Are WD Blue (WD20EZRZ) ok for Raid 1 using Intel RST

[Dean_11]

My computer worked fine for several years and then the HDD started acting up. I got two WD Blue WD20EZRZ drives and set them up for Raid 1 using Intel Rapid Storage Technology. I also have a 30GB SSD drive controlled by Intel RST.

Ever since setting up the raid array, about once per week the drives will become unresponsive. The mouse still moves around on the screen, but I can't open any programs or do anything that requires accessing the drives. Eventually I need to do a hard reboot. It reboots fine, but Intel RST then says it has to rebuild the array.

How can I determine if it is actually the drives not responding or something else? The WD website says the WD20EZRZ are ok for desktop RAID 0 or 1. Is that really the case or did I waste 2 bills on these drives?

I'm also running Windows 7 64-bit.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the community, Dean!

I'm sorry to hear about issues setting up the RAID 1 array with the WD Blue drives. Indeed, despite the fact that they are regular desktop HDDs, they can certainly be set up in an array. I'd suggest you to try troubleshooting them by running the QUICK and EXTENDED tests from the WD's Data LifeGuard Diagnostic tool here: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=WPoRDr This utility will help you determine the health and SMART status data of the HDDs.
Another thing you should check is the Intel RST driver updates and make sure you have the latest ones. Can you share more details about your PC configuration? More specifically your MOBO model?
I'd also suggest you try switching the SATA cables connected the drives and also check how they appear in Disk Management in Windows.

Keep me posted with the troubleshooting.
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Dean_11]

I ran the Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool and it didn't find any issues. The Intel RST driver was also updated to the latest. However, I found a post on another site that suggested turning off Intel RST's power management feature for the SSD drive. Apparently, when the SSD goes into power mgmt state, Intel RST craps out when the SSD doesn't immediately respond... or something like that. It's been 4 days since I made the change and no freezes/lock ups since. I'll let it go for a few more days and provide another update.

 

[Dean_11]

I definitely think the power mgmt feature in Intel RST was causing the problem. No problems at all for almost 2 weeks since disabling it.