Odd Issue w/10TB Shucked WD WD100EMAZ (beeping sound)

shimian5

Dabbler
Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
43
Just finished building my 2nd FreeNAS build, to replace my older smaller setup.

The rough specs are
  • ML110 Gen 9
  • Xeon E5-2620 v3
  • 48GB ECC RAM
  • B140i in AHCI Mode/PassThru
  • 6x WD100EMAZ RaidZ2
FreeNAS is 11.2U5 running as a VM with 24GB RAM and both AHCI controllers in passthrough. The system runs great, all the drives running ~35°C and passing SMART longs with no issues. My data copied quickly and with no major issues. I did a scrub after the transfers which completed with no errors detected.

Every once in a while, usually in the mid-afternoon (~3-4PM) or at night (8-9PM) one or some of the drives begins exhibiting this issue (note that user has real Reds, not shucked Whites):

https://community.wd.com/t/strange-noise-coming-from-10tb-drives-wd100efax/226467

Also here, still in the original EasyStore shell

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/9nlhij/8tb_easystore_making_a_beeping_sound_never_did/

There appear to be other users with the same issue, though I am unsure as to why. Also, like in the first thread, if I access the NAS (file copy, play a movie) the noise will stop.

What is this beep? It's not a motherboard beep, and it's insanely faint, almost just like a seek noise. I have acoustic management, power management, etc all disabled.

The ONLY thing I noticed that varies by drives is the following
  • ada1, ada2, ada5, ada6 all have a value and average under "Spin_Up_Time"
  • ada3, ada7 do not report "Spin_Up_Time". It's just listed as "0"
Aside from that, the system has been flawless. This "beeping" will only happen for a few minutes a day, and not necessarily every day. I'll take any help I can get. Since there are no reported errors, it seems that WD would not accept an RMA on it. Do I just wait for it to fail (if it's even a problem)? It seems I am not the only with these issues, but my search here on the forum came up with no hits. I've seen wear leveling mentioned, is that what it is?
 
Last edited:

Chris Moore

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Did you call WD support and ask? They should have some kind of answer, especially if it is happening to many people both for Red drives and for drives still in the EasyStore enclosure.
 

shimian5

Dabbler
Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
43
I did not, for a few reasons. One being that other had and WD had brushed it off as a "normal sound" and two being that these are shucked units and not likely eligible for friendly tech support.

I was also looking to mainly see if the greater FreeNAS community had been seeing (hearing?) this issue. I figure out of the thousands of builds, someone is likely using 10TB Red/Whites and has their system close enough to them to hear it. If this system were another 5 feet away from me, it'd be inaudble.
 

Chris Moore

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