Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:23:54 -0500 From: Nathan Vidican <nvidican@wmptl.com> To: Charles Swiger <cswiger@mac.com> Cc: don@lizardhill.com, questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 3Ware Escalade Issues Message-ID: <43FCAC3A.6040904@wmptl.com> In-Reply-To: <6CC6A5A6-CC82-41F2-8ACA-8E5E3820F2B5@mac.com> References: <03d101c637d5$dfe89040$0300020a@mickey> <6CC6A5A6-CC82-41F2-8ACA-8E5E3820F2B5@mac.com>
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Charles Swiger wrote: > On Feb 22, 2006, at 12:31 PM, Don O'Neil wrote: > >>>> 3) Is there some way I can do a faster FSCK, or perhaps 'fool' the >>>> system >>>> into thinking the file system is clean? >> >> >>> If you update to 5.x or later, you can use background FSCK rather than >> >> having to >> >>> wait for the FSCK to complete the way it does under 4.x. >> >> >> I wasn't aware 5.x could do this. My next question is how are my >> existing >> apps going to be affected by upgrading to 5.x? > > > If you install the 4.x compatibility libraries, your old 4.x binaries > should continue to work just fine. However, you will want to rebuild > as much of your existing software under 5.x as possible. > >>> Also, if you update to 5.x, you can run the smartmon tools, which >>> will let >> >> you >> >>> do a drive self-test using SMART, this will give much better >>> information >> >> about >> >>> what is going on with the drive, and also give an estimate of its >>> remaining >>> lifespan. >> >> >> Yes, this would help a lot!!! > > > Well, once you're running 5.x, install smartmon and run: "smartctl -t > long /dev/ad0", or whatever the right device is. > >>> How old are the drives, if you know? >> >> >> They're less than 2 years old, and still under warranty. This is the >> second >> drive to fail and it's driving me nuts. >> >> They're Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 6Y250P0 250 GB PATA drives... Never >> had a >> problem with that particular drive until this batch. >> >> Can anyone suggest some good 250GB PATA drives for me to use? I might as >> well swap them all out since I'm starting over. The 6000 series Escalade >> card I'm using doesn't support anything more than 250 GB. > > > I've had somewhat better luck with the so-called "special edition" > variants of the drives, such as the WD1200JB, which have more cache RAM > and a longer warranty period than the generic versions.... > According to Western Digital, ONLY their 'SD' or (RAID-Edition) drives should be attempted in an array; WDC utilizes proprietary error correction mechanisms which mangle the error-handling done by an array controller. In short, while the drive is doing it's internal error-correction, the raid controller sees it as a drive failure and a whole new mess develops. We've run into this several times now, both with our own in-house systems, and with those we've procured for others... trust me on this, if going with Western Digital drives... DO NOT use anything other than their 'SD' or RAID-Edition drives. Maxtor drives have no such issue AFAIK, nor Seagate... but only speaking from experience here not factual data. - WDC has a good explanation int he knowledge base on their website/support section. -- Nathan Vidican nvidican@wmptl.com Windsor Match Plate & Tool Ltd. http://www.wmptl.com/
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