Disk generating SMART warnings

rrh

rrh

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Hi -

I recently added my 2GB Seagate GoFlex Desk USB drive to my HP Proliant MicroServer (running Windows Home Server 2011) to act as a server backup. The server backup executes at 05h00 every day.

The server - that includes software for monitoring the SMART status of all attached hard drives - immediately started issuing SMART warnings for the Seagate drive:
  1. The warnings are always #190 [airflow temperature] and #194 [Temperature].
  2. The warnings are later 'cleared'.
NB: The warnings are issued in the early hours of the morning (e.g. 04h30) when (a) the disk drive should be idling and (b) the ambient temperature in my unheated study (in Johannesburg) is probably around 12 degrees (or less).

I returned the drive to the supplier.
  1. Seagate exchanged the drive with a refurbished drive.
  2. The refurbished drive had exactly the same issue, i.e. issuing SMART 190/194 warnings.
  3. I returned the refurbished drive to the supplier.
  4. Seagate ran a SeaTools "long generic" test against the drive as a diagnostic.
  5. The drive passed the test, so it was returned as being perfect.
Questions:
  1. If the drive had experienced a SMART 190/194 error during the "long generic" test would the test have failed ?
  2. Since two drives are reporting identical errors should I ignore the SMART errors ?
Many thanks !
 
Does your SMART software display the actual temperatures that are triggering the errors?
 
oldhat said:
Does your SMART software display the actual temperatures that are triggering the errors?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately not. That said, Seagate now say that anything under sixty degrees is fine ... :(

What concerns me is the fact that the disk is reporting errors when it should be idling and - if anything - shivering in the cold :)
 
Personally I wouldn't stress the temps...if you've got a solid backup strategy.

That sounds like something is funky with the setup though rather than the drives.
 
HavocXphere said:
Personally I wouldn't stress the temps...if you've got a solid backup strategy.

That sounds like something is funky with the setup though rather than the drives.
Click to expand...

Standard USB 2 drive in an enclosure: my feeling is that it isn't allowing much cool air to circulate.

The drive is used to back-up a back-up, so I'm not overly concerned about a failure.

That said, I don't like inexplicable warning messages, especially where hard drives (and temperatures) are concerned. My guess is that the messages are caused a design fault, but would prefer not to test the theory ... :)
 
Seagate are correct, anything in the 50s is fine (not ideal, but OK). These plastic external housings provide little to no air flow, and plastic is a poor conductor of heat.

Ensure your power settings are set to power down drives after x amount of time if you're worried about heat. TBH, like others are saying, if it's just a backup then don't worry too much about. HDSentiel is a great tool and should be used on all your machines so you have real time monitoring of important HDD SMART info.
 
rrh said:
Standard USB 2 drive in an enclosure: my feeling is that it isn't allowing much cool air to circulate.
Click to expand...
Dude I really wouldn't worry. Search for google's study on this...essentially they concluded that if you run a drive hot it increase failure rates by a couple of percent...who cares? Honestly chance are your gear gets stolen before those couple of percent matter.

SouthBit said:
Ensure your power settings are set to power down drives after x amount of time if you're worried about heat.
Click to expand...
Seagate externals do their own thing regarding powering off afaik...unless some app is constantly messing with the drive.
 
HavocXphere said:
Dude I really wouldn't worry. Search for google's study on this...essentially they concluded that if you run a drive hot it increase failure rates by a couple of percent...who cares? Honestly chance are your gear gets stolen before those couple of percent matter.
Click to expand...

I agree that there is little to worry about. That said, I started in mainframes - and there any system-generated message gave one a reason to freak ... :)


HavocXphere said:
Seagate externals do their own thing regarding powering off afaik...unless some app is constantly messing with the drive.
Click to expand...

Seagate Manager / Desktop / whatever the name is this week - i.e. software available from Seagate - [apparently] includes utilities that enable one to fiddle with the disk's settings e.g. sleep etc.
 
bdt said:
For depth of info/second opinion/what-the-hey, you can also check the drive with smartmontools, but best (read: SO much easier) to do so via the GUI GSmartControl; you'll see that it mentions that Seagate drives are known to indicate high temps that are not necessarily something to worry about.
Click to expand...

A new one to me: thanks for the info ...
 
rrh said:
Thanks Rickster - will give it a whirl on the morrow.
Click to expand...

My apologies for the delay in replying.

The number of SMART error messages has declined as the overnight temperatures have warmed up, now with most days not reporting an errors at all.

My guess is that the SMART temperature mechanism has been fooled by the temperature differential.

Still, I am monitoring, and will let all know if anything pops up.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
 
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