Help! raid on the fritz

[getho]

I've been getting BSOD's when I try to backup my raid.  It's a raid 3. on areca 12238i. 3x8tb seagate ironwolf.

I've pasted the system event log details below.

It seems that something weird is going on with one of the drives, and the raid controller sends a reset, but then errors.  I dont understnand why if there's a drive issue the controller isn't reporting the array as degraded. the smart stats for one drive are questionable (smart read error rate 50(44)).  But the raid still reports no media errors.  Once it's error the drive becomes inaccessible, there are hundred's of that topmost error, then it reboots.

any help would be hugely appreciated

Log Name:      System

Source:        Disk

Date:          11/02/2018 6:20:07 PM

Event ID:      15

Task Category: None

Level:         Error

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:     

Description:

The device, \Device\Harddisk4\DR4, is not ready for access yet.

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

  <System>

    <Provider Name="Disk" />

    <EventID Qualifiers="49156">15</EventID>

    <Level>2</Level>

    <Task>0</Task>

    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>

    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2018-02-11T07:20:07.754172000Z" />

    <EventRecordID>7412</EventRecordID>

    <Channel>System</Channel>

    <Computer>DESKTOP-Geth</Computer>

    <Security />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data>\Device\Harddisk4\DR4</Data>

    <Binary>0301800001000000000000000F0004C0040100009D0000C0000000000000000000000000000000001EAF060000000000FFFFFFFF010000005800000A00000000FB20101242032040000010005A0000000000000000000000F8981DE28FE3FFFF000000000000000060B241E28FE3FFFF0000000000000000FFFFFFFF000000008800000000054933D680000008000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000</Binary>

  </EventData>

</Event>

Log Name:      System

Source:        Disk

Date:          11/02/2018 6:20:04 PM

Event ID:      11

Task Category: None

Level:         Error

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:    

Description:

The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk4\DR4.

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

  <System>

    <Provider Name="Disk" />

    <EventID Qualifiers="49156">11</EventID>

    <Level>2</Level>

    <Task>0</Task>

    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>

    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2018-02-11T07:20:04.737770700Z" />

    <EventRecordID>7411</EventRecordID>

    <Channel>System</Channel>

    <Computer>DESKTOP-Geth</Computer>

    <Security />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data>\Device\Harddisk4\DR4</Data>

    <Binary>0300800001000000000000000B0004C00301000000000000000000000000000000000000000000005DAE060000000000FFFFFFFF070000005800000000000000F320101242032040000010005A0000000000000000000000F8981DE28FE3FFFF000000000000000060B241E28FE3FFFF0000000000000000FFFFFFFF000000008800000000054933D680000008000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000</Binary>

  </EventData>

</Event>

Log Name:      System

Source:        Disk

Date:          11/02/2018 6:20:04 PM

Event ID:      11

Task Category: None

Level:         Error

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:     

Description:

The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk4\DR4.

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

  <System>

    <Provider Name="Disk" />

    <EventID Qualifiers="49156">11</EventID>

    <Level>2</Level>

    <Task>0</Task>

    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>

    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2018-02-11T07:20:04.737770700Z" />

    <EventRecordID>7410</EventRecordID>

    <Channel>System</Channel>

    <Computer>DESKTOP-Geth</Computer>

    <Security />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data>\Device\Harddisk4\DR4</Data>

    <Binary>0300800001000000000000000B0004C00301000000000000000000000000000000000000000000005DAE060000000000FFFFFFFF070000005800000000000000FB20101242032040000010005A000000000000000000000088EF0AE18FE3FFFF0000000000000000103004DD8FE3FFFF0000000000000000FFFFFFFF000000008800000000054933DE80000008000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000</Binary>

  </EventData>

</Event>

Log Name:      System

Source:        arcs_a64

Date:          11/02/2018 6:20:04 PM

Event ID:      18

Task Category: None

Level:         Warning

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:  

Description:

Areca RAID controller wait to abort all outstanding command timeout.

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

  <System>

    <Provider Name="arcs_a64" />

    <EventID Qualifiers="32768">18</EventID>

    <Level>3</Level>

    <Task>0</Task>

    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>

    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2018-02-11T07:20:04.737770700Z" />

    <EventRecordID>7409</EventRecordID>

    <Channel>System</Channel>

    <Computer>DESKTOP-Geth</Computer>

    <Security />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data>

    </Data>

    <Data>core abort ccbs command timeout 'warning message' </Data>

    <Binary>00000000020028000000000012000080000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000</Binary>

  </EventData>

</Event>

Log Name:      System

Source:        arcs_a64

Date:          11/02/2018 6:19:43 PM

Event ID:      129

Task Category: None

Level:         Warning

Keywords:      Classic

User:          N/A

Computer:   

Description:

Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort2, was issued.

Event Xml:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">

  <System>

    <Provider Name="arcs_a64" />

    <EventID Qualifiers="32772">129</EventID>

    <Level>3</Level>

    <Task>0</Task>

    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>

    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2018-02-11T07:19:43.730810900Z" />

    <EventRecordID>7408</EventRecordID>

    <Channel>System</Channel>

    <Computer>DESKTOP-Geth</Computer>

    <Security />

  </System>

  <EventData>

    <Data>\Device\RaidPort2</Data>

    <Binary>0F001800010000000000000081000480010000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000810004800000000000000000</Binary>

  </EventData>

</Event>

[Bill_Gehrke]

I Would check with Areca Tech Support

[getho]

Hi Bill, yes I've emailed them, just hoping there might be some suggestions whilst I'm waiting...

[JEShort01]

I've found Areca hardware to be pretty fantastic, but Areca support to be really poor.

There is some pretty extensive information regarding various Areca problems at this web site:

ARECA Owner's Thread (SAS/SATA RAID Cards) | ard|Forum

And some RAID hardware gurus that seem to monitor this thread (long thread, showing 67 pages long right now) that could possibly be of assistance.

Other general ARECA notes:

- I use Windows PC and find the ARCHHTTP Raid Storage Manager really helpful for setup, maintenance, and troubleshooting of any ARECA related RAID issues (HTML pages that show lots of information about hardware, drive temperatures, VOLUME stats, and much more)

- RAID 3 requires a minimum of 4 drives -- you indicate 3x 8TB drives in your first post -- something seems wrong here

- Have you been able to view Areca's "System Controls / View Events" log? This could be very helpful if you can find a way to view this and much more telling regarding your physical Areca/Drive/RAID health -- I use the ARCHHTP Raid Storage Manager tool to view this

Regards,

Jim

[getho]

Hi jim,

one of the drives died last night - was a relief actually, that I knew that was what was going on, rather than an issue with the controller/ram/system/ etc.

the event log is pretty useless - it shows no events related to the BSODs. 

Areca support did get back to me but dont seem to know why it was blue screening.  I suspect that it's something to do with raid 3 (which only needs 3 drives by the way, you may be thinking of raid 6? It's similar to 5 in that it has parity, but different in that the parity info is on one drive).

The next thing I need to do is argue the toss with seagate, and try to get them to send me a new drive rather than a reconditioned one.  The drives are about 3 months old. SIgh.  Should've stuck with hitachis.

[getho]

Bill Gehrke​ (or anyone!) what do you think about using different brands in a raid 3 setup? I've lost what little faith I had in seagate, if I went to say an ultrastar HE, or hitchi deskstar Nas, do you think it would be OK?

[JEShort01]

Getho,

Regarding running different brands of drives in a RAID just about everything your hear or read will say no, no, no!!! And personally, I don't mix and match.

That being said, I don't think that it is as much a big deal to have perfectly matched drives as it was years back when sectors, clusters, etc. were aligned with physical sectors, clusters in the drives themselves. There is so much "special stuff" between what Windows sees and what is actually inside of the drives now that I surmise it is less essential to have perfectly matched drives. Even within a brand and series of drive, for example HGST enterprise 4TB drives, different generations can have different designs with variances in cache size, number of heads, etc.

Another concern for even a temporary 8TB drive to put in your array while the failed drive is being RMA'd (replaced under wtty.) must be as large or larger than the failed drive you are replacing. Not all brands of 8TB format to exactly the same size.

Regarding having a 3-drive RAID 3 array, you are so right, my bad.

Regards,

Jim

[JEShort01]

If you don't have a good set of backup drives yet, and if your controller has at least 3 SATA ports free, you could purchase 3 new drives for a new RAID and relegate you current 3x array to off-site backup status. All of my off-site backups use Areca formatted RAID 5 drives now (with Beyond Compare software) and I very much prefer that to when I used tape backups.

Jim