Question NAS drives in Windows desktop won't initialize

[taylorhuston]

I bought two 6tb Seagate Ironwolf drives. My short term plan was to put them into my desktop in RAID 1 as redundant storage. Long term plan is to eventually put them into a Synology NAS, hence why I paid extra for NAS drives. I can't get Windows to properly initialize either one. I am currently trying one disk at a time:

1. They don't show up in the BIOS.
2. They do show up in Device Manager, without an error.
3. They do show up in Disk Management, but when I try and initialize it with GP they either give me an error of "A device which does not exist was specified" or "The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error".
4. If I get the I/O related error the disks do show up in SeaTools for Windows. In there, when they show up, they pass the S.M.A.R.T test, the 'Short Drive Self Test and 'Fix All - Fast' options. They used to fail the 'Fix All - Long' option almost immediately, but as I am writing this the test actually seems to be running this time, though it looks like it's going to take a while (been at 1% for about 10 minutes).
5. One of the drives made some pretty loud mechanical, almost grindy, noises when I first started this but I can no longer reproduce that problem.

SeaTools does have a bootable option that I think goes more in-depth, I haven't tried that yet.
I have tried plugging in another drive (500gb Samsung SSD) into the same SATA port on the motherboard with the same SATA cable, it recognizes fine. I've also tried other SATA ports and cables for good measure.

This is on Windows 10, latest updates, x470 motherboard with latest BIOS. I know older Windows had problems with drives over 2tb in size, but I don't think that's the issue here. Am I missing some step because they're technically NAS drives? Do I need special high capacity SATA cables or something?

Normally I would assume bad hardware, I got a lemon, it happens, but Ironwolfs are pretty highly recommended so it seems unlikely that I would get two bad units at once.

 

[USAFRet]

Just so you know...when you eventually put these in the Synology, you'll be completely reformatting them, right?
RAID or no RAID.

 

[USAFRet]

But, to the current problem....
"One of the drives made some pretty loud mechanical, almost grindy, noises "
That does not bode well.

Where did you buy these?

 

[taylorhuston]

But, to the current problem....
"One of the drives made some pretty loud mechanical, almost grindy, noises "
That does not bode well.

Where did you buy these?

Newegg

 

[USAFRet]

What other drives are in this system?

 

[taylorhuston]

What other drives are in this system?

Two Samsung M.2s and a 2tb 2.5" HDD (that is at close to capacity, hence why I was adding more storage).

 

[USAFRet]

Two Samsung M.2s and a 2tb 2.5" HDD (that is at close to capacity, hence why I was adding more storage).

What specific motherboard?
Often, one or more SATA ports are disabled when using something in an M.2 port.
And seeing as you have 2 of those..

 

[taylorhuston]

What specific motherboard?
Often, one or more SATA ports are disabled when using something in an M.2 port.
And seeing as you have 2 of those..

ROG CROSSHAIR VII HERO | Motherboards | ROG Global

Best AMD Ryzen X470 ATX motherboard with Aura Sync, ROG Audio, Dual M.2, Intel LAN, VR functionality, M.2 heatsink and USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Character 132/140)

rog.asus.com

But again, I've plugged a 500gb SSD into that same SATA port without issue.

 

[USAFRet]

ROG CROSSHAIR VII HERO | Motherboards | ROG Global

Best AMD Ryzen X470 ATX motherboard with Aura Sync, ROG Audio, Dual M.2, Intel LAN, VR functionality, M.2 heatsink and USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Character 132/140)

rog.asus.com

But again, I've plugged a 500gb SSD into that same SATA port without issue.

Well, the spec sheet says nothing about port conflicts, so thats not the problem.

I'm at a loss here...

 

[fzabkar]

The next time the drives show up in SeaTools or Disk Management, try getting a SMART report from CrystalDiskInfo.

 

[taylorhuston]

The next time the drives show up in SeaTools or Disk Management, try getting a SMART report from CrystalDiskInfo.

It's still running the Fix All Long test in SeaTools. but Crystal Disk Info sees the drive, but cannot pull a health status or temperature reading from it.

I can check the other drive when this one is done, I think this is the one that had the loud grindy sounds the first time I fired it up.

 

[fzabkar]

The SMART data are stored within a reserved System Area (SA) on the platters. If the drive cannot report the SMART attributes, then this points to an internal fault.

 

[taylorhuston]

The SMART data are stored within a reserved System Area (SA) on the platters. If the drive cannot report the SMART attributes, then this points to an internal fault.

SeaTools reports the drive passing SMART

 

[fzabkar]

SeaTools will pass a drive even if it has 20,000 reallocated sectors. It tells you nothing about the real state of the drive.

If you must use the manufacturer's tool, then the SeaChest Utilities are far better, although more complex to use (aimed at "expert users").

https://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/software/seachest/

 

[taylorhuston]

SeaTools will pass a drive even if it has 20,000 reallocated sectors. It tells you nothing about the real state of the drive.

If you must use the manufacturer's tool, then the SeaChest Utilities are far better, although more complex to use (aimed at "expert users").

https://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/software/seachest/

It still seems really unlikely that I would get two DOA drives at once though.

 

[taylorhuston]

UPDATE: I was able to reproduce the issue for both drives in an external dock with my Windows laptop as well. SO I guess I somehow got two physically bad drives?

 

[USAFRet]

UPDATE: I was able to reproduce the issue for both drives in an external dock with my Windows laptop as well. SO I guess I somehow got two physically bad drives?

Rare, but it happens.

 

[taylorhuston]

Rare, but it happens.

....<Mod Edit> 2020 I swear