I just bought another 3 TB HDD.  Western Digital Red.

 

I gave it power, and plug the SATA to the motherboard.

 

At boot, I see this error:

 

Mar 23 22:53:10 Tower kernel: ata5: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=0)

Mar 23 22:53:10 Tower kernel: ata5: COMRESET failed (errno=-16)

Mar 23 22:53:10 Tower kernel: ata5: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=0)

Mar 23 22:53:10 Tower kernel: ata5: COMRESET failed (errno=-16)

Mar 23 22:53:10 Tower kernel: ata5: link is slow to respond, please be patient (ready=0)

Mar 23 22:53:10 Tower kernel: ata5: COMRESET failed (errno=-16)

Mar 23 22:53:10 Tower kernel: ata5: limiting SATA link speed to 1.5 Gbps

Mar 23 22:53:10 Tower kernel: ata5: COMRESET failed (errno=-16)

Mar 23 22:53:10 Tower kernel: ata5: reset failed, giving up

 

I tried a different SATA cable with no success.

 

Do I have a bad HDD?

tower-diagnostics-20160323-2254.zip

To be clear, I tried the SATA cable and power source from a working drive, and then got the same error (stating different SATA port).

 

I'm assuming I got a lemon.  I guess better to find out now than have it crap out in the array

To be clear, I tried the SATA cable and power source from a working drive, and then got the same error (stating different SATA port).

 

I'm assuming I got a lemon.  I guess better to find out now than have it crap out in the array

Sounds like it could be the case.    One of the reasons most people try and put a new drive through at least one preclear cycle is just to help with such 'infant mortality' type problems as catching a fault before adding a drive to the array is much less hassle.

 

If possible it is probably a good idea to plug it into a PC and run the manufacturers diagnostic software against it.  That should help test it, and also give you the information that is often asked for if you go through the RMA process.