12:11 BST, Theo wrote:

> RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
>> My Synology NAS has reported a 'deteriorated volume' - basically, a broken
>> disc. It then checks the 4TB disk sector by sector, which takes at least a
>> day, reports it healthy, and after a few days, once the system has rebuilt
>> from the RAID, the disk is back to deteriorated. And round we go. The other
>> 4TB is fine, and has a copy of the data (backed up elsewhere - it's not what
>> I'd call critical).
>>
>> Is the problem really the disc? Or is Synology software especially critical?
>
> It's not anything related to this, perchance?
> https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/06/clearly-predatory-western-digital-sparks-panic-anger-for-age-shaming-hdds/
>
> Theo

Mmmm. Possibly. It's a WD DC HC320 (it's 8TB, not 4, my bad) and a quick
search suggests that it does have WDDA, and it's Dec 2019. So well in the
realm of a possibility.

I'll take a look later - thanks
--
Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK

On 21 Jun 2023 at 18:15:08 BST, RJH wrote:

> On 21 Jun 2023 at 17:12:11 BST, Theo wrote:
>
>> RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
>>> My Synology NAS has reported a 'deteriorated volume' - basically, a broken
>>> disc. It then checks the 4TB disk sector by sector, which takes at least a
>>> day, reports it healthy, and after a few days, once the system has rebuilt
>>> from the RAID, the disk is back to deteriorated. And round we go. The other
>>> 4TB is fine, and has a copy of the data (backed up elsewhere - it's not what
>>> I'd call critical).
>>>
>>> Is the problem really the disc? Or is Synology software especially critical?
>>
>> It's not anything related to this, perchance?
>> https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/06/clearly-predatory-western-digital-sparks-panic-anger-for-age-shaming-hdds/
>>
>> Theo
>
> Mmmm. Possibly. It's a WD DC HC320 (it's 8TB, not 4, my bad) and a quick
> search suggests that it does have WDDA, and it's Dec 2019. So well in the
> realm of a possibility.
>
> I'll take a look later - thanks

This overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx4i64uqsIA suggests updating
the NAS OS could help in that WDDC would not cause Synology errors.

So, I've tried that (for some reason the system has not updated for over a
year, even though autoupdate is enabled) and the system has returned to
'healthy' almost instantly. But the volume is rebuilding 5TB of data - 5 days
to go! So not sure if this has helped just yet.

While digging, the Synology SMART logs show no bad sectors, although I don't
undestand a number of the measurements - so could be worth a check. No faults
recorded in either drive. The one odd measurement is that they show less than
2 years powered up (within an hour of each other) - les sthan the 3 year WDDC
trigger. And much less than I expected, suggesting the drives were barely used
when I bought them.

Anyhoo, fingers crossed . . .
--
Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK

On 22 Jun 2023 at 09:08:36 BST, "RJH" <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:

> While digging, the Synology SMART logs show no bad sectors, although I don't
> undestand a number of the measurements

Post the table of results here, should be able to interpret it.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
I always wanted to be someone. I should have been more specific.
-- Lily Tomlin

On 22 Jun 2023 at 09:58:39 BST, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:

> On 22 Jun 2023 at 09:08:36 BST, "RJH" <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
>
>> While digging, the Synology SMART logs show no bad sectors, although I don't
>> undestand a number of the measurements
>
> Post the table of results here, should be able to interpret it.
>
> Cheers - Jaimie

Be good if you could, thanks. I couldn't copy/paste the data - here's a
screenshot:

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0zGhtLJ3GMxwP9
--
Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK

On 22 Jun 2023 at 10:08:48 BST, "RJH" <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:

> On 22 Jun 2023 at 09:58:39 BST, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
>
>> On 22 Jun 2023 at 09:08:36 BST, "RJH" <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
>>
>>> While digging, the Synology SMART logs show no bad sectors, although I don't
>>> undestand a number of the measurements
>>
>> Post the table of results here, should be able to interpret it.
>>
>> Cheers - Jaimie
>
> Be good if you could, thanks. I couldn't copy/paste the data - here's a
> screenshot:
>
> https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0zGhtLJ3GMxwP9

Gosh, it's nice when it's not a Seagate who obfuscate their raw values
:)

The ones to watch for are:

5 Reallocated sector count (0)
- how many sectors have been reallocated from the spare sectors pool to
replace dead ones

7 Seek error rate (0)
- how often seeking screws up, would indicate dodgy arm/tracking
mechanism

194 Temperature (37C)
- the obvious. Looks like 37C is also the max it's been, probably, since
value and worst are the same figure.

196 Reallocated event count (0)
- Something like 5, not entirely sure the diff but you want it to be
zero

197 Current pending sector (0)
- Count of suspiciously dubious sectors that might get worse and need
reallocating soon

198 Offline uncorrectable (0)
- Just plain fucked sector count

199 UDMA CRC error count (0)
- Bad cabling/sockets or high RF interference causing cable bit errors

All those are fine! So it's quite likely to be the WD firmware lying
thing.

Cheers - Jaimie
--
I am always a bit unhappy when I spot a bit of text that
made perfect sense in my brain but on passing through
my fingers turned into a word salad suggesting that
someone had jammed an ice pick into my head and
stirred while I was typing. -- James Nicoll

On 22 Jun 2023 at 14:39:05 BST, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:

> On 22 Jun 2023 at 10:08:48 BST, "RJH" <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
>
>> On 22 Jun 2023 at 09:58:39 BST, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
>>
>>> On 22 Jun 2023 at 09:08:36 BST, "RJH" <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> While digging, the Synology SMART logs show no bad sectors, although I don't
>>>> undestand a number of the measurements
>>>
>>> Post the table of results here, should be able to interpret it.
>>>
>>> Cheers - Jaimie
>>
>> Be good if you could, thanks. I couldn't copy/paste the data - here's a
>> screenshot:
>>
>> https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0zGhtLJ3GMxwP9
>
> Gosh, it's nice when it's not a Seagate who obfuscate their raw values
> :)
>
> The ones to watch for are:
>
> 5 Reallocated sector count (0)
> - how many sectors have been reallocated from the spare sectors pool to
> replace dead ones
>
> 7 Seek error rate (0)
> - how often seeking screws up, would indicate dodgy arm/tracking
> mechanism
>
> 194 Temperature (37C)
> - the obvious. Looks like 37C is also the max it's been, probably, since
> value and worst are the same figure.
>
> 196 Reallocated event count (0)
> - Something like 5, not entirely sure the diff but you want it to be
> zero
>
> 197 Current pending sector (0)
> - Count of suspiciously dubious sectors that might get worse and need
> reallocating soon
>
> 198 Offline uncorrectable (0)
> - Just plain fucked sector count
>
> 199 UDMA CRC error count (0)
> - Bad cabling/sockets or high RF interference causing cable bit errors
>
> All those are fine! So it's quite likely to be the WD firmware lying
> thing.
>

Many thanks.

All went well for a day or so - rebuilt, and while recompiling the Plex index
'volume degraded' again - same drive, but this time described as 'drive
crashed'. So there's probably something else going on either with the drive,
or the NAS (which must be over 10 years old now, with several of those 24/7).

I'll run some diagnostics on the drives and have a more systematic look at the
NAS. Onwards :-)

--
Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK

On 25 Jun 2023 at 19:38:15 BST, "RJH" <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:

> All went well for a day or so - rebuilt, and while recompiling the Plex index
> 'volume degraded' again - same drive, but this time described as 'drive
> crashed'. So there's probably something else going on either with the drive,
> or the NAS (which must be over 10 years old now, with several of those 24/7).

Yeah, I've had drives do that too. Nothing on SMART. It certainly
happens.

Cheers - Jaimie

--
It's important to be comfortable in your own skin
because it's illegal to wear someone else's.