Western Digital

Description:-

Some of the drives on the raid system are not working on the same raid array with the other drives even if it’s Identical, except the logical sectors showing 512b for the majority and 4K for the new drive or vice versa, so to convert this drive, you will need to use a unique tool provided by Western Digital called WDCKIT.

We have two tools. One can be working with the JBOD drive and another tool that can be working behind the Riad system

!!!!!!! WARNING Proceed With CAUTION !!!!!!!!!!!
Multiple Drives IN a Virtual Drive (Actively Recording) = Works BUT deletes the Virtual Drive and data !!!Warning!!!
Multiple Drives IN a Virtual Drive with Data (evServer Stoped) = Works BUT deletes the Virtual Drive and data !!!Warning!!!
Multiple Drives IN a Virtual Drive with NO Data (evServer Stoped) = Works BUT deletes the Virtual Drive !!!Warning!!!
Multiple Drives IN a Virtual Drive NOT formatted = Works BUT deletes the Virtual Drive !!!Warning!!!

Procedures:-

Identify the hard drive(s) that are set with a 4K or 512b logical sector size using one of the following methods:
a. $>storcli /c0/e252/s? show all | findstr Logical
b. Login to the RAID graphical utility --> Controler ID 0 --> Drives --> Unconfigured Drives
c. $> smartctl -i /dev/sd? | findstr Sector
Once the drive(s) have been identified, copy the Serial Number and/or the Model Number.
We suggest using the Serial Number if a small number of drives need to be changed. If there are many Drives to be changed, then We recommend using the Model Number.
You can either install the Western Digital “wdckit” utility or use an interactive command prompt window that runs the “wdckit” utility.
$> wdckit show == Shows all the drives in the system with Serial number and Model Number.

$> wdckit show -g == Shows the geometry of the drives. (ie 512 or 4096)
$> wdckit format –serial (serial Number) -b 512 –fastformat
$> wdckit format –model “(Model Number)” -b 512 –fastformat

Power cycle the drive or the system

5. Verify the Logical sector size has changed to 512b
a. $>storcli /c0/e252/s? show all | findstr Logical
b. Login to the RAID graphical utility --> Controler ID 0 --> Drives --> Unconfigured Drives.

c. $> smartctl -i /dev/sd? | findstr Sector

Download the WD tool for Windows and Linux.

https://support.exacq.com/#/file-manager/0540836d-3300-44da-a062-c00e171bb837/wdckit

Issue

Adding Western Digital (WD) Gold and Ultrastar Enterprise class SATA hard disk drives to server versions prior to 19.06 will result in the drives being incorrectly reported with a temperature “Threshold Exceeded” status. Although verified with these two particular series of drives, the issue may apply to others as well.

Root Cause

The software tools for extracting the hard disk drive S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) data varies by connection scheme (RAID controller vs direct to motherboard), RAID controller manufacturer (3ware vs LSI), and hard disk drive model series (Gold vs Ultrastar). The temperature data may need to be adjusted to arrive at at the actual temperature. The server <hwmconfig.xml> file contains S.M.A.R.T. attribute processing rules for drives that require attribute processing in order to display a reasonable temperature and determine the threshold range. This file has been traditionally limited to periodic updates as new hard disk drive models are introduced. In server version 19.06+, the drive detection S.M.A.R.T. configuration algorithm has been optimized to eliminate specific hard disk drive model number dependencies.

Workaround

While manually customizing the existing <hwmconfig.xml> file to include the particular hard disk drive model number may serve as a workaround, it is ONLY recommended for those systems that CANNOT be upgraded to server version 19.06+. It is preferable to upgrade the server software because the drive detection S.M.A.R.T. configuration algorithm has been optimized to eliminate hard disk drive model number dependencies.

Location of <hwmconfig.xml>:

On Microsoft Windows Servers : C:\Program Files\exacqVision\Server

On Ubuntu Linux Servers: /usr/local/exacq/server

Configuration Storage page Hardware tab before modification of <hwmconfig.xml> file.

Configuration Storage page Hardware tab after modification of <hwmconfig.xml> file.

Issue

Root Cause

Workaround

Version Fixed