Rebuild Too Slow (1.2 MB/s), HDDs make repetitive spin up sound

[migueldias]

I've recently bought a Dell H200 HBA LSI SAS Card to replace a PCIE SATA controller that died. I decided to take out both my PCIe SATA controllers since with the HBA card I am now able to connect 8 SATA drives using 2 SATA breakout cables. I end up connecting 6 HDDs to the the new card, the rest are directly connected to the motherboard.

 

I also replaced my Parity disk and am currently trying to replace a dying disk with the old Parity.

 

I've had some hiccups since putting in the new card. One random disk became unmountable. Had to do run xfs_repair with the -L flag. It is now mountable.

 

My current problem is that when I start the array and begin rebuilding the disk (the one I am replacing with the old Parity), the rebuilding speed is absurdly low (1.2 MB/s), and the server makes these strange sounds, as if all disks spin up and are being read during 1 second, then all stop at the same time, then they're all read at the same time, and so on repeatedly. 

 

Are HBA SAS Cards power hungry? Is this maybe caused by lack of power? I kept the same PSU and the Parity copy I performed before only spinned two disks (old and new Parity), instead of all 13..

 

I also installed extra fans this time. So now the system has roughly around 12 HDDs, 7 fans, one HBA SAS LSI card and an i7 4790k. 

 

I've paused the Rebuild just to avoid any damage to the disks.

 

I've also attached the diagnostics. The incredible JorgeB has also been helping me along the way.

 

Thank you all for your time and help.

 

 

tower-diagnostics-20220313-1328.zip

Edited March 13, 2022 by migueldias

[JorgeB]

Constant ATA errors on disk9, check/replace/swap cables (power and SATA) and try again.

[JonathanM]

13 hours ago, migueldias said:

the server makes these strange sounds, as if all disks spin up and are being read during 1 second, then all stop at the same time, then they're all read at the same time, and so on repeatedly. 

That really sounds like the PSU voltage is sagging, could be either lack of capacity or too many splitters / faulty splitters / poor connections. I personally attempt to power 4 or fewer drives from each set of wires coming from the PSU.

 

Also, is the HBA getting good airflow across its heatsink? The designers assume servers will have forced air across all card slots, but most desktop cases rely on the cards to have their own fans if needed.

[JorgeB]

21 hours ago, JonathanM said:

That really sounds like the PSU voltage is sagging

Definitely a possibility, especially if the noises are coming from multiple drives, if it's just one as logged it could be just a power/connection issue with that one.

[migueldias]

The thread can be closed, it was indeed a PSU issue!

 

Replaced the old no-name brand 750W PSU with a new Corsair RM1000X 1000W one. Each rail is powering about 3-4 HDDs.

 

Rebuilding ongoing.

[JonathanM]

1 hour ago, migueldias said:

Each rail is powering about 3-4 HDDs.

Pedant alert. The term rail is typically used as a design element, where a single rail PSU is capable of providing all the rated amperage into any and all of the connectors. A multi-rail supply subdivides the capacity arbitrarily, so that perhaps half of the rated power would be available on a specific set of connectors, the other half exclusively to another set.

 

What you are referring to, the bundles of cables coming from the body of the PSU, are typically all tied to one "rail" inside the box. Multi rail PSU's typically reserve a chunk of power for the video and motherboard leads, which can cause issues if you are expecting the full advertised power to be available for the drives, which is why a single rail was more desirable for a drive heavy server in the past. Nowadays the higher end PSU's tend to manage that sort of thing better, so it's less of a concern as long as it's a decent design.

 

</pedant>