WD HE12 SAS Drive Not Recognized in LSI2308

[Nemo128]

Hi all,

My system is as follows:

Supermicro X10SL7-F w/ Xeon E3-1281 v3 and 32GB ECC DDR3
8x4TB HGST Ultrastar HDDs
Antec P101 Silent case

I'm running TrueNAS and recently got some drive errors. I decided to replace the 4TB with a WD Ultrastar DC HC520 HUH721212AL4204 0F29579 12TB since it looked like a good deal for newish drives with a 3 year warranty. I figured if one worked, I could replace all 8 and expand my pool.

The LSI2308 controller on the board won't recognize the drive at all. I realized I was running an old firmware so I did upgrade it to the P20 IT firmware to be on the safe side. It still doesn't see the drive.

The old drive is still seen when plugged back into the same SAS cable and TrueNAS boots/operates like usual so I'm pretty confident it's not a cabling issue. I also plugged the drive into the SATA controller to rule out that I got a SATA drive. The reason I did that is, the connector on the new drive looks like SATA rather than SAS. In all the searching I've done I don't see a SAS "Single Port" connector as it's referred to in the listing, and my SAS breakout cable plugs right in fine as expected. Here's the drive.



The drives are connected using Dell PowerEdge cables (Part Number P459G), which were a great way to replace my Supermicro case and its backplane.


Everything has been working for years like this. It's only this new drive that won't be recognized. I can feel it power on too. Before I think it's DOA, any thoughts? Am I missing something?

 

[Stephan]

This? https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/9fsp80

 

[Nemo128]

@Stephan that worked! I didn't try it, thinking from the limited old knowledge I had about the issue that it only affected shucked drives from external enclosures. I've now done some reading and realize it's not just about shucked drives. Thanks for the help.

Adding this in case anyone happens to run into the same thing with this drive or others. The newer SATA spec specifies pin 3 of the power connector as a Power Disable (PWDIS) feature. If there's voltage on that pin, it keeps power disabled to the drive. It seems to mostly be a remote power management capability but requires SATA power connectors that are meant for the purpose. Using a PSU without that, it constantly supplies 3.3V to the PWDIS, effectively telling the drive to not power up fully. You can cover all 3 pins and it won't affect anything, since the old use is 3.3V (which isn't used by the drives) and the new use is PWDIS (which isn't going to work unless you're intending to use it with proper hardware).

 

[Kelvarr]

@Stephan that worked! I didn't try it, thinking from the limited old knowledge I had about the issue that it only affected shucked drives from external enclosures. I've now done some reading and realize it's not just about shucked drives. Thanks for the help.

Adding this in case anyone happens to run into the same thing with this drive or others. The newer SATA spec specifies pin 3 of the power connector as a Power Disable (PWDIS) feature. If there's voltage on that pin, it keeps power disabled to the drive. It seems to mostly be a remote power management capability but requires SATA power connectors that are meant for the purpose. Using a PSU without that, it constantly supplies 3.3V to the PWDIS, effectively telling the drive to not power up fully. You can cover all 3 pins and it won't affect anything, since the old use is 3.3V (which isn't used by the drives) and the new use is PWDIS (which isn't going to work unless you're intending to use it with proper hardware).

Thanks! Good to know. I am considering this drive.
I assume you could also pry the pin up, or cut the trace on the board also (although this would invalidate any warranty, whereas kapton tape would not)?

Although I wonder if I would even have to deal with this? I have a Supermicro 846 TQ backplane, which is powered by molex connectors. Would you happen to know?

 

[Nemo128]

Thanks! Good to know. I am considering this drive.
I assume you could also pry the pin up, or cut the trace on the board also (although this would invalidate any warranty, whereas kapton tape would not)?

Although I wonder if I would even have to deal with this? I have a Supermicro 846 TQ backplane, which is powered by molex connectors. Would you happen to know?

@Kelvarr you can modify the drives themselves but I didn't want to go that route to maintain the warranty like you mentioned. However, I plan to change what I did (used standard black electrical tape). I'm going to just cut and cap the orange wire on the Dell connector assembly I posted above. This way I remove the 3.3V line in a way that doesn't physically affect my PSU or the HDDs.

I had a Supermicro 846 TQ before! I suggest you de-pin the 3V orange wire from the molex connectors going into the backplane. A tweezer will compress the sides of the pin that hold it in the connector. Heat shrink them over so you don't modify them physically and they'll still be there if you ever need/want them.

 

[Kelvarr]

@Kelvarr
I had a Supermicro 846 TQ before! I suggest you de-pin the 3V orange wire from the molex connectors going into the backplane. A tweezer will compress the sides of the pin that hold it in the connector. Heat shrink them over so you don't modify them physically and they'll still be there if you ever need/want them.

I did not know about this. Seems like the easiest route. Thanks for the suggestion and insight!