prostuff1

screen does not play nice with OS X terminal if I remember correctly. Download and use iTerm (free, do a google search). So long as screen is installed properly on the unRAID box it should work just fine. You can open multiple telnet connections and do it that way do you have to disable all sleep functionality on your Mac or the telnet connection will be lost and the preclear script will stop.

They have not carried servers for a while, but there homepage says there should be a server available in Q1 2011 for shipping. If you need one built Rajahal or myself are willing to build a server for you so long as you are in the united states. Just send us a private message if your interested.

Its fine, nothing to worry about. I just finished 3 cycles each on 2 drives and my results were almost identical.

My Dell test server does, but I don't have the case speaker hooked up to my production server to test. It is an interesting idea and I think one that I will mess with when I get some free time.

The above is normal. Those are all child processes of the cache_dirs script.

I do three on all my builds, and for a drive that was acting "funky" I think 5 would be a good idea.

It looks to be OK now. I would run MULTIPLE prelcears on this drive just to make doubly sure. Probably should do three at least... might not hurt to do 5...

There is something wrong with the flash drive. If you look in the syslog you will see that there are errors relating to the FAT file system drive (your flash drive). I would shut the server down and pull the flash drive. Run a check disk on the flash drive, make sure it is labeled UNRAID, and then try again.

Do you have any IDE disks in your system? If not then that disk you just successfully cleared is presenting itself as IDE. There is more than likely a setting in your BIOS that is setting the ports that drive is on to emulate and IDE connection. Beside that the drive looks fine.

It would be simple enough to create one, you could probably do it!! The link above that you download the .tgz file at is really all you need. Take a look at he 'dmidecode' conf file and edit it as need be. There is really not a lot to it. If I get a chance to do it up quick I will, but I am busy with other things right now.

Not quite. The arguments (i.e. -c -n etc) always go BEFORE the /dev/sdX part. If you want to clear the drive for 3 passes the command would be: cd /boot preclear_disk.sh -c 3 /dev/sdf

Check in your BIOS for settings related to IDE for the SATA chipset. you want to set the "mode" on the chipset to AHCI for best and native SATA performance.

I have one of the above cards in a system I am building for a client and it worked no problem. did not have to change a thing to get it to see the drives. I can add the drives to unRAID and everything works fine.

If your in the US try Monoprice

Try it with -i "TV Shows" or if that does not work try -i TV\ Shows

The User Contributed Wiki is editable by anyone. Feel free to create an account on the wiki site and edit to your hearts content. We update when and where we can, but it is just like any other documentation and can get out of date.

Yup, i know i could have gotten the same speed out of an CF/SD card. the reason i wanted to avoid the SD card was so that i could us the SD slot in my XBMC machine if i ever wanted to. I might partition the drive and and install a full linux distro on the machine also... when i get the time. I gave myself the extra space just in case i want to mess with it later.

Agree completely. I have an SSD in the JetWay Mini-Top I am setting up for my new XBMC machine and it is fast. I think it is about 20 seconds before XBMC is up and ready to use.

What do we always say... It's not a matter of if the drive will fail, it is a matter of when the drive will fail. I am a prefect example of this at the very moment. I had a 1.5TB Seagate I ran 3 preclear cycles on. The first changed some stuff so I ran one more. Nothing changed with this one, but I wanted to make sure that nothing else funky was going to happen so I ran one more preclear cycle. Nothing change between 2 and 3 so i added the drive to the array. Yesterday something happened with that drive and now it is going back for RMA.

Open the file in Windows with a text editor that is linux friendly. Notepad++ and EditPad Lite are two that are free and work well. Once you open the file there should be a menu option to "Convert to linux" or something along those lines.

Your wish is my command: root@TestTower:~# smartctl -a -d ata /dev/sda smartctl version 5.38 [i486-slackware-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/ === START OF INFORMATION SECTION === Model Family: Western Digital Caviar SE Serial ATA family Device Model: WDC WD1200JD-75GBB0 Serial Number: WD-WMAET1372951 Firmware Version: 02.05D02 User Capacity: 120,000,000,000 bytes Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show] ATA Version is: 6 ATA Standard is: Exact ATA specification draft version not indicated Local Time is: Mon Mar 8 10:40:48 2010 EST 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: FAILED! Drive failure expected in less than 24 hours. SAVE ALL DATA. See vendor-specific Attribute list for failed Attributes. General SMART Values: Offline data collection status: (0x84) Offline data collection activity was suspended by an interrupting command from host. Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled. Self-test execution status: ( 121) The previous self-test completed having the read element of the test failed. Total time to complete Offline data collection: (3796) seconds. Offline data collection capabilities: (0x79) SMART execute Offline immediate. No Auto Offline data collection support. Suspend Offline collection upon new command. 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. No General Purpose Logging support. Short self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes. Extended self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 53) minutes. Conveyance self-test routine recommended polling time: ( 5) minutes. SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16 Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000b 001 001 051 Pre-fail Always FAILING_NOW 31473 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0007 146 144 021 Pre-fail Always - 3241 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 040 Old_age Always - 388 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 187 187 140 Pre-fail Always - 195 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000b 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 060 060 000 Old_age Always - 29218 10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 051 Pre-fail Always - 0 11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 051 Pre-fail Always - 0 12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 387 194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 107 253 000 Old_age Always - 43 196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 178 178 000 Old_age Always - 22 197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0012 165 165 000 Old_age Always - 695 198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0012 176 176 000 Old_age Always - 485 199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x000a 200 253 000 Old_age Always - 0 200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0009 134 155 051 Pre-fail Offline - 2136 SMART Error Log Version: 1 ATA Error Count: 27583 (device log contains only the most recent five errors) CR = Command Register [HEX] FR = Features Register [HEX] SC = Sector Count Register [HEX] SN = Sector Number Register [HEX] CL = Cylinder Low Register [HEX] CH = Cylinder High Register [HEX] DH = Device/Head Register [HEX] DC = Device Command Register [HEX] ER = Error register [HEX] ST = Status register [HEX] Powered_Up_Time is measured from power on, and printed as DDd+hh:mm:SS.sss where DD=days, hh=hours, mm=minutes, SS=sec, and sss=millisec. It "wraps" after 49.710 days. Error 27583 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 807 hours (33 days + 15 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was doing SMART Offline or Self-test. After command completion occurred, registers were: ER ST SC SN CL CH DH -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 40 51 08 01 00 00 e0 Error: Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- -------------------- 00 00 c8 00 00 08 00 00 1d+09:48:57.450 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1d+09:48:57.450 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 ef 00 00 45 00 00 1d+09:48:57.450 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1d+09:48:57.450 NOP [Abort queued commands] Error 27582 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 803 hours (33 days + 11 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. After command completion occurred, registers were: ER ST SC SN CL CH DH -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 40 51 08 ed 1d 4a e5 Error: Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- -------------------- 00 00 c8 00 00 08 00 00 1d+05:40:44.100 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1d+05:40:44.100 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 ef 00 00 44 00 00 1d+05:40:44.100 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1d+05:40:44.100 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 c8 00 00 08 00 00 1d+05:40:44.100 NOP [Abort queued commands] Error 27581 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 803 hours (33 days + 11 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. After command completion occurred, registers were: ER ST SC SN CL CH DH -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 40 51 08 ed 1d 4a e5 Error: Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- -------------------- 00 00 c8 00 00 08 00 00 1d+05:40:42.000 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1d+05:40:42.000 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 ef 00 00 44 00 00 1d+05:40:42.000 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1d+05:40:42.000 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 c8 00 00 08 00 00 1d+05:40:42.000 NOP [Abort queued commands] Error 27580 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 803 hours (33 days + 11 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. After command completion occurred, registers were: ER ST SC SN CL CH DH -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 40 51 08 ed 1d 4a e5 Error: Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- -------------------- 00 00 c8 00 00 08 00 00 1d+05:40:39.850 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1d+05:40:39.850 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 ef 00 00 44 00 00 1d+05:40:39.850 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 27 00 00 00 00 00 1d+05:40:39.850 NOP [Abort queued commands] 05 00 4a 00 00 e8 1d 00 1d+05:40:39.850 [RESERVED] Error 27579 occurred at disk power-on lifetime: 803 hours (33 days + 11 hours) When the command that caused the error occurred, the device was active or idle. After command completion occurred, registers were: ER ST SC SN CL CH DH -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 40 51 08 ed 1d 4a e5 Error: Commands leading to the command that caused the error were: CR FR SC SN CL CH DH DC Powered_Up_Time Command/Feature_Name -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ---------------- -------------------- 00 00 c8 00 00 08 00 00 1d+05:40:37.750 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1d+05:40:37.750 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 ef 00 00 44 00 00 1d+05:40:37.750 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 1d+05:40:37.750 NOP [Abort queued commands] 00 00 c8 00 00 08 00 00 1d+05:40:37.750 NOP [Abort queued commands] SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1 Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error # 1 Extended offline Completed: read failure 90% 774 122951383 # 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 430 - # 3 Short offline Completed without error 00% 0 - 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.

It's funny how it estimates its remaining lifetime to be 4 days. Call us back in four days, will you? It was close, and it may have lasted had I not tried to run prelcear on it. I had it running, and it was taking its good sweet time. The drive was so SOL that it was going on the 48 hour mark and was only done with 50% of the first step in preclear. I gave up on it and cancelled the preclear. I am going to take it apart tonight to see what is inside the drive.

For another comparison I have another tower (TestTower) that I have been messing with and have been moving very very old drives in and out of. I ran HDSentinel on that tower and here is the output I got back: root@TestTower:~# /boot/hdsentinel Hard Disk Sentinel for LINUX console 0.03 (c) 2008-2009 [email protected] Start with -r [reportfile] to save data to report, -h for help Examining hard disk configuration ... HDD Device 0: /dev/hda HDD Model ID : WDC WD300EB-75CPF0 HDD Serial No: WD-WMAATA036162 HDD Revision : 06.04G06 HDD Size : 33550 MB Interface : IDE/ATA Temperature : Unknown °C Health : 93 % Performance : 100 % Power on time: 419 days, 3 hours Est. lifetime: more than 1000 days HDD Device 1: /dev/hdb HDD Model ID : ST360015A HDD Serial No: 3KC21QHW HDD Revision : 3.33 HDD Size : 57242 MB Interface : IDE/ATA Temperature : 35 °C Health : 100 % Performance : 100 % Power on time: 919 days, 8 hours Est. lifetime: more than 905 days HDD Device 2: /dev/sda HDD Model ID : WDC WD1200JD-75GBB0 HDD Serial No: WD-WMAET1372951 HDD Revision : 02.05D02 HDD Size : 134110 MB Interface : S-ATA Temperature : 35 °C Health : 4 % Performance : 100 % Power on time: 1215 days, 13 hours Est. lifetime: 4 days HDD Device 3: /dev/sdb HDD Model ID : Verbatim STORE N GO HDD Serial No: PMAP1234 HDD Revision : 5.00 HDD Size : 7631 MB Interface : SCSI Temperature : Unknown °C Health : Unknown % Performance : Unknown % Power on time: Est. lifetime: As you can see the one drive is basically dying. I know this to begin with though I was hoping to save it so that I could at least use it in the this test machine so I had as close to a "complete" test system as possible. I am really hoping that a 5.0 beta is coming soon but I realize there is more important things to catch up on. All the orders and now the inclusion of the Supermicro card to support to name a few.

For grin and giggles I went ahead and ran this tool on my server just a little while ago. Here is the output: root@Tower:~# /boot/hdsentinel Hard Disk Sentinel for LINUX console 0.03 (c) 2008-2009 [email protected] Start with -r [reportfile] to save data to report, -h for help Examining hard disk configuration ... HDD Device 0: /dev/sda HDD Model ID : LEXAR JD FIREFLY HDD Serial No: ? HDD Revision : 1100 HDD Size : 967 MB Interface : SCSI Temperature : Unknown °C Health : Unknown % Performance : Unknown % Power on time: Est. lifetime: HDD Device 1: /dev/sdb HDD Model ID : ST31500341AS HDD Serial No: 6VS04GWN HDD Revision : CC3G HDD Size : 1430799 MB Interface : S-ATA II Temperature : 24 °C Health : 79 % Performance : 100 % Power on time: 373 days, 7 hours Est. lifetime: 906 days HDD Device 2: /dev/sdc HDD Model ID : ST31000333AS HDD Serial No: 6TE0G93C HDD Revision : CC1F HDD Size : 953870 MB Interface : S-ATA II Temperature : 31 °C Health : 99 % Performance : 100 % Power on time: 36 days, 6 hours Est. lifetime: more than 1000 days HDD Device 3: /dev/sdd HDD Model ID : Hitachi HDS722020ALA330 HDD Serial No: JK1121YAGABMMS HDD Revision : JKAOA20N HDD Size : 1907729 MB Interface : S-ATA II Temperature : 30 °C Health : 100 % Performance : 100 % Power on time: 97 days, 5 hours Est. lifetime: more than 1000 days HDD Device 4: /dev/sde HDD Model ID : ST3750640AS HDD Serial No: 5QD5ELLF HDD Revision : 3.AAE HDD Size : 715405 MB Interface : S-ATA II Temperature : 35 °C Health : 100 % Performance : 100 % Power on time: 428 days, 12 hours Est. lifetime: more than 1000 days HDD Device 5: /dev/sdf HDD Model ID : WDC WD5000AAKS-00TMA0 HDD Serial No: WD-WCAPW2595673 HDD Revision : 12.01C01 HDD Size : 476940 MB Interface : S-ATA II Temperature : 26 °C Health : 100 % Performance : 100 % Power on time: 852 days, 10 hours Est. lifetime: more than 972 days HDD Device 6: /dev/sdg HDD Model ID : WDC WD5000AAKS-00TMA0 HDD Serial No: WD-WCAPW2132942 HDD Revision : 12.01C01 HDD Size : 476940 MB Interface : S-ATA II Temperature : 23 °C Health : 100 % Performance : 100 % Power on time: 763 days, 23 hours Est. lifetime: more than 1000 days HDD Device 7: /dev/sdh HDD Model ID : SAMSUNG HD753LJ HDD Serial No: S13UJ1MQ330294 HDD Revision : 1AA01110 HDD Size : 774090 MB Interface : S-ATA II Temperature : 17 °C Health : 97 % Performance : 100 % Power on time: 600 days, 1 hours Est. lifetime: more than 1000 days HDD Device 8: /dev/sdi HDD Model ID : WDC WD1600JD-40HBC0 HDD Serial No: WD-WCAL94036151 HDD Revision : 21.02J21 HDD Size : 178861 MB Interface : S-ATA Temperature : 31 °C Health : 100 % Performance : 100 % Power on time: 1363 days, 20 hours Est. lifetime: more than 461 days HDD Device 9: /dev/sdj HDD Model ID : Hitachi HDS722020ALA330 HDD Serial No: JK1131YAG93KBV HDD Revision : JKAOA20N HDD Size : 1907729 MB Interface : S-ATA II Temperature : 33 °C Health : 100 % Performance : 100 % Power on time: 97 days, 5 hours Est. lifetime: more than 1000 days It looks like it considers all my drives good.

No, those look fine. The ones you need to be concerned about are the reports that come back and have a lot of reallocated sectors and current pending sectors.