# Windows Server 2012 R2 How to check HDD health?



## FordGT90Concept (Jun 22, 2014)

I have two drives on Intel Rapid Storage Technology and four drives on Highpoint Rocket RAID 2300.  I tried running RSTe SetupCIM.exe which didn't seem to do anything and I also ran WebUI setup from Highpoint and the installer just hangs.  Both I did with administrative rights.  Is there some way to view this information in Windows Server 2012 R2 itself?  I really need to check the condition of these RAIDs without restarting the computer because I heard a loud, motor-like sound this morning and it has me concerned one of them failed.  I don't doubt the RocketRAID will fix the problem itself (there's a hot spare) but I'm not so sure RST has a means to communicate with me that a drive has failed.


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## remixedcat (Jun 22, 2014)

what about the intel tools don't they have that?

Also you may want to enable the full storage services roles I think they have the health tools. I don't know if a reboot is required for them. 

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/ar...ook-windows-server-2012-r2-storage-part1.html


If you want to give PRTG a shot it has some disk health sensors: http://www.paessler.com/manuals/prtg/wmi_hdd_health_sensor

There could also be sensors for the RAID array as well 

I can take a look and test a few but I can't test RAID sensors and I can't test Intel specific disk mgmt stuff. 

PRTG does not require reboots for probe installation. You can also add monitoring with WMI instead of probes and that's how I keep 2 sensors for the ACA1 (one is 5Ghz and the other is for 2.4Ghz tests)


OK: I added the sensor to my hubby's computer and here's what the sensor controls look like and how the data is displayed:


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 22, 2014)

remixedcat said:


> what about the intel tools don't they have that?


That's what I tried and it seems to be a dead end.  RST search on Intel's website only returned 7 hits for 2012 and 1 hit for 2012 R2.  None seem to actually install the RST software.



remixedcat said:


> Also you may want to enable the full storage services roles I think they have the health tools. I don't know if a reboot is required for them.
> 
> http://www.windowsnetworking.com/ar...ook-windows-server-2012-r2-storage-part1.html


This doesn't look like a rabbit hole I want to venture though.  I'm talking hardware RAID here, not software, so I'm not entirely sure Windows can even manage it.  I really don't get why the old tools I used previously won't even install.  I know, on Server 2003 R2, they worked and they worked very well.  It is almost like R2 deliberately prevents this kind of software from working.




remixedcat said:


> If you want to give PRTG a shot it has some disk health sensors: http://www.paessler.com/manuals/prtg/wmi_hdd_health_sensor
> 
> There could also be sensors for the RAID array as well
> 
> ...


RAID blocks access to individual drives unless it knows how to communicate through the drivers/firmware to reach individual drives.  PRGT may work for non-RAID drives but it isn't going to help in my entirely RAID'd situation; moreover, I'm more concerned about the physical status of the RAID than the individual drives.


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## remixedcat (Jun 22, 2014)

It doesn't look like there are any Intel monitors or RAID array specific sensors  I guess I have another request for the PRTG team. 

Arrrg!!! Not even SNMP is supported on the Intel RAID arrays through the management agent! 

I would have recommended adding it as a custom SNMP sensor type on PRTG using the importer but noooooo Intel doesn't even have that. 

it seems that this tool is very limited.

Is this also the tool you tried:
http://www.intel.com/Assets/Image/prodlarge/iascfull.png


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 22, 2014)

No, I didn't try that one, I tried RST.  Maybe that one would work though.  Here's the download URL:
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=20994

I'll give it a try.

Edit: Scratch that, look at the list.  It is specifically for Intel motherboards.  Mine is MSI.


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## remixedcat (Jun 22, 2014)

Arrrg


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## Aquinus (Jun 22, 2014)

smartmontools can tell you about the status of RST(e) drives.
There is a windows command line variant.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/smartmontools/

A superuser.com thread said (several years ago):


> In my brief reading, it looks like this may be a common issue with that controller. Try giving smartmontools a shot. It's supposed to have some experimental support for the Matrix controller.
> 
> Use /dev/csmi0,X as a device name to access SMART info of individual disks
> 
> ...


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## remixedcat (Jun 22, 2014)

Does it require a reboot tho??


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## Aquinus (Jun 23, 2014)

remixedcat said:


> Does it require a reboot tho??


No.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 23, 2014)

Aquinus said:


> smartmontools can tell you about the status of RST(e) drives.
> There is a windows command line variant.
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/smartmontools/
> 
> A superuser.com thread said (several years ago):


That works well for getting info about the drives (here's the batch I just wrote quick for the two drives):

```
@ECHO off
cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\smartmontools\bin"
smartctl -i /dev/csmi0,0
smartctl -H /dev/csmi0,0
smartctl -A /dev/csmi0,0
smartctl -i /dev/csmi0,1
smartctl -H /dev/csmi0,1
smartctl -A /dev/csmi0,1
pause
```
That won't help with verification and rebuilding the array if that is necessary though.  I think I may have to contact Highpoint about the RocketRAID software.


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