[mythtvnz] HDD Load Cycle Count ticking over too fast

[David Moore]

On 26/06/2012, at 5:09 AM, Stephen Worthington <stephen_agent at jsw.gen.nz> wrote:

> On Mon, 25 Jun 2012 23:08:17 +1200, you wrote:
> 
>> On 25/06/12 22:57, criggie wrote:
>>> On 25/06/12 22:02, David Moore wrote:
>>>> This is the problem drive:
>>>> Device Model: WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0
>>>> 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 095 095 000 Old_age Always - 4206
>>> 
>>>> Older drive:
>>>> Device Model: WDC WD10EADS-00L5B1
>>>> 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 1219
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Its obvious - your drives are too new.
>>> 
>>> 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 013 013 000 Old_age Always - 76505
>>> That's 8.7 years of active power-on time, and counting....
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Your drive is a WD Ears and they're known for interesting power save
>>> attempts. Google about and you'll see. Not as bad as seagate drives that
>>> might simply cease to acknowledge your data, or SSDs without functional
>>> trim. Best thing to do is either back up your important data, or just
>>> don't stress.
>>> 
>>> Remember all hardware breaks eventually.
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> Agreed. Finding lots with google. As it happens my dud drive is a 
>> Seagate. I am working out my backup strategy but I also don't think it 
>> makes sense to let a dumb hardware/OS combination wear out a drive too 
>> soon. Since simply playing something in myth stops the load cycling dead 
>> I may do something to keep the drive active, say, 50% or 75% of the 
>> time. I guess this won't wear the motor/bearings more than continuous 
>> spin up/down? Definitely less head wear.
> 
> What sort of Seagate?  What firmware version?  There is a set of
> 7200.11 model drives with original firmware that can just brick
> themselves on boot.  I had one that did it.  The fix is to flash it
> with an updated firmware version, and it will come to life again
> without any loss of data at all.
> 
> Unfortunately, 7200.11 drives are crap anyway and tend to die soon
> with lots of bad sectors, even after you unbrick them.  I think I have
> had about 5 of mine do that, and had to be replaced under warranty. I
> had one drive that had to be replaced twice!  After that it had got to
> the point where I just told the supplier to not bother to send a
> 7200.11 as a replacement for a 7200.11 because it would just fail in
> another few months.  They seemed to accept that and replaced with
> other drive types such as 7200.12 or "business class" drives which
> have been better.  I believe I do not have any 7200.11s left any more
> - 100% failure rate.  The older 7200.10 drives just keep on going, and
> the newer 7200.12 drives are better than 7200.11s by far but still
> have a high failure rate.  I have not bought any Seagates since
> 7200.12, due to all those failures.
> 
Yes it is a 7200.11. Looks like I hit the jackpot with flaky drives. :) Will try the firmware fix if I can talk to it. BTW also read some stuff on line about TVS diode failures on some Seagate drives.