[Blackpool] HDD data recovery

Arthur Garlick arthur_garlick at hotmail.com
Sat Feb 6 09:20:27 UTC 2016 

Red failed more than Green like for like in that data. 


Let me know if I am right about the board should respond with something even if the other parts of drive are busted. A guess on my part, a quick look and I couldn't find anything that backs that idea - it just seems the way it would be designed.

 

Sent from my iPhone

> On 6 Feb 2016, at 00:30, James Page <jmsp.1983 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I think the factor there is that the disks will likely be in frequent use,
> so they aren't spinning up and down so often. Because this particular
> family of Greens aggressively park the head after short periods of disuse,
> there's apparently a greater risk of wear and tear to the mechanical
> elements. Ironically, I would guess that the more intense use is what gives
> them a better rep at Backblaze.
> 
> Anyway, the board - I'll look in to that further. That would be wonderful
> if it was the board, but I'll see what the HDD Guru forum peeps think.
> 
> Best wishes,
> James Page
> 
> --------------------
> Sent from my mobile device
>> On 5 Feb 2016 8:48 pm, "Arthur Garlick" <arthur_garlick at hotmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Well surely the board should talk nicely to the diagnostics even if the
>> moving parts of the drive are broken or even missing altogether? If the
>> board isn't talking nicely it's broken or bad power.
>> 
>> I didn't want to look at any stats, the "I" in RAID is a lie, and I am all
>> in with WD Red!
>> 
>> 
>> I looked and those stats don't support WD Greens are bad at all.
>> 
>> 
>> After an average 70 months running failure rate of WD Green was 2.48%,
>> after 45 months one of the hitachis had 1.91% fail rate.  Where those stats
>> are totally bogus is that these fail rates are in the same column like they
>> are like with like, the graphs are bogus too, they compare disks that have
>> been spinning for 6 years with disks that have been spinning for a year.
>> The WD Green achieved 0% failures some years even after a few years
>> running, whereas the hitachis always had failures even in the first year of
>> use.
>> 
>> 
>> The graph says in 2015 more 6 year old drives failed than 2 year old
>> drives... NS Sherlock!
>> 
>> 
>> Was just about to comment to call them on the bogosity of the graphs, but
>> other people already have.
>> 
>> 
>> Regards
>> 
>> Arthur
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On 5 Feb 2016, at 15:23, James Page <jmsp.1983 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Unfortunately, the issue with DLG is that it requires the system to
>> recognise the device in the first instance - it’s just not being read as a
>> drive. It will occasionally be recognised as a storage device of some kind
>> that needs initialising.
>>> 
>>> I’m inclined to eliminate the board based on others’ feedback elsewhere.
>> I think there’s a vague possibility of a power issue, but that’s really
>> going out on a limb. Thing is, I could buy a donor disk, swap the board and
>> find it’s not the board, and I’d just have another junk WD Green disk (i.e.
>> one that I wouldn’t trust enough to use for anything other keeping a door
>> open).
>>> 
>>> Re brands and failure - have you had a look at Backblaze’s period stats
>> and analysis? Somewhat handy in an otherwise opaque, opinionated storage
>> world where the only consensus is over the reputation of Maxtor (RIP)!
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> J
>>> 
>>>> On 5 Feb 2016, at 14:12, Arthur Garlick <arthur_garlick at hotmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> I think Boards of Canada released the sounds your drive makes as a
>> single.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Considered swapping the hard disk board?  Have you totally eliminated
>> the board as the culprit?  I'd be surprised if the WD DLG diagnosis tool
>> can't tell you definitively if it's the board or the moving bits just by
>> chatting to the board.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> ...All I got.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> I have a life of file detritus on a 4x WD Red RAID, don't be shaking my
>> faith in WD!
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Regards
>>>> 
>>>> Arthur
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> From: jmsp.1983 at gmail.com <mailto:jmsp.1983 at gmail.com>
>>>>> Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2016 13:02:15 +0000
>>>>> To: blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk <mailto:blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk>
>>>>> Subject: Re: [Blackpool] HDD data recovery
>>>>> 
>>>>> On a scale of ‘unicorns and rainbows’ to ‘burning pits of Hell’, I’d
>> place it at ‘dire’. This is definitely mechanical rather than logical.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Here’s the text of a post I made on a forum, giving a bit more detail,
>> along with a Soundcloud link to a recording:
>>>>> 
>>>>> I have a 3TB WD Green disk that was bought as part of a WD Elements
>> external HDD. The external HDD was used for a home media server and was in
>> use for approximately 60-120 minutes per day. It's around twelve months old.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Recently, the disk appeared to show signs of failure, that I've only
>> recognised in retrospect - directories would show as being inaccessible,
>> but I put this down to permissions issues with the server, rather than the
>> disk. The permissions issue would resolve itself by restarting the server.
>> Eventually, the HDD wouldn't show at all. However, when I plugged it in to
>> a different computer, it worked fine. I thought this could then be an issue
>> with the server (an ancient laptop) and its USB ports (even though the WD
>> Elements has its own power supply). I tried a USB Y-cable with the HDD's
>> SS-USB cable and once again it worked. However, after a week or so, videos
>> being streamed from the server would fail and the drive stopped being
>> recognised, so it looked like it might not be a power issue.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I've since tried the Elements unit on different computers, as well as
>> removed the HDD from the unit to try in a different external case (with
>> different power supply and USB cable). All it does now is spin up and spin
>> down several times before giving up (using the Elements interface) or just
>> continually spins up and spins down (using an alternative external
>> interface); with the latter, if it's left on for an extended period it can
>> eventually spin up and stay spinning for 20-30 seconds before spinning
>> down. Other than some occasional light clicks at the peak of it spinning
>> up, there is none of the normal clicking that I might expect to hear from
>> it. After a short while, I'll get a dialogue box telling me "The disk you
>> inserted was not readable by this computer", which I assume means something
>> is recognisable.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I've installed Smartmontools but can't get anything useful from it. I
>> think the device is recognised as /dev/disk2, but when I try to run an
>> interactive session on it, I get the error "Smartctl open device:
>> /dev/disk2 failed:"
>>>>> 
>>>>> I've made a recording of the activity. It's not great quality, but
>> hopefully it can provide an indication of disk activity:
>>>>> 
>>>>> https://soundcloud.com/j7e/western-digital-wd30ezrx-failure <
>> https://soundcloud.com/j7e/western-digital-wd30ezrx-failure> <
>> https://soundcloud.com/j7e/western-digital-wd30ezrx-failure <
>> https://soundcloud.com/j7e/western-digital-wd30ezrx-failure>>
>>>>> 
>>>>> I’ve found a couple of specialists in Manchester and one online who’s
>> suggested that it looks like head failure. Depending on the condition of
>> the platter, data recovery is possible. With the WD disks, though, they’re
>> notoriously more difficult to work with, which can bump prices up a bit.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Some advice for anybody looking to break in to a lucrative career -
>> get in to data recovery!
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> J
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 5 Feb 2016, at 11:58, @surlydev <surly at surlydev.net <mailto:
>> surly at surlydev.net>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I have spinrite and was going to suggest it but James' email made it
>> sound like the disk was rattling or worse.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> How bad is it James?
>>>>>> From: Arthur Garlick <mailto:arthur_garlick at hotmail.com <mailto:
>> arthur_garlick at hotmail.com>>
>>>>>> Sent: ‎05/‎02/‎2016 09:44
>>>>>> To: James Page <mailto:jmsp.1983 at gmail.com <mailto:
>> jmsp.1983 at gmail.com>>; Mike Hull <mailto:blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk
>> <mailto:blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk>>
>>>>>> Subject: Re: [Blackpool] HDD data recovery
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I listen to the Security Now podcast
>> https://twit.tv/episodes?filter[shows]=1636 <
>> https://twit.tv/episodes?filter[shows]=1636> which has Steve Gibson on it
>> (proper tin foil hat guy, hoot to listen to when he speaks about Internet
>> of Things especially) his product is this:
>> https://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm <https://www.grc.com/spinrite.htm> he
>> makes some big claims and I've been sceptical but having listened to him
>> talk for years, he knows his stuff and I'd give it a try if I had a disk
>> failure. But not for a total mechanical issue as you said.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I will be at the makerspace tomorrow, coding has started on the big
>> robot and I have a little robot that I am going to finish.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35442969 <
>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35442969>
>>>>>> Listening to Bill Gates desert island disks, right now, what a guy -
>> who has done more for humanity... Gates or Torvalds?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 18:16:26 +0000
>>>>>>> From: jmsp.1983 at gmail.com <mailto:jmsp.1983 at gmail.com>
>>>>>>> To: blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk <mailto:
>> blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk>
>>>>>>> Subject: [Blackpool] HDD data recovery
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Don't suppose any of you can recommend a local/regional specialist
>> who
>>>>>>> deals in HDD data recovery, can you? I know there are plenty out
>> there, but
>>>>>>> I don't know which are reputable and affordable (big emphasis on the
>>>>>>> latter). It's a mechanical issue, so software recovery is out of the
>> window.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> PS - don't buy Western Digital!
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Best wishes,
>>>>>>> James
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> Blackpool mailing list
>>>>>>> Blackpool at mailman.lug.org.uk
>>>>>>> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/blackpool
>>>>>> 
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>>>>> 
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