WD 3TB Red NAS Boot Problems

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Rubberbandman23

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May 12, 2015
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Hey guys, has anybody encountered a problem with their Western Digital 3TB Red when using it as on-board storage?

I know, this drive's main feature is for NAS and I am wasting it's primary use by using it as on-board storage, but at the time of purchase around a year ago, it was the largest drive I can find on Dell.com and I had an expiring GC.

Anyway, the problem I am encountering is when I boot up, it will take Windows a couple of minutes from the Windows logo to the login page to completely boot, but the drive will not even initialize. I have to completely shut down and boot up again just for the drive to initialize. Sometimes it just works without having to reboot.

Some have told me it might be the cables, so I have changed the cables twice, I have also switched the drive to different SATA ports, and it still persists. I have updated the BIOS to the latest updates and it's still the same thing. Should I just send it for warranty while I still can?

Specs:
Mobo: ASUS P8Z68-V Pro Gen 3
CPU: 2nd Gen i5-2500k @ 3.3ghz
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 16gb 1600mhz (2x8gb)
GPU: EVGA GTX 980 Hybrid
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
OS Storage: Samsung 850 Pro 256gb SSD
Installation Storage: WD 1TB Black 7200rpm
Backup Storage: WD 3TB Red NAS
External Storage: Toshiba Canvio 3TB External USB 3.0 Hard Drive
 
Solution
SuperSoph_WD
Hi again, Rubberbandman23!

Sorry for the late reply, I was off for the weekend! :)
From the looks of it, it seems like your WD Red is perfectly fine. I see only one bad sector which is survivable, so there is no apparent reason for the issues that you encounter.
The fact that it is a NAS drive shouldn't affect your system anyhow, however, I'd try the drive in another computer see if it works okay there. I'd also suggest you to test the WD Black (just in case) with the DLG tool, again running the QUICK and EXTENDED test and make sure there is nothing wrong with it either.
If the issue is not the HDDs at all, I'd recommend resetting BIOS by reseating the CMOS battery or resetting the jumper on the motherboard. Check this tutorial...
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Contact WD support first, but this sounds like you have a flakey drive. More likely than not this is something that should be RMA'd as you have done just about everything you can (have you tried it in another computer?).


Remember, when contacting support explain things as simply as possible, and don't give un-needed information unless specifically asked for it. Just call them up, tell them it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, and then they will either escalate your call to someone who will want your troubleshooting information, or they will give you an RMA right then and there. Being nice, and keeping things simple go a very long way towards getting the support you want.
 
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No, in general a drive is a drive, and WD drives me insane in how they sell so many identical drives under different names and artificially handicap them. Being a 'red' drive just means that they did not disable RAID capability, and how long the warranty lasts. It will work and behave just like a normal drive.

For that matter, a NAS is just a computer that has an OS geared towards file sharing. Old PCs make great NAS devices, and the off-the-shelf devices are just glorified cell phones with a NAS OS installed and hard drives attached. The more you learn, the more you learn that 'parts is parts'.
 
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Hey there, Rubberbandman23!

I'm truly sorry to hear about your issues with the WD Red drive! 🙁
I'd recommend you to download WD's Data LifeGuard diagnostics and run the QUICK and EXTENDED test from the tool to check up on the health and SMART status of the WD drives. Here's a link to the utility itself: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=jbLmBu

I'd also strongly advise you to copy the backup you keep on the WD Red to another drive before proceeding with the troubleshooting. Let me know what the test results show! Just be patient with the Extended test, since the Red is 3 TB it might take a bit longer to complete.

Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD
 
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Hi SuperSoph_WD,
Yes I have ran the test and everything passed, so I am not entirely sure what is happening. I have not put any files in it yet since running the test just to see how the drive is going to act up. In the first few days, it would boot up just fine, then after about a week, the problem starts coming back inconsistently, and now, there are times that I would have to reboot at least twice.

2hef3iw.jpg
 
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Got it, I will post the S.M.A.R.T. results later when I get home, thanks.
 
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Hi SuperSoph_WD,
Here is the S.M.A.R.T. result:

2v8jx50.jpg

347w45k.jpg
 
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Hi again, Rubberbandman23!

Sorry for the late reply, I was off for the weekend! :)
From the looks of it, it seems like your WD Red is perfectly fine. I see only one bad sector which is survivable, so there is no apparent reason for the issues that you encounter.
The fact that it is a NAS drive shouldn't affect your system anyhow, however, I'd try the drive in another computer see if it works okay there. I'd also suggest you to test the WD Black (just in case) with the DLG tool, again running the QUICK and EXTENDED test and make sure there is nothing wrong with it either.
If the issue is not the HDDs at all, I'd recommend resetting BIOS by reseating the CMOS battery or resetting the jumper on the motherboard. Check this tutorial: http://www.wikihow.com/Reset-Your-BIOS
Keep in mind that this would get your BIOS settings back to factory defaults, so you'd need to re-configure them afterwards.

Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD
 
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