Problem with having 2 Sata II Drives WD250KS with Windows 2003 server with SP1

[Se7eN S1N]

Hey all,

I am having some serious issues with having two wd250ks drives in my rig right now.
first one always works fine, second one you can plug it in format and it sits there ok, but as soon as you try copying anything over, transfer rate is terrible, then loud sharp noise starts to come out of second HD, and everything is still fine, but performance is terrible (tested on sata controller in device manager) and everest. I also confirmed that this is NOT a driver issue, as it's no longer disk0. Further testing with WD diagnostic tools, Smart status has failed once again, how ever drive information is retained, but with insanely low transfer speed.
I've read on DFI-streets that sp2 doesn't like having 2 Sata2 drives. it seems to be true as it's always the second drive being installed dat always fail, I have swapped cables and controller and plug with normal working HD so I know it's not the controller or cable.

Can anyone give me a hand as to if I have to send one of mine back to WD or sell it for another one or any sorta ideas or suggestion, thanks a lot in advance for any help provided.

 

[montag451]

Can you try swapping hdd's over, so that the suspect one has an OS on it to boot from, and the non=suspect one is the backup.
See, if it is because of two SATA2 drives, or if the suspect drive really has got SMART problems.

 

[Se7eN S1N]

both HD were in working condition I still have one that's fine, but the second one that I plug in was brand new, I tested it on another machine before plugging it into mine, and after that bam smart issues.

 

[imported_Phil]

As far as I'm aware, there are no issues with Windows XP SP2 and multiple SATA-II drives. I think you're being misled there.

Your symptons are classic signs of a hard disk failing. Remove the drive and RMA it to Western Digital immediately. Clunking, grinding or clanking noises are the heads trying to read data from a bad sector, as well as parking/unparking themselves repeatedly.

 

[Se7eN S1N]

These drive was tested on another machine using WD's diagnostic utility, cables were swapped etc, all of the drives I went through which was like 4 of them worked before they are put into combination. and I am running server 2003 sp1 not xp. And the information i got regrading these SATAII issues is from guys over at DFI forum which is having the exact same problem as me. with same model of HD and build. So it would be nice if there was people who could let me know if they are running more than one SAta2 drives to share their experiences.

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: Se7eN S1N
These drive was tested on another machine using WD's diagnostic utility, cables were swapped etc, all of the drives I went through which was like 4 of them worked before they are put into combination. and I am running server 2003 sp1 not xp. And the information i got regrading these SATAII issues is from guys over at DFI forum which is having the exact same problem as me. with same model of HD and build. So it would be nice if there was people who could let me know if they are running more than one SAta2 drives to share their experiences.

While I hear what you're saying, a hard disk that makes "irregular" noises, perhaps clunking, repetitive clicks, etc, is failing.
You should try SpinRite, it's an extremely thorough disk checking utility, and if the disk has bad sectors, it will find them. We have a 60GB drive at work that refuses to format, and all the manufacturer's tools certify it as being perfectly fine. SpinRite, however, finds three bad, unrecoverable sectors on it.