WD Digital Lifeguard Diagnostics - write zeros fail


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I just purchased a 4TB HGST Deskstar NAS and ran the WD Digital Lifeguard Diagnostics on it. It passed the Quick Test and Extended Test, but came up with lots of errors in the Write Zeros test. (I got tired of hitting continue after each error...). So I tried Quick Test again (OK) and am now running the Extended Test again, which is going to take a lot of time.

 

Since the disk is new, I should be able to return it fairly easily. But I'm not sure whether there is a real problem:

Should I expect no errors in the Write Zeros test?

If the second Extended Test is OK, should I run the Write Zeros test again?

If a second Write Zeros test produces errors, what does this indicate?

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Had you already initialized the disk and created a partition on it before doing the test?

 

I've never seen a good disk that failed the write zeroes test, although sometimes if it has existing partitions it will fail it the first time you try it => but if you run a "quick" write zeroes first; and then a complete write zeroes it should work fine. 

 

When the extended test finishes (assuming it passes); I'd do a "quick" write zeroes; then, regardless of whether it passes or fail; repeat it (it should work fine on the 2nd try); and then do a full write zeroes.

 

 

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No, I don't think I've initialised the disk, and definitely did not create a partition. I just took the disk out of the packaging and connected it to a laptop using a SATA-to-USB 3 adapter. (The laptop is set to never sleep.)

 

I should have mentioned that the write zeros failed when I did a full write zeros test; after that I tried the Quick Erase write zeros test, and that passed. Then I did another Quick Test, which was OK,and now in about 6 hours the Extended Test will be completed.

 

When I ran the full write zeros test, it seemed to run fine for quite some time. I watched it when it started, and then left it to run. I checked it again a few hours later, and there were no error messages. Then I went out for a while and when I got back I saw the error message. The progress bar was about 1/3 to 1/2 way through. So it doesn't look as if the write zeros failed immediately.

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If it passes the extended test okay, I'd try the write zeroes one more time.  If it fails again, you may want to just assume it's an interface anomaly; although as I noted earlier, I've never seen ANY brand of drive fail this test with Data Lifeguard (unless it was a truly bad drive).

 

You could run a single pre-clear pass on your UnRAID server just to confirm that when IT writes zeroes there's no issue (this would tend to confirm the problem was the interface adapter and not actually the drive).

 

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OK, the Extended Test passed again, but the Full Erase Write Zeros failed again - after about 3 hours. If it's a USB interface anomaly, I would have thought that after this it should consistently fail after this point. However, I've restarted the Full Erase Write Zeros test again, and it's trundling along just fine.

 

But still, perhaps using a pure native SATA connection will be the definitive test. I'm going to have to do some fiddling around with old PCs and spare parts, so this might take a while.

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Well, what do you know? Dug out an old Windows 7 PC, ran Full Erase Write Zeros and the HGST drive passed with no errors! Thanks, garycase. I would never have thought that the USB interface would be at fault.

 

I'm calling this drive OK: it's been through two Quick Tests and two Extended Tests and now it's passed the Full Erase Write Zeros test.

 

Valuable lesson learned: test my drives on native SATA.

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Most USB interfaces are junk. 

 

The only one I've had zero issues with is an Anker "toaster", which has worked brilliantly.  It's a USB3 device, and it's quick and reliable enough that I've been able to boot and use Windows off a SSD in the thing.  It also works fine with the common drive cloning programs like Acronis, etc.  It also has eSATA if that's floats your boat.

 

https://www.anker.com/products/68UPSHDDS-BU

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