[CentOS] weird XFS problem

[Keith Keller]

On 2012-01-22, Boris Epstein <borepstein at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> The RAID is on the controller level. Yes, I believe the controller is a
> 3Ware 9xxx series - I don't recall the details right now.

The details are important in this context--the 9550 is the problematic
one (at least for me, though I've seen others with similar issues).  But
if it's a hardware RAID6, it's a later controller, as the 9550 doesn't
support RAID6.  I have had some issues with the WD-EARS drives with 96xx
controllers, but much less frequently.

> What are you referring to as "drive tester"?

Some drive vendors distribute their own bootable CD image, with which
you can run tests specific to their drives, which can return proper
error codes to help determine whether there is actually a problem on the
drive.  Seagate used to require you give them the diagnostic code their
tester returned in order for them to accept a drive for an RMA; I don't
think they do that any more, but they still distribute their tester.
But it's a good way to get another indicator of a problem; if both the
controller and the drive tester report an error, it's very likely that
you have a bad drive; if the tester says the drive is fine, and does
this for a few drives the controller reports as failed, you can suspect
something behind the drives as a problem.  (This is how I came to
suspect the 9550: it would say my drives had failed, but the WD tester
repeatedly said they were fine.)

The latest version of UBCD has the latest versions of these various
testers; I recall WD, Seagate, and Hitachi testers, and I'm pretty sure
there are others.

--keith

-- 
kkeller at wombat.san-francisco.ca.us