Ultra DMA CRC Error Rate for HDD's: what is it?

[80251]

Is the Ultra DMA CRC Error Rate for HDD's something to be concerned about? Is it reporting errors between the SATA controller and the HDD? Or errors occurring on the HDD itself?

 

[R-T-B]

It can be both. As long as it's not actively rising I'd not worry much about it though.

 

[eidairaman1]

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Is the Ultra DMA CRC Error Rate for HDD's something to be concerned about? Is it reporting errors between the SATA controller and the HDD? Or errors occurring on the HDD itself?

DMA is Direct Memory Access, change cables and check again, if still there get the hdds in another rig and check, that will determine if the sata ide on the drive or mobo, is bad, only way to know if mobo is bad is to check a known good drive.

Could be a glue logic problem even

 

[80251]

It's happening on an eSATA HDD. I think I'm going to have to break out the dielectric grease again.

 

[chrcoluk]

It can be both as has been said, check cables, and can also try swapping the port the drive is in.

I had a almost brand new drive get a flood of errors on that SMART metric not longer after adding two new drives to the controller where the SATA ports are cramped together. It was using one of those older cables without a clip, when replaced with a new one it completely stopped.

Symptoms that made me check it were very slow detection on POST, very slow detection when booting TrueNAS as well. All other fault metrics like reallocated and pending were all zero.

Sadly you cannot reset the value so if its proven to be external the SMART will be tarnished forever, make a note of the current value after you fix, so if you ever check in future you know if its increased again.

How often is external a factor?

Currently I have one HDD (one mentioned above) and 3 SSD's with logged errors that were not the drive itself. So that should give you hope. All 3 SSD's were tarnished back when I had my system agent voltage too high in my main rig.

 

[Steevo]

Dielectric grease can cause poor contact when over applied to connectors. If you live in a area where corrosion is a problem try using silicone spray that only leaves a film behind. Or Corrosion X HD works wonders.

 

[eidairaman1]

It's happening on an eSATA HDD. I think I'm going to have to break out the dielectric grease again.

Clean the esata ports, replace cable as well

Dielectric grease can cause poor contact when over applied to connectors. If you live in a area where corrosion is a problem try using silicone spray that only leaves a film behind. Or Corrosion X HD works wonders.

The dielectric grease I suggested is electronic grade and is used for all electrical contacts to keep corrosion away, it even claims to improve contact.

 

[Steevo]

Clean the esata ports, replace cable as well


The dielectric grease I suggested is electronic grade and is used for all electrical contacts to keep corrosion away, it even claims to improve contact.

I have used it for years too, it works and usually doesn’t cause any issues, but I have seen it over applied and actually cause connection issues when it hydrolocks the spring loaded connectors. Actually got a day paid per machine to go through and wash out the dielectric grease and apply Corrosion X HD for the issue, high speed CAN-BUS would have random node drop off and packet transmission errors.

Then some AMP connectors were holding moisture in the air bubbles allowing corrosion to occur during thermal cycling.

They used to send the small squeeze packets with harnesses and new nodes but then sent a can of spray instead.

 

[80251]

Dielectric grease can cause poor contact when over applied to connectors. If you live in a area where corrosion is a problem try using silicone spray that only leaves a film behind. Or Corrosion X HD works wonders.

I had to disconnect and reconnect an SSD repeatedly that I applied dielectric grease to before it would be recognized by the BIOS, I think it's because I applied too much dielectric grease but it works now.

 

[eidairaman1]

I had to disconnect and reconnect an SSD repeatedly that I applied dielectric grease to before it would be recognized by the 'BIOS, I think it's because I applied too much dielectric grease but it works now.

Yup that'll do it, a light coat with a sponge applicator is all that's needed.

I have used it for years too, it works and usually doesn’t cause any issues, but I have seen it over applied and actually cause connection issues when it hydrolocks the spring loaded connectors. Actually got a day paid per machine to go through and wash out the dielectric grease and apply Corrosion X HD for the issue, high speed CAN-BUS would have random node drop off and packet transmission errors.

Then some AMP connectors were holding moisture in the air bubbles allowing corrosion to occur during thermal cycling.

They used to send the small squeeze packets with harnesses and new nodes but then sent a can of spray instead.

I use green cor x at work but i think it is only for metal, not electronics

 

[Steevo]

Yup that'll do it, a light coat with a sponge applicator is all that's needed.



I use green cor x at work but i think it is only for metal, not electronics

It works on electronics too, not screens, but on the PCB and connectors, just needs to flash off before being put into service, it’s apparently as insulative as dielectric grease. I have used it in microwave connections to prevent aluminum galling on the threads and waterproofing the ground connection as it’s aluminum with a thin nickel vapor deposit.

 

[eidairaman1]

It works on electronics too, not screens, but on the PCB and connectors, just needs to flash off before being put into service, it’s apparently as insulative as dielectric grease. I have used it in microwave connections to prevent aluminum galling on the threads and waterproofing the ground connection as it’s aluminum with a thin nickel vapor deposit.

The point im getting at is i believe there are different versions, like WD40 has Specialist stuff for electronics cleaning