WD HDD on Odroid HC2 spinning / ticking without any workload

ChriKn · 2. Oktober 2019

Hi folks,

I am getting crazy with this problem and haven't found a solution during the last months I have seen this problem.

I am using OMV mainly for docker (pi-hole / plex) with some rare video playback from a compatible TV using plex.
Sadly it seems I have done somethign wrong / I am missing something. The Hard Drive (A 6TB WD NASWare/Red) doesn't stop spinning, even with no workload (the only load it could have would be when accessing one of the movies / music on there... which hasn't been done for weeks). It also scans "hard" sometimes (where it ticks/rattles while searching the disks).

I know a WD RED is supposed to function at all time, but it simply is unnerving to have this thing sucking power at all time when there simply isn't any reason. I am allready thinking about tossing the thing out and just use a dumb pi4 to do the pi-hole / smart-home stuff.

I tried to read / learn / try out things i could find while thinking / looking at threads, but I can't find the answer.

Things I have allready done over the several past months :
- updating the firmware of the HC2's controller
- turning off the plex docker (as it might try to update the database ? Not the cause apparently)
- reinstall everything
- shout at it

One idea I had, but don't know what to do with is that the Drive was in a 1-RAID before. Apparently it still believes that it is (of course without the secondary disk). Could this be the cause ? Is there a way to get the drive back to "normal" without loosing the data ?

I would be grateful to anybody willing to help me troubleshoot this...

Thanks !

geaves · 2. Oktober 2019

Option 4 usually works, threatening to throw it out my office window never fails

Zitat von ChriKn

One idea I had, but don't know what to do with is that the Drive was in a 1-RAID before. Apparently it still believes that it is (of course without the secondary disk). Could this be the cause ? Is there a way to get the drive back to "normal" without loosing the data ?

Possibly, I take it you did not wipe then format the drive when you connected it to your HC2. The answer to the second part I don't believe it's possible you would need to backup, wipe, format, and start again.

Adoby · 2. Oktober 2019

I had a lot of problems with my HC2s initially because I used the "Physical Disk Properties" settings for the HDD. You get there from the Disk tab when you press Edit on a disk.

If anything there was enabled strange things ensued. HDDs were unmounted and I couldn't fix it. I reinstalled and reinstalled and finally did a reinstall step by step with reboots between each step. And figured out that it was the Physical Disk Properties that messed up my HC2 and OMV. OMV use hdparm to set the properties on the disk and some disks are apparently not compatible with HD parm. It seems to typically be expensive 24/7 NAS drives that have problems.

You could try to check if you have anything enabled there, and if so disable it. If you have a NAS drive, the defaults on the drive should be fine. Write cache and so on.

If you want the drive to spin down you need to specify the spindown delay when you reflash the USB/SATA bridge firmware. I used to have 30 minutes, but I have changed it to 120 minutes. There were some annoying delays as the drive spin up. That happens much less frequently now.

If OMV thinks it is running a degraded RAID-1 array, or using a drive from a degraded array, then I assume that is bad and can cause various problems. But I have never used RAID with OMV, so others may know better. The only way I can think of to fix that is to backup the data on the disk to some other media, wipe and reformat the drive, and then restore the data from the backup media. You need some backups anyway...

Also you may want to check the diagnostics for your drive. S.M.A.R.T. values and self tests. Your problems might be caused by a failing drive.

(Before I was finished writing this G had posted mostly the same advice. Ooops!)

ChriKn · 2. Oktober 2019

I will try to find an equally big drive and beckup (good idea to get this thing going).

I changed stuff in the past but just disabled everything once I read that it wasn't supported very well (strange to use software that doesn't work with dedicated hardware..... Is this going to be fixed ?

I did some SMART tests, but can't surely say what they mean... Can anyone guide me in the right direction ?

Thanks !

Adoby · 2. Oktober 2019

Here is an old thread about S.M.A.R.T. Wikipedia has a very good article about it, specifying what is critical.

Help understanding S.M.A.R.T. Details

The physical disk properties may be needed to set stuff for cheap/old/desktop drives. But newer drives intended for NAS use typically have updatable firmware and/or dedicated software to change settings. And often are (partially?) incompatible with hdparm. And they typically already have default settings that don't need changing in OMV. Specifically the write cache is important to enable in the drive to improve performance and reduce drive wear. And that is already enabled in all(?) NAS drives.

ChriKn · 6. Oktober 2019

Thanks !

in the last days, I made a backup, wiped the drive (no more RAID from the point of view of OMV) and just let it sit : after 2 days it still spins constantly...

SMART doesn't indicate anything special...

Not sure if it just is ok and I should keep it this way (is it even normal) or what I could try else...

Adoby · 6. Oktober 2019

Is something different from what you expect?

ChriKn · 7. Oktober 2019

Zitat von Adoby

Is something different from what you expect?

I was thinking that the drive would spin down to preserve some energy after some time... The drive is wiped with 0 shares / links to it (from what I can see...) why does it still spin ?
Should I maybe try to reflash the firmware ?

Thanks for the noob-freindly help... I sadly don't have as much time as in the "young" days to try everything and just hack a solution together....
(Is there maybe a totally noob/idiot-safe alternative to OMV ?)

Adoby · 7. Oktober 2019

OMV is a free NAS operating system and it does require some DIY fiddling. And because it works on anything debian works on, it is impossible to have one setup that fits all hardware.

There are plenty of commercial NAS solutions. Even they require some DIY fiddling to setup, but typically considerably less because they are tailored for some very specific hardware.

By using OMV you agree to do some DIY fiddling. For some that is something positive. It means that it is possible to freely chose what hardware to use and configure it as needed. For some it is just confusing and frustrating. And some see it as a fun learning experience.

When you reflash the SATA/USB firmware you can set the spindown time you want. I used to have mine set to 30 minutes. But I have increased it to 120 minutes.

There is a small but annoying delay when the HDD spin up. With 120 minutes that only happens once or twice per day for me.

If you don't reflash the firmware the HDD should spin down by default after about 2-3 minutes, I believe. But if you have some software running that access the drive then the HDD will never be idle that long.

So I recommend that you reflash the firmware and set a spindown time.

Some NAS users have intentionally disabled spindown totally. The thinking goes that spinning up/down cause more wear on the drive than spinning 24/7. It might be true if the drive spin up/down many times during the day.

Examples of software that can keep the HDD spinning is media downloaders, media players like Plex that are set to scan for new files or SMART diagnostic tests that are set to run often. Or it could be a smart TV that keep scanning the NAS for new files. Or possibly if you have anything at all enabled in the Physical Disk Properties tab for the disk.

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