Question High HDD response time with 100% usage when any kind of write activity on the disk.

[bakigabi55]

Hi

HDD: ST2000DM008-2FR102 (Seagate barracuda 2TB)

Problem:

Once steam wanted to download updates to a game, but it wasn't be able to relocate disk space. The disk was spinning at 100% with high (~500-3000ms) response time and less than 1mb/s write speed. I have saved all the important files, then did a sector check 3 times with 3 different programs. 0 bad sector has found but 3 delayed (?).
SMART check (with samsung magican) found an ECC error, but non others did.
I've tried to format with widows (not quick) but stuck around 20% with 500kb/s write speed and 1500ms response time.
After quick format the drive was around OK but still high latency (~500ms) and the workload remain 100% for around 5 sec after the copy was done.
Currently running a low level formatting with 500ms but between 200-230mb/s write speed.

Btw read is perfectly working with low latency (0,7-10ms), so it wasn't a problem to save the files

Note:
The OS is on SSD, the HDD was only for games/other programs
The drive is 1y 1m old so the warranty has gone.

Update:
Low level format done, the disk kinda work. 200gb copy done succesfully, but the system keeps some files to run in background with that low speed writes that use 100% utilization with high, even 10000ms latency. As a user/administrator it does not allow to stop the task. After it done its thing, everything is back to normal.

Update:
Windows reinstalled, before installing the drivers, it worked fine ish. After installs and restart it start doing its thing.
Mobo: x570 aorus master
CPU: 3700x

 

[ex_bubblehead]

All perfectly normal for a spinning drive.

 

[bakigabi55]

All perfectly normal for a spinning drive.

No, it is not normal to lock your hard drive from using it. Currently it is inaccesable for 20 minutes because of sys tries to write one file that previously copied to it. I have a 1TB hdd as well but it works like a "spinning drive" should have. And as i mentioned, the OS is on an SSD

 

[ex_bubblehead]

Yes, it is absolutely normal for a spinning drive. Especially when the onboard cache becomes saturated, which is most likely the case here. 256MB of cache isn't as big as you might think.

 

[laptop-Tech]

get a new drive?

 

[bakigabi55]

get a new drive?

What a sherlock....
Btw probably this will be the next step.

 

[Aki3]

i have the same problem a week ago, same HDD type, seagate, its failing, trying to fix the problem with seatools and fix the bad sector, at first its success, but then the problem didnt go away after trying to fix it, after 2 days, i try to fix again and it fail, turns out its hard bad sector which is mean the HDD is phisically broken, and in my case there is no other way out but to make the HDD as throwable weapon or a good basketball practice to throw into a trash can.

if you sure that you already backup your data, i suggest you try to format/overwrite full erase your harddrive with seatools usb.
here's the link :
https://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/
and if this one doesnt fix your problem, i dont know, but i think your chance of fixing it is kinda low.
hope that help

 

[Jassen]

Could be a controller problem, if you have no bad sectors, or a mechanical issue. Is the drive 1y old? How comes it has no warranty? What does "Hard Disk Sentinel" say? IMO best case scenario, you'll be able to fix it by PCB replacement, but that is tricky.

PS: Make sure your sys is virus free, had a virus couple of years back, that gave me 100% disk usage without any write or read.

 

[bakigabi55]

Could be a controller problem, if you have no bad sectors, or a mechanical issue. Is the drive 1y old? How comes it has no warranty? What does "Hard Disk Sentinel" say? IMO best case scenario, you'll be able to fix it by PCB replacement, but that is tricky.

PS: Make sure your sys is virus free, had a virus couple of years back, that gave me 100% disk usage without any write or read.

I've got hands on the pro version, so the read-write test is running currently and it takes 1 day to finish it. Of course it dosen't show any latency or bad sector yet.

The drive health is 100% no error message. Only the samsung's tool showed ECC fail that could be the source of the problem, but who knows...

I'm planning to do a clean install on another SSD that I have and install every driver and program that I use and see what's going on.

I figured out later that the 1y warranty goes to the shop. it has 2y to Seagate, but they didn't react to any official support.

 

[Jassen]

So Samsung Magician is the only software that shows ECC fail in SMART? The Hard Disk Sentinel shows OK on ECC? Try the Seagate SeaTools. Even a couple of more, if you have to, just to make sure.

Try the clean install, see if there is any difference. Is the temp less than 50C all the time?

Bottom line, I wouldn't trust this drive anymore, maybe only for something that I can easily download from the internet, when the drive stops working.

 

[Nemesia]

Is this (ST2000DM008) the seagate barracuda series that had problems with them? I know seagate barracuda made a bad batch of seagate 2TB but I'm not too sure which series it was and when. They got an action class lawsuit against them right now for that.

 

[falcon291]

Your disk is dying, and if it just 1 years and 1 month old, it is in its guarantee period.

Change your disks SATA cable and try a different SATA port. And please download Crystaldiskinfo and share with us its output.

 

[bakigabi55]

Your disk is dying, and if it just 1 years and 1 month old, it is in its guarantee period.

Change your disks SATA cable and try a different SATA port. And please download Crystaldiskinfo and share with us its output.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) ST2000DM008-2FR102
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Model : ST2000DM008-2FR102
Firmware : 0001
Serial Number : WFL0JRAT
Disk Size : 2000,3 GB (8,4/137,4/2000,3/2000,3)
Buffer Size : Unknown
Queue Depth : 32
# of Sectors : 3907029168
Rotation Rate : 7200 RPM
Interface : Serial ATA
Major Version : ACS-3
Minor Version : ACS-3 Revision 5
Transfer Mode : SATA/600 | SATA/600
Power On Hours : 2829 hours
Power On Count : 574 count
Temperature : 33 C (91 F)
Health Status : Good
Features : S.M.A.R.T., APM, 48bit LBA, NCQ, TRIM
APM Level : 8080h [ON]
AAM Level : ----
Drive Letter : D:

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Cur Wor Thr RawValues(6) Attribute Name
01 _81 _64 __6 000006FE6CB3 Read Error Rate
03 _99 _98 __0 000000000000 Spin-Up Time
04 100 100 _20 000000000305 Start/Stop Count
05 100 100 _10 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 _77 _60 _45 0000033D4C19 Seek Error Rate
09 _97 _97 __0 361A00000B0D Power-On Hours
0A 100 100 _97 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0C 100 100 _20 00000000023E Power Cycle Count
B7 100 100 __0 000000000000 Vendor Specific
B8 100 100 _99 000000000000 End-to-End Error
BB 100 100 __0 000000000000 Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BC 100 _99 __0 000000020003 Command Timeout
BD 100 100 __0 000000000000 High Fly Writes
BE _67 _59 _40 000022180021 Airflow Temperature
BF 100 100 __0 000000000000 G-Sense Error Rate
C0 100 100 __0 00000000002F Power-off Retract Count
C1 _82 _82 __0 0000000093B0 Load/Unload Cycle Count
C2 _33 _41 __0 000F00000021 Temperature
C3 _81 _64 __0 000006FE6CB3 Hardware ECC recovered
C5 100 100 __0 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 100 100 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 200 200 __0 000000000000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
F0 100 253 __0 D79B00000A3C Head Flying Hours
F1 100 253 __0 0004BB0C8061 Total Host Writes
F2 100 253 __0 00079D3291D8 Total Host Reads


Here are the diveice info according to Christaldisk.

Currently the drive is functioning normally for almost 2 days and nothing done with it. Sometimes the latency goes up a little, but dosen't brick the PC.

I don't really want to deal with it anymore, so a new HDD is in sight. This will be in my "potato" rig that no need to have a reliable HDD, just for games or something like that.

I can't decide between WD surveillance vs nas HDD. I know, the purple is special for write, red for read and they designed to run 24/7. Maybe if someone can afford a better HDD for reasonable price (around these) for a 3-4TB drive, I'm listening.

 

[falcon291]

Read Error Rate, Seek Error Rate and Hardware ECC recovered seems suspicious. Raw values should be 0. But for your disk they are not. Technically your HDD still healthy because you don't have any reallocated sectors on unrecorrectable sectors.

It is my experience that it will get worse in time, you may still continue to use but it is risky. But the problem is manufacturers still do not accept your disk as faulty. So if it runs OK, it is fine, but take backups, actually backups are also important for healthier disks.