navi

Ah, that would explain the speedup in writes that I have noticed over the last few releases. Thanks for the explanation.

So for a two drive system (one parity and one data drive) would it be advisable to leave this option always enabled?

Fine for me also. I'm on Android 4.4.2.

How is this conducive to a productive working relationship with Tom into the future? Will he always have this Sword of Damocles hanging over him, do it grumpybutfun's way or else...

Does enabling write cache have any noticeable benefit? I just changed mine. When it was disabled I was doing around 45MB/s for a parity sync. With it enabled the speed jumped to over 100MB/s. That's interesting. I wonder if there are any downsides to enabling it. Why is it disabled by default? It says in the BIOS that if you lose power with caching enabled that you can lose data. So I guess as long as the MicroServer is connected to a UPS it should be fine. Ok thanks for the info.

Does enabling write cache have any noticeable benefit? I just changed mine. When it was disabled I was doing around 45MB/s for a parity sync. With it enabled the speed jumped to over 100MB/s. That's interesting. I wonder if there are any downsides to enabling it. Why is it disabled by default?

Does enabling write cache have any noticeable benefit?

This seems to be somewhat resolved. I can post from Tapatalk only if I include a subject in the post.

Test.

I also get the myMain_local.conf file not being installed on updates. I'm not sure if I have ever changed any parameter in MyMain.

Is anybody else having issues with posting using Tapatalk? I'm on Android 4.2.2 using Tapatalk 1.3.0. I have tried several posts but when I press send a message says: "Connecting to Server" then disappears and the post is not submitted. Just to add that when I try to access the Notification setting in Tapatalk for this forum it says: "This forum plugin is out-of-dated (sic) and does not support push notification"

That's correct -- the syslinux.cfg distributed with RC15 does not have the "4GB" option in it. This was the option included in the previous release that I had suggested you should not use (as it caused problems for many who didn't have 4GB in their systems). So all you need to do is copy bizimage, bizroot, and syslinux.cfg to the flash drive (you can do this while the system is running); and then simply reboot the system. Thanks for the clarification. I just wanted to be sure.

I just want to confirm what it says in the release notes. I am currently running rc12a with 2GB of memory. To upgrade to rc15 I should copy bzimage, bzroot and syslinux.cfg to the flash drive? There is no need for editing syslinux.cfg with this release? Thanks.

Thanks for the quick response Joe and also for your excellent tools for Unraid.

sdb SMART start: Disk: /dev/sdb smartctl 5.40 2010-10-16 r3189 [i486-slackware-linux-gnu] (local build) Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Device Model: ST3000DM001-1CH166 Serial Number: Z1F2DDN5 Firmware Version: CC26 User Capacity: 3,000,592,982,016 bytes Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall] ATA Version is: 8 ATA Standard is: ATA-8-ACS revision 4 Local Time is: Thu Apr 18 22:38:46 2013 BST SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity was never started. Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled. Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed without error or no self-test has ever been run. Total time to complete Offline data collection: ( 97) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x73) SMART execute Offline immediate. Auto Offline data collection on/off support. Suspend Offline collection upon new command. No Offline surface scan supported. Self-test supported. Conveyance Self-test supported. Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported. General Purpose Logging supported. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 255) minutes. Conveyance self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. SCT capabilities: (0x3085) SCT Status supported. SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 117 100 006 Pre-fail Always - 167459744 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 099 099 000 Pre-fail Always - 0 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 2 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 100 253 030 Pre-fail Always - 192840 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 7 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 2 183 Runtime_Bad_Block 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 184 End-to-End_Error 0x0032 100 100 099 Old_age Always - 0 187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 189 High_Fly_Writes 0x003a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 070 065 045 Old_age Always - 30 (Min/Max 30/31) 191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 2 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 8 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 030 040 000 Old_age Always - 30 (0 15 0 0) 197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 11154030067719 241 Total_LBAs_Written 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 1093339040 242 Total_LBAs_Read 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 6012640206 SMART Error Log Version: 1 No Errors Logged SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t] SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1 SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS 1 0 0 Not_testing 2 0 0 Not_testing 3 0 0 Not_testing 4 0 0 Not_testing 5 0 0 Not_testing Selective self-test flags (0x0): After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk. If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay. sdb SMART finish: Disk: /dev/sdb smartctl 5.40 2010-10-16 r3189 [i486-slackware-linux-gnu] (local build) Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Device Model: ST3000DM001-1CH166 Serial Number: Z1F2DDN5 Firmware Version: CC26 User Capacity: 3,000,592,982,016 bytes Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall] ATA Version is: 8 ATA Standard is: ATA-8-ACS revision 4 Local Time is: Mon Apr 22 06:51:07 2013 BST SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity was never started. Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled. Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed without error or no self-test has ever been run. Total time to complete Offline data collection: ( 97) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x73) SMART execute Offline immediate. Auto Offline data collection on/off support. Suspend Offline collection upon new command. No Offline surface scan supported. Self-test supported. Conveyance Self-test supported. Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported. General Purpose Logging supported. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 255) minutes. Conveyance self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. SCT capabilities: (0x3085) SCT Status supported. SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 116 100 006 Pre-fail Always - 101291920 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 099 099 000 Pre-fail Always - 0 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 2 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 060 060 030 Pre-fail Always - 1221246 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 87 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 2 183 Runtime_Bad_Block 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 184 End-to-End_Error 0x0032 100 100 099 Old_age Always - 0 187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 189 High_Fly_Writes 0x003a 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 1 190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 070 065 045 Old_age Always - 30 (Min/Max 30/34) 191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 2 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 8 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 030 040 000 Old_age Always - 30 (0 15 0 0) 197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 88240103096407 241 Total_LBAs_Written 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 18674938728 242 Total_LBAs_Read 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 47646417092 SMART Error Log Version: 1 No Errors Logged SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t] SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1 SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS 1 0 0 Not_testing 2 0 0 Not_testing 3 0 0 Not_testing 4 0 0 Not_testing 5 0 0 Not_testing Selective self-test flags (0x0): After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk. If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

sda SMART start: Disk: /dev/sda smartctl 5.40 2010-10-16 r3189 [i486-slackware-linux-gnu] (local build) Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Device Model: ST3000DM001-1CH166 Serial Number: Z1F2F8B5 Firmware Version: CC26 User Capacity: 3,000,592,982,016 bytes Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall] ATA Version is: 8 ATA Standard is: ATA-8-ACS revision 4 Local Time is: Thu Apr 18 22:37:51 2013 BST SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity was never started. Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled. Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed without error or no self-test has ever been run. Total time to complete Offline data collection: ( 89) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x73) SMART execute Offline immediate. Auto Offline data collection on/off support. Suspend Offline collection upon new command. No Offline surface scan supported. Self-test supported. Conveyance Self-test supported. Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported. General Purpose Logging supported. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 255) minutes. Conveyance self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. SCT capabilities: (0x3085) SCT Status supported. SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 117 100 006 Pre-fail Always - 163994104 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 098 098 000 Pre-fail Always - 0 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 3 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 100 253 030 Pre-fail Always - 192696 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 7 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 3 183 Runtime_Bad_Block 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 184 End-to-End_Error 0x0032 100 100 099 Old_age Always - 0 187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 189 High_Fly_Writes 0x003a 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 069 064 045 Old_age Always - 31 (Min/Max 31/31) 191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 3 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 9 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 031 040 000 Old_age Always - 31 (0 15 0 0) 197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 5325759447047 241 Total_LBAs_Written 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 1425377704 242 Total_LBAs_Read 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 6012640206 SMART Error Log Version: 1 No Errors Logged SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t] SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1 SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS 1 0 0 Not_testing 2 0 0 Not_testing 3 0 0 Not_testing 4 0 0 Not_testing 5 0 0 Not_testing Selective self-test flags (0x0): After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk. If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay. sda SMART finish: Disk: /dev/sda smartctl 5.40 2010-10-16 r3189 [i486-slackware-linux-gnu] (local build) Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Device Model: ST3000DM001-1CH166 Serial Number: Z1F2F8B5 Firmware Version: CC26 User Capacity: 3,000,592,982,016 bytes Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall] ATA Version is: 8 ATA Standard is: ATA-8-ACS revision 4 Local Time is: Mon Apr 22 04:59:34 2013 BST SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability. SMART support is: Enabled === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION === SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity was never started. Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled. Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed without error or no self-test has ever been run. Total time to complete Offline data collection: ( 89) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x73) SMART execute Offline immediate. Auto Offline data collection on/off support. Suspend Offline collection upon new command. No Offline surface scan supported. Self-test supported. Conveyance Self-test supported. Selective Self-test supported. SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering power-saving mode. Supports SMART auto save timer. Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported. General Purpose Logging supported. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 255) minutes. Conveyance self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. SCT capabilities: (0x3085) SCT Status supported. SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 116 099 006 Pre-fail Always - 112650792 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 098 098 000 Pre-fail Always - 0 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 3 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 010 Pre-fail Always - 0 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 060 060 030 Pre-fail Always - 1210303 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 86 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 097 Pre-fail Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 3 183 Runtime_Bad_Block 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 184 End-to-End_Error 0x0032 100 100 099 Old_age Always - 0 187 Reported_Uncorrect 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 189 High_Fly_Writes 0x003a 098 098 000 Old_age Always - 2 190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022 069 064 045 Old_age Always - 31 (Min/Max 31/35) 191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 3 193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 9 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 031 040 000 Old_age Always - 31 (0 15 0 0) 197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0 198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0010 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x003e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0 240 Head_Flying_Hours 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 74453258076245 241 Total_LBAs_Written 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 19006977352 242 Total_LBAs_Read 0x0000 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 47646353108 SMART Error Log Version: 1 No Errors Logged SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t] SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1 SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS 1 0 0 Not_testing 2 0 0 Not_testing 3 0 0 Not_testing 4 0 0 Not_testing 5 0 0 Not_testing Selective self-test flags (0x0): After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk. If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

I would really appreciate if someone could check these reports for me. I precleared two Seagate ST3000DM001 in my HP N40L Microserver. 8 hours into the first cycle I had a power cut, only a couple of seconds, but when the power returned Unraid was unreachable so I had to reboot and start again. sda report: ========================================================================1.13 == invoked as: ./preclear_disk.sh -c 3 /dev/sda == ST3000DM001-1CH166 Z1F2F8B5 == Disk /dev/sda has been successfully precleared == with a starting sector of 1 == Ran 3 cycles == == Using :Read block size = 8225280 Bytes == Last Cycle's Pre Read Time : 6:18:52 (131 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Zeroing time : 5:14:49 (158 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Post Read Time : 18:41:46 (44 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Total Time : 23:57:36 == == Total Elapsed Time 78:21:43 == == Disk Start Temperature: 31C == == Current Disk Temperature: 31C, == ============================================================================ ** Changed attributes in files: /tmp/smart_start_sda /tmp/smart_finish_sda ATTRIBUTE NEW_VAL OLD_VAL FAILURE_THRESHOLD STATUS RAW_VALUE Raw_Read_Error_Rate = 116 117 6 ok 112650792 Seek_Error_Rate = 60 100 30 ok 1210303 Spin_Retry_Count = 100 100 97 near_thresh 0 End-to-End_Error = 100 100 99 near_thresh 0 High_Fly_Writes = 98 100 0 ok 2 Airflow_Temperature_Cel = 69 69 45 near_thresh 31 No SMART attributes are FAILING_NOW 0 sectors were pending re-allocation before the start of the preclear. 0 sectors were pending re-allocation after pre-read in cycle 1 of 3. 0 sectors were pending re-allocation after zero of disk in cycle 1 of 3. 0 sectors were pending re-allocation after post-read in cycle 1 of 3. 0 sectors were pending re-allocation after zero of disk in cycle 2 of 3. 0 sectors were pending re-allocation after post-read in cycle 2 of 3. 0 sectors were pending re-allocation after zero of disk in cycle 3 of 3. 0 sectors are pending re-allocation at the end of the preclear, the number of sectors pending re-allocation did not change. 0 sectors had been re-allocated before the start of the preclear. 0 sectors are re-allocated at the end of the preclear, the number of sectors re-allocated did not change. ============================================================================ sdb report: ========================================================================1.13 == invoked as: ./preclear_disk.sh -c 3 /dev/sdb == ST3000DM001-1CH166 Z1F2DDN5 == Disk /dev/sdb has been successfully precleared == with a starting sector of 1 == Ran 3 cycles == == Using :Read block size = 8225280 Bytes == Last Cycle's Pre Read Time : 6:29:24 (128 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Zeroing time : 5:26:31 (153 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Post Read Time : 19:03:20 (43 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Total Time : 24:30:52 == == Total Elapsed Time 80:12:20 == == Disk Start Temperature: 30C == == Current Disk Temperature: 30C, == ============================================================================ ** Changed attributes in files: /tmp/smart_start_sdb /tmp/smart_finish_sdb ATTRIBUTE NEW_VAL OLD_VAL FAILURE_THRESHOLD STATUS RAW_VALUE Raw_Read_Error_Rate = 116 117 6 ok 101291920 Seek_Error_Rate = 60 100 30 ok 1221246 Spin_Retry_Count = 100 100 97 near_thresh 0 End-to-End_Error = 100 100 99 near_thresh 0 High_Fly_Writes = 99 100 0 ok 1 Airflow_Temperature_Cel = 70 70 45 near_thresh 30 No SMART attributes are FAILING_NOW 0 sectors were pending re-allocation before the start of the preclear. 0 sectors were pending re-allocation after pre-read in cycle 1 of 3. 0 sectors were pending re-allocation after zero of disk in cycle 1 of 3. 0 sectors were pending re-allocation after post-read in cycle 1 of 3. 0 sectors were pending re-allocation after zero of disk in cycle 2 of 3. 0 sectors were pending re-allocation after post-read in cycle 2 of 3. 0 sectors were pending re-allocation after zero of disk in cycle 3 of 3. 0 sectors are pending re-allocation at the end of the preclear, the number of sectors pending re-allocation did not change. 0 sectors had been re-allocated before the start of the preclear. 0 sectors are re-allocated at the end of the preclear, the number of sectors re-allocated did not change. ============================================================================ I am slightly concerned that both drives had changed Seek Error Rates but perhaps the fact that both values are 60 is significant? As the post will be too long I'll post the pre and post SMART reports in following messages. Thanks in advance.