Seagate Barracuda 2TB weird intermittent speed issue

[shadowf]

Hi, I have a weird problem with a new Seagate Barracuda 2TB in a new build, specs:

Windows 10,
MSI gaming M7 mobo,
i7 6700k,
MSI GTX 1080,
16Gb G.Skill TridentZ ram,
Main drive: Samsung EVO 850 500GB

The Barracuda is brand new and is being used as a secondary drive for recording footage, at the moment it has been installed about 2 weeks and I have used 7% of its capacity.

The problem is that on some boots I will be getting a sequential read/write speed of 170/150 MB/s, and on other boots it will be crawling at 25/20 MB/s.. It's almost like flipping a coin when booting up, sometimes it will perform as intended, other times it will be like a snail. (It will carry on at either fast or slow speed until the next boot btw, no change whilst the system is on)

I have tried different sata ports (it's currently in one of the 6Gb/s) and the firmware is up to date, in the BIOS the drives are set to AHCI (The Samsung SSD is performing fine no problems with speed there)

I haven't updated my BIOS yet or run any kind of diagnostic on the disk, but device manager says the drive is running fine no matter what it does.

It's obviously capable of the correct speeds... to me it seems like something that is happening at boot to restrict it but I don't know what to check or do. Suggestions please!

Thank you!

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the TH Community, @shadowf!

You have done a great job with the troubleshooting so far! *kudos* However, I'd strongly recommend you also swap the SATA cable that is connecting the HDD to the mobo as well, if you haven't done this already. If it's not a failed SATA port, it could be a failed SATA cable that is causing the speed drops. I'd also strongly recommend you backup any important data from that particular HDD somewhere else and then proceed with its testing. It's also advisable to run the drive manufacturer's brand-specific diagnostic tool to determine its health and SMART status. (Make sure it passes both the Short & the Long tests) If you have access to another working PC, you might as well connect the drive there to see how it will behave in the other system. Does the transfer speed drop straight away on other boots or does it happen only when you launch a specific software?

Hope this helps you. Let me know how it goes.
SuperSoph_WD

 

[shadowf]

Welcome to the TH Community, @shadowf!

You have done a great job with the troubleshooting so far! *kudos* However, I'd strongly recommend you also swap the SATA cable that is connecting the HDD to the mobo as well, if you haven't done this already. If it's not a failed SATA port, it could be a failed SATA cable that is causing the speed drops. I'd also strongly recommend you backup any important data from that particular HDD somewhere else and then proceed with its testing. It's also advisable to run the drive manufacturer's brand-specific diagnostic tool to determine its health and SMART status. (Make sure it passes both the Short & the Long tests) If you have access to another working PC, you might as well connect the drive there to see how it will behave in the other system. Does the transfer speed drop straight away on other boots or does it happen only when you launch a specific software?

Hope this helps you. Let me know how it goes.
SuperSoph_WD

Hi! Thank you for the suggestions, I have swapped the cable for another and the same thing is happening, I also updated the BIOS to the latest version. I have Run Seatools and so fat the short drive self test, S.M.A.R.T check and sequential short read have all passed. I ran crystal diskinfo and this is the result:

The transfer speed is set in stone from each boot, it's literally like it will decide at boot whether the drive will run fast or slow and it will stay at that speed until you turn off the system. Programs do not affect it as far as I can tell.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hello again, @shadowf!

From the looks of it, I'd assume that there's nothing wrong with the HDD itself but it has issues communicating with the motherboard somehow. You mentioned that you had already updated the BIOS, right? However, it might also be a good idea to manually reinstall the SATA Controller & Chipset drivers straight from the motherboard manufacturer's official website. Afterwards, check how the system will boot and if you will still encounter slow transfer rate speeds from the HDD. How about testing the HDD in another PC? Could you find a way to perform this part of the troubleshooting?

Keep me posted.
SuperSoph_WD

 

[shadowf]

Hello again, @shadowf!

From the looks of it, I'd assume that there's nothing wrong with the HDD itself but it has issues communicating with the motherboard somehow. You mentioned that you had already updated the BIOS, right? However, it might also be a good idea to manually reinstall the SATA Controller & Chipset drivers straight from the motherboard manufacturer's official website. Afterwards, check how the system will boot and if you will still encounter slow transfer rate speeds from the HDD. How about testing the HDD in another PC? Could you find a way to perform this part of the troubleshooting?

Keep me posted.
SuperSoph_WD

Thank you, I have now manually updated the SATA controller, chipset, Audio and USB drivers to the latest from the MSI website for this mobo and although I haven't had a really slow boot since, I have noticed slightly slower boots on occasion with videos taking longer to load up and being jerky in places, so I'm not convinced this has fixed anything yet. I do have an older PC that I could test it in possibly, although it wouldn't stretch it to the extent that this one is doing.

I have also noticed 2 other things, firstly the benchmarks provided by Crystaldiskmark do not appear to be accurate anymore, for instance it may say that the disk is really slow but it loads and plays videos fine (something that would definitely be a problem if the disk was actually having a slow boot). Secondly looking on the MSI website, I can't see this drive in the compatibility listings, although I can't believe that it wouldn't be compatible.. https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z170A-GAMING-M7.html#support-hdd

**UPDATE** Just had a REEEEAAALLY slow disk after booting, rebooted and got a really fast one! So the above steps didn't make a blind bit of difference..

So far have ruled out problems with:
Ports
Cables
BIOS
Drivers

Disk seems healthy, can continue with more in depth tests to try to find a problem.. Only things I can think of now are whether it's a compatibility problem or could it even be the power cable? I am currently running a long generic test via seatools.

Would it make a difference if I switched from AHCI to RAID in the BIOS? Clutching at straws here but could a program like Corsair link be to blame?

 

[DR_Luke]

As a data recovery professional who recovers data from these drives several times a day, I suspect that this hard drive is starting to fail, as is quite common for the Seagate DM series drives. A few very common issues we see with the 2TB series drives:

■ Corrupt Media Cache (firmware)
■ Weak head that starts off with intermittent issues and eventually stops reading
■Corrupt GList (firmware)
■Translator Issues (firmware)

My best advice to you is to backup all your data and replace the drive before it completely dies. Send it back for an RMA replacement, if you can. If you do continue to use it, be sure to use it in a non-critical scenario where you won't care when it finally gives up the ghost.

 

[shadowf]

As a data recovery professional who recovers data from these drives several times a day, I suspect that this hard drive is starting to fail, as is quite common for the Seagate DM series drives. A few very common issues we see with the 2TB series drives:

■ Corrupt Media Cache (firmware)
■ Weak head that starts off with intermittent issues and eventually stops reading
■Corrupt GList (firmware)
■Translator Issues (firmware)

My best advice to you is to backup all your data and replace the drive before it completely dies. Send it back for an RMA replacement, if you can. If you do continue to use it, be sure to use it in a non-critical scenario where you won't care when it finally gives up the ghost.

Thank you, as I don't really have many other options to try that may be the only thing I can do. I am just running a long test on it via seatools and will see what that says.

I notice it is not on the compatibility list with the mobo on MSI's website, but I find it hard to believe it wouldn't be compatible..

Do you have a recommendation for a comparable drive that you have found to be more reliable?

Thanks again.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Wow, really awesome job with the troubleshooting, @shadowf! I'm sorry that the suggestions didn't fix the issue, though. 🙁 I'm not sure if you have tried this already but I'd advise you to check how the system will perform once you Reset the BIOS. Keep in mind that this procedure will get all the settings back to factory defaults, so you will need to re-configure them after the reset. As for the SATA mode, you can use the BIOS RAID mode as AHCI is a subset of the RAID, however, you need to know that some SSD brand-specific utilities are unable to work properly unless AHCI is enabled.

I don't think it's a compatibility issue, though. Your motherboard supports SATA drives, thus any SATA drive should work with it. If you suspect any software being connected to the issue, you should uninstall it and then see how the system will perform. If nothing changes, reinstall the utility and definitely give the old PC a try to check the drive's performance there.

It might also be a good idea to boot several times to check on the StartUp process without the secondary HDD connected. It would probably be a good idea to check on the PSU cables as well.

Let us know how this goes.
SuperSoph_WD

 

[DR_Luke]

I don't think that running a long test will do you any good, other than suck what life is left out of the drive. Any drive should be compatible with your system board. You might find HGST to have a longer life span than Seagate or Western Digital.

 

[shadowf]

I don't think that running a long test will do you any good, other than suck what life is left out of the drive. Any drive should be compatible with your system board. You might find HGST to have a longer life span than Seagate or Western Digital.

Thanks, I let the long test run its course though as it was most of the way through and it passed... but I'm wondering now whether it could be a weak head or firmware issue and nothing to do with any corruptions. It's a brand new disk (at least that's how it was sold to me). I tried disabling Corsair link just in case it was interfering (not sure why I thought that) and still no difference. I only just flashed the BIOS to the latest version which reverted everything to default settings anyway so I don't see the point in resetting it.

Long story short I have ordered a WD black and will return this one for a refund as I'm pretty sure now it's nothing to do with any of my other hardware, connections, drivers or software.

Thank you all for your help!

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Unfortunately, if the HDD was experiencing physical issues (hardware-related), it's totally possible for the software utility to not be able to detect it. I hope everything works great once you get your new HDD. However, always remember to back up your data to at least one more storage location (drive). Having multiple copies (on-site as well as off-site) is the surest way to avoid the potential data-loss headaches in the future.

Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[shadowf]

Unfortunately, if the HDD was experiencing physical issues (hardware-related), it's totally possible for the software utility to not be able to detect it. I hope everything works great once you get your new HDD. However, always remember to back up your data to at least one more storage location (drive). Having multiple copies (on-site as well as off-site) is the surest way to avoid the potential data-loss headaches in the future.

Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

Thank you, hopefully all will be well, I guess with the new one being a WD you'd be a good person to talk to if it does the same thing! Let's hope it doesn't. ^_^

 

[JaredDM]

As a data recovery professional who recovers data from these drives several times a day, I suspect that this hard drive is starting to fail, as is quite common for the Seagate DM series drives. A few very common issues we see with the 2TB series drives:

■ Corrupt Media Cache (firmware)
■ Weak head that starts off with intermittent issues and eventually stops reading
■Corrupt GList (firmware)
■Translator Issues (firmware)

My best advice to you is to backup all your data and replace the drive before it completely dies. Send it back for an RMA replacement, if you can. If you do continue to use it, be sure to use it in a non-critical scenario where you won't care when it finally gives up the ghost.

I too work in professional data recovery and can confirm what Luke is saying here. The drive is on it's way out, which is not at all uncommon with these. Backup your data and buy an HGST drive to replace it.

 

[DigDeep]

The same thing happens to me, I noticed this at copying, first few seconds speeds are normal, but than they drop to just 30-40mBs. I knew I should stay with WD 😕