Need some advice on storage

[TemjinGold]

I have a conundrum--My plan was originally to wait for Kaby Lake/Zen release so I could see which was more worth getting, then do a complete rebuild. In the process, I would retire my spindle (had it for over 10 years now), move my current 1 TB SSD to storage role, and buy a 960EVO (or PRO if I see a good enough price) for a boot drive.

The problem is, I've recently been getting disk i/o errors (which I'm guessing is coming from the spindle). They started this week and I'm seeing maybe 1-2 each day or every other day. So my spindle is probably dying. I can't buy a 960 now because my current platform doesn't have an M.2 slot.

What would you guys recommend I do? Should I just forgo getting an M2 and grab a cheap SATA3 drive again? Is the Z270 platform not really worth waiting for (I know Kaby itself is not much faster than Skylake)? Is there another solution I haven't considered?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Well, you should be able to see in Event Viewer which disk is actually causing the errors... so I'd double check first so I knew I was replacing the right drive.

But that said, I don't see a lot of practical benefit to M.2 or PCI-E SSDs in normal desktop use; even for enthusiasts. They benchmark better, but you'll never notice it in day-to-day. So if you bought another 1TB SSD now and moved them both over to your new build, I don't think you'd be giving up much.

Reading your sig: the M500 was a solid drive in terms of reliability, but not exactly a speed demon. Something mid-to-high-end like an 850 EVO might actually be noticeably faster for you in general use.

 

[UsandThem]

But that said, I don't see a lot of practical benefit to M.2 or PCI-E SSDs in normal desktop use; even for enthusiasts. They benchmark better, but you'll never notice it in day-to-day. So if you bought another 1TB SSD now and moved them both over to your new build, I don't think you'd be giving up much.

Reading your sig: the M500 was a solid drive in terms of reliability, but not exactly a speed demon. Something mid-to-high-end like an 850 EVO might actually be noticeably faster for you in general use.

Solid advice.

There are many posts on this site where people buy a 950 Pro, and are upset because their computer doesn't seem 'faster' than a regular SSD. While PCIe (NVME) drives are faster, most users do not use their computers in a way where they would actually see the speed benefit.

Like Dave also mentioned, the 850 EVO is a great choice. It has a 5 year warranty, and is one of the fastest SATA SSDs (just a tad slower than the 850 Pro).

 

[TemjinGold]

Thanks, guys. I'll check it out!

How does Event Viewer work? Doesn't look that intuitive...

 

[UsandThem]

Thanks, guys. I'll check it out!

How does Event Viewer work? Doesn't look that intuitive...

What OS are you using?

 

[Shmee]

If the HDD is dying, which it probably is, I would backup and replace ASAP. Check the SMART data, there are many free programs which can do that.

 

[TemjinGold]

Thanks. I'm using Win10. I checked the Event Viewer but it looks like the write errors have a C: path (SSD). Does that mean it's a problem with the SSD? I will say this has reminded me that for a few years now, the first time I access the spindle after a reboot, it had always "stopped" for a bit (like 10-15 secs) before working. I never really paid attention to it until now...

Update: Grabbed Crystal Disk Info. Says SSD Health is "Good 100%" but for the spindle, it says "Good" without any kind of percent.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Thanks. I'm using Win10. I checked the Event Viewer but it looks like the write errors have a C: path (SSD). Does that mean it's a problem with the SSD? I will say this has reminded me that for a few years now, the first time I access the spindle after a reboot, it had always "stopped" for a bit (like 10-15 secs) before working. I never really paid attention to it until now...

Update: Grabbed Crystal Disk Info. Says SSD Health is "Good 100%" but for the spindle, it says "Good" without any kind of percent.

Replace SATA cables first. But yes: if you are seeing errors writing to the c: drive it probably means there's a problem with the device.

The SSD health program is probably just reading SMART data. Unfortunately, it's possible for a failing drive to pass a SMART test. But it's also possible for a perfectly good drive to have read/write errors because of a bad cable or SATA port. So a little experimenting is a good idea.

 

[TemjinGold]

Good to know. I'll order some new SATA cables to test that.

 

[Elixer]

If the SMART stats show 'Ultra DMA CRC errors", then that is usually a sign of cables going bad.
Never seen cables that didn't trip that SMART attribute and it still being a cable issue, so in this case, looks like the device is going bad. I would stop using it, and backup as much as possible before it dies on you.

 

[TemjinGold]

Hmm... so is it my SSD rather than the spindle that is dying?

 

[Elixer]

Hmm... so is it my SSD rather than the spindle that is dying?

If you are seeing write errors in the event log, and it is telling you the device, that is the device that has issues.

Can you post pics of the SMART info for all devices in question?
You may want to turn off the showing serial number if you don't want those shown. (under Function, select hide serial #)

 

[TemjinGold]

Hmm... can't seem to figure out how to add the pics of them I took...

 

[UsandThem]

Hmm... can't seem to figure out how to add the pics of them I took...

Www.imgur.com

 

[Elixer]

http://postimg.org/ is also another good site to host pics.

 

[TemjinGold]

Thanks, see if this works:

http://postimg.org/image/l382qtdaj/

http://postimg.org/image/c0kc6bu0z/

Update: Okay, got the new SATA cables and replaced them. Then did some testing with multiple browser windows open, Windows Defender doing a full scan, and playing Microsoft Solitaire (the one from the Microsoft Store):

1) With only the SSD plugged in (no spindle), it seizes up whenever I finish a round of solitaire (where it is loading the screen to click away). The first time, it was a LONG seize but the subsequent ones got shorter.

2) With both drives plugged in, it randomly seizes up other times as well.

Could this instead be a ram thing?

 

[Elixer]

Thanks, see if this works:

http://postimg.org/image/l382qtdaj/

http://postimg.org/image/c0kc6bu0z/

Update: Okay, got the new SATA cables and replaced them. Then did some testing with multiple browser windows open, Windows Defender doing a full scan, and playing Microsoft Solitaire (the one from the Microsoft Store):

1) With only the SSD plugged in (no spindle), it seizes up whenever I finish a round of solitaire (where it is loading the screen to click away). The first time, it was a LONG seize but the subsequent ones got shorter.

2) With both drives plugged in, it randomly seizes up other times as well.

Could this instead be a ram thing?

Is event viewer still showing errors when it freezes? If it is, then the device is having issues, and could fail at any time.
I ran into these freezes when my Samsung SSD was on the verge of failing, it just so happened to completely fail (BIOS didn't see it anymore) 2 days from when the initial system freezing was going on. In each case, event viewer did show device errors (which is why the system freezes, it is trying to recover, and the drivers wait X secs before trying again).

I would backup everything, and do a secure erase or a PSID reset, which wipes the SSD, and then restore from your backup, and see if it still does it.
If it does, RMA back to Crucial.

 

[Shmee]

You sure your OC settings are stable?

 

[TemjinGold]

Pretty sure. I've had these settings for years. Drives only started acting up last few weeks.

 

[TemjinGold]

Update: So it's not my drives. It's apparently the Win10 anniversary update. I rolled it back and voila no more problems.

 

[Elixer]

Update: So it's not my drives. It's apparently the Win10 anniversary update. I rolled it back and voila no more problems.

Rolled back what exactly?
Write errors could be caused by drivers, but that would be pretty rare...

 

[corkyg]

He rolled back the Anniversary Update. I find that interesting because I had to do the same thing on this old machine. Build 1511 works perfectly, but 1607 does not.

 

[Elixer]

If that is the case, I am wondering what part of the update caused this? Is it drivers, or is it the kernel, or something else?

 

[corkyg]

I spent a lot of time getting 1511 exactly as I wanted it - no Cortana, no Edge, no One Drive, custom icons, custom sounds, and no unwanted Internet links to Microsoft. 1607 insisted it could not update, but only do a clean install. That would not be useful at all, and definitely not worth several days of added work. There's nothing that 1511 can't do that I need done. It did update OK on my laptop, newer and all SSD, but it imposes an added layer with Lock Screen that I don't want, so I simply don't use it. It is on a separate SSD, so that makes it easy.

 

[TemjinGold]

Not sure what caused it from the update. I happened to google Anniversary Update for Win 10 and saw a bunch of people had the same problems I did. The remedy suggested by Microsoft was to roll back the update while they figure out what was wrong. I did so and all the problems disappeared.