WHS: "Volume with name SYS is failing" (Acer Easystore H340)

[mshan]

Just got this message on an about 1 month old Acer Easystor H340 WHS box.

Followed instructions and did repair and it rebooted and now says system is healthy.

Did quick google search which seems to indicate this may be a bug in the Windows Home Server operating system. True?

What should this message mean, and what are potential implications, particularly in terms of failure and data loss, for this message?

 

[RebateMonger]

I did a Google search and didn't come up with any discussion of this error that wasn't from LONG ago. If there was a WHS bug causing this, I haven't heard of it lately.

I'd assume the obvious: that there was a real problem of some sort. WHS runs chkdsk on your volumes frequently and probably found an error which it (permanently or temporarily) fixed.

Hard disks in general can and do fail, often without warning. Windows Home Server has recovery options to help recover from disk failures, as well as options for folder redundancy, for making backups of the file shares, and (with add-ons or manually) for making backups of the client PC backup database. Without enabling these options, WHS, like any other server, will lose stuff if a disk gets badly corrupted or goes down hard.

 

[mshan]

Does that error message typically mean potential hardware failure, or something in software or file structure?

Hard drive should be under a month old.

Have been ripping my music collection to it from another computer and I did add the My Movies for Windows Home Server plug-in ( http://www.mymovies.dk/products/windows-home-server.aspx ) quite a while ago.

 

[RebateMonger]

Does that error message typically mean potential hardware failure, or something in software or file structure?

I have no personal experience with that error message. But I've only got about ten WHS servers out there. The Googled' descriptions say it could be a lot of things. Most likely is minor logical disk corruption. That sort of thing can happen if a PC loses power.

I'd suggest looking at the System Event Log in Windows Home Server. Specifically, look for DISK, NTFS, and other disk-related errors. There are also notations about the periodic Chkdsk runs the server makes, either in the System- or Application-Event Logs.

Note that the age of a PC or hard disk is not a terribly good predictor of the likelyhood of disk errors. Infant mortality will take out some disks very early, then the failure rate will probably become steady-state, and then there'll be more failures when the disk gets much older.

 

[mshan]

That sort of thing can happen if a PC loses power.

We had a bad nor-easter over weekend, and power did flicker and I think WHS box power was interrupted, or at least borderline low. I tried shutting down system once power problems started, but I think system was exposed to fluctuations and may have even shut down abruptly and then restarted before I could do proper shutdown from inside Windows Home Server console.

That was a couple days ago.

Already ran the Repair wizard and have rebooted.

Do you think that should have fixed problem?


edit: where is system event log? Do I have to remote desktop into WHS box, or can I access it from the WHS console?

 

[RebateMonger]

That sort of thing can happen if a PC loses power.
edit: where is system event log? Do I have to remote desktop into WHS box, or can I access it from the WHS console?

You have to RDP into WHS. Find the "Computer Management" panel and look for the Event Logs.

By looking at those, you may gain more insight into what happened.

 

[mshan]

Thanks for your insights!

 

[mshan]

There were 4 NTFS Disk event 55 errors noted from 11/13 right in a row.

Storm was coming through the area over several days, so I forgot when actual power fluctuations were.

 

[JackMDS]

Does that error message typically mean potential hardware failure, or something in software or file structure?

usually it is hardware or and file structure.

If it was OS related it would come out a while ago since the OS is more than a year on the market.

I installed Disk Info on the WHS Rig. It gives some info on the hardware and can even keep track with the smart drive. http://release.crystaldew.info/CrystalDiskInfo

Personally, I do not use any of the commercial units.

Unlike Dell, or HP real servers lines that are a little more expensive than regular computers but provide some kind of security that it server grade hardware, the price of the WHS little boxes screams, I am a regular End-User Box with all the hardware trepanations that comes with it.

When people cannot (or would not) built, I do mention the boxes. However, I consider it fair to mention what the price might mean for server Rig.

On one hand WHS Boxes work 24/7, and never go to Deep Sleep, so it always generating heat. On the other hand, those boxes are so small and compact that they usually have poor ventilation. As a result, iffy HD that otherwise would keep going, probably tend to give-up faster than when they are in well-ventilated Rig.

 

[RebateMonger]

As JackMDS notes, taking a look at the disk SMART reports couldn't hurt.

Here's a recommendation from a Microsoft employee from earlier this year. I tend to agree with her analysis. (As always) I'd make sure I have backups of anything super-important. Then I'd keep an eye on things for any other disk errors. It was PROBABLY just a logical corruption issue from a power outage. You don't see many of those these days, but I'm sure they can happen.

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/whssoftware/thread/250a98bc-2e66-436d-bf22-8b2e22e26e8b

"Currently Network Health does not flag a drive when these errors first show up in the event log. We've changed how this works in a later version of the product. The original thinking was that minor errors could cause Network Health to incorrectly flag a drive as unhealthy.

To resolve the EVENT ID 55s, please run chkdsk /r on C:\fs\17

You will need to do this from a cmd prompt on the administrator's desktop on the server i.e. RDP/TS into the server. While this is running, the system will indicate file conflicts until you reboot. This is normal.

I would keep an eye on this drive. If this continues to happen, you may need to consider replacing the drive.

Thanks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lara Jones [MSFT] | Program Manager
Community Support and Beta | Windows Home Server Team"

 

[mshan]

Thanks for the input, guys!

I think I need to get a second hard drive and at least enable folder duplication for all of the audio files I don't want to have to rip all over.

It's basically for music and video storage and streaming, and for my limited needs, probably could have just got an external hard drive hooked up to my Apple Airport Extreme, but WHS is always raved about and response time seems faster than off of external attached hard drive.

 

[JackMDS]

That reminds that each of my WHS' are sitting on their own UPS together with the Modem and the Router.

 

[RebateMonger]

I think I need to get a second hard drive and at least enable folder duplication for all of the audio files I don't want to have to rip all over.

Hard to criticize that idea.

I've had near-zero issues with my WHS servers. But no file server can survive a disk failure unless some sort of disk redundancy or backup is enabled.

 

[MStele]

Try to find out the brand of hard drive it is, and with that find out if there are test tools availiable. I know western digital and maxtor provide bootable discs that can be used to do an exhaustive test. Depending on whether it pass/fails those tests will give you a better idea if the problem is critical or not.