SM X10SDV-4C+-TLN4F issues with Intel RSTe Raid

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SaTiGrrrr

New Member
Apr 23, 2017
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Hi,

i bought an SM X10SDV-4C+-TLN4F for replacing my old homeserver. The board fitted everything i needed. Especially the size and the amount of RAM i can plug into.
But i got very frustrated when i tried to build up a Raid5 with my 3x WD Red 3TB drives i had from my old server build. They are running totally fine in my old box with RST from intel. But if i try to create the Raid on the supermicro board one of the drives will always drop out after some time. So i thought it could be an hardware issue and RMAed the board. But unfortunately the new board has the same issue. I know that the drives are not officially supported from supermicro, but is there somebody who is running WD drives with Intel RSTe?
As i want to use Windows Server 2016 as an operating system could storage spaces be an alternative? I don't want to use a dedicated hardware raid as i don't need the speed of it and don't want to have higher power consumption.

Thx for your help
Thomas
 

i386

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2016
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What chassis and psu do you use?
Temperatures of cpu/system + drives?

As i want to use Windows Server 2016 as an operating system could storage spaces be an alternative?
If you're okay with 30% write speeds of a single drive, then yes (parity space).
 

K D

Well-Known Member
Dec 24, 2016
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I don't think this is an issue with the drives. I have used WD Reds with Intel rapid storage in Raid 5 for several years over several iterations of intel raid.

What chassis are you using? The xeon D boards do run very hot. I've noticed that in chassis where there is no good exhaust, the motherboard temp rises very quickly and that could cause issues.

How are you going to be using the server and what type of data are you going to be storing there?

I've used parity spaces in Windows 2012R2. It is good for basic storage but is not a good fit for heavy i/o. Also the one time I had to replace a drive, it was an exercise in frustration and I ended up just recreating and restoring from backup. I've read that Storage spaces in Server 2016 has improved but haven't looked into it first hand.

Currently on a Windows 2012R2 home server, I am using Stablebit drivepool and Scanner to present 5 drives as a single drive and have enabled duplication for key Folders. Replacing drives is easy and you can use a combination of any size/speed drives. They do have a 30 day unrestricted trial.

There is one other product called drive bender that is similar but I haven't personally used it. Drive pool fit my requirements and worked like a charm and I didn't look any further.

I can't think of any other software based solutions for Windows. Please do post what you end up going with.

For all of the 3 above solutions, backups are definitely needed for peace of mind.
 

SaTiGrrrr

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Apr 23, 2017
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I tried storage spaces but one drive also failed with "Error write i/o". SMART Status is fine for all drives. I'm running the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics right now. Or is there a better tool to check the drives for errors?
Strange thing is that it's not always the same drive failing and as already mentioned they are running fine on my Intel DQ77KB with RST.

So a little bit more about my setup:
Chassis: Lian-Li PC-Q25
OS-Drive: Samsung PM961 1TB
PowerSupply: BeQuiet Pure Power 9 300W

The Temps seem ok i guess (checked with SuperDoctor):
CPU Temp: 43°
System Temp: 36°
Peripheral Temp: 44°
MB_10G Temp: 54°
WD 3TB Reds (31-32° checked with CrystalDiskInfo)


The Server will be mainly used for a Hyper-V Test environment on the SSD and the WD drives are mainly for storing data.

@K D: Thanks for the different options for building a software raid. I will definitely will check them out
 

K D

Well-Known Member
Dec 24, 2016
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Stablebit Scanner that I mentioned is a good software for checking drives. It's non destructive and basically does a long smart test and scans every sector in the drive.

I've also been looking for other software for hdd testing under Windows and IOmeter was recommended.
 

SaTiGrrrr

New Member
Apr 23, 2017
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So ich checked all the drives for erros. Everything is fine on all of them.

Beside from that i bought 3x 6TB WD Red drives (i just wanted to make sure that the drives are ok) which came yesterday. They also keep failing when using raid :/

But i musst correct me with storage spaces. They seem to work fine if i choose "AHCI" as the SATA drive type in BIOS and not "Raid". If i switch to "Raid" RST(e) and Storage spaces are not working correctly :/

Is there somebody who has this configuration running? Or anybody who has an idea what else i can try?
 

MiniKnight

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Mar 30, 2012
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Drive, cabling can cause this.

Intel RST RAID I would avoid if at all possible but you're using Windows.
 

K D

Well-Known Member
Dec 24, 2016
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Disks connected via RAID don't expose all details and errors to the OS. If you use storage spaces then you will have to use AHCI.