Hard Disk Monitoring

HD Sentinel ver: 6.01 Pro
OS: Windows 10 Pro x64 (21H2)
HBA: Highpoint R750 (driver R750_Windows_Miniport_v1.2.5.0_16_10_11)

Hi,

I recently upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and have noticed that HDS is repeating the incorrect hard disk label.

Eg.

Disk # 1: Disk label name 1
Disk # 2: Disk label name 2
Disk # 3: Disk label name 3
Disk # 4: Disk label name 4
Disk # 5: Disk label name 5 -- at a random point the disk label is repeated for all other disks
Disk # 6: Disk label name 5
Disk # 7: Disk label name 5
Disk # 8: Disk label name 5
Disk # 9: Disk label name 5
etc...


Windows disk management displays the correct label for each drive for both logical and mounted disks.

I have gone back to Windows 7 and don't have this issue. I have also tested with Windows 11 Pro and have encountered the same issue.

I have also with HDS versions 6.01.2 (beta), 5.70 but the issue remains.

I have also changed all data cables but again the problem persists in Windows 10 and 11?

Not sure if this is a bug with HDS or an issue with my setup. I'm hoping you can advise on anything else I can test please? Or do I need to downgrade back to Windows 7 where there is no issue?

Many thanks

Thanks for your message.

I can confirm that it is not really a bug: depending on the RAID controller/HBA, this can happen.
This does not affect the monitoring of the health, temperature and other status of the drives in any ways - but yes, can be annoying.

Generally Hard Disk Sentinel attempts to detect the actual configuration, the association between the logical partitions and physical disk drives - but depending on the actual controller and the installed driver, this may not always possible. Then the disks on the affected controller displayed like if they'd form a big volume: this is why the same logical drive and disk label showed for those physical disks.

Probably different driver set installed under different OSes - and this could cause the different operation: as you could see, under Windows 7, Hard Disk Sentinel detected the proper configuration from the controller (so there were no duplicates) but under Windows 10/11, the controller did not provide that information properly.

I suggest to use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option as then it is possible to examine the situation, verify the "raw" response of the controller and check the possibilities.
This is completely independent from the disk drives, cables and Windows Disk Management, the driver of the controller is the key which may work "partially" in this area.

If you still have access to the previous Windows 7 configuration, please also use Report menu -> Send test report to developer option there too (in addition to the developer report under Win10/11). This way it is possible to compare the "good" and "problematic" situation and this can help to check the difference and verify if things can be improved in HDS and/or by a driver update.

Hi, thank you for the reply.

I was able to do some more testing over the weekend and reinstalled Windows 7. I found the problem does also occur with this OS – maybe I just never noticed it in the past!

I was also able to discover that the disk label (of logical drive) is repeated from disk #31 onwards. It doesn’t matter which disk is connected, HDS will repeat the disk label of the first disk connected in port range 31-40.

I have managed to find a replacement card which should be delivered this week. If the problem persists then it is like you have suggested, a compatibility issue between the driver and HDS – just strange that it can read all the other disks up to port 31 correctly but not the others?!

I’ll send you the test report as soon as I have completely eliminated faulty hardware. I’ve installed Windows 11 over Windows 7 but can reinstall Windows 7 and/or Windows 10 and send you test reports from those versions as well if you need them.

Thanks again, hopefully there’s a simple fix to this issue.

I wonder why you see this for disks 31-40. Sounds so interesting and probably from the developer report, I can see the situation better and this can give ideas, thoughts.

If you have so high number of disk drives, then please open Configuration -> Send test report page. There you can create and save a developer (test) report and please send to info (at) hdsentinel (dot) com address instead of using the previously mentioned Report menu -> Send test report to developer option (as the Report menu -> Send test report to developer option can truncate very long reports). So please manually create+save+send the developer report.

Looking forward to investigate, examine this interesting situation.

Thanks for your attention!

Hi, sorry for the delay in proving an update - it took longer than expected for the new card to be delivered from the US.

After testing with the new card I can confirm the issue remains so not a HBA hardware fault.

Whilst I was waiting for delivery I tested with a different 32-port sata card and found the issue also appears with this HBA card. But I discovered that it doesn't matter if disk #32 is connected to the HBA or motherboard, it will repeat the disk label to all the following drives.

eg 8 disks connected to intel motherboard and 28 disks connected to HBA (total 36 disks). If disk #32 is connected to HBA, then disks 32-36 will repeat label of disk #32. If #32 is connected directly to motherboard, then disks 32-36 will still repeat the disk label for these disks.

I have sent you the test report - hopefully you can find the issue.

Many thanks

I have that same issue or one similar. It seems like it was working before I changed out 2 hard drives in my OYEN 5 Bay backup box running in JBOD mode. I also have the missing check marks on 4 of the 5 external drives for showing the health is ok. It shows the 5 drives with the same name and drive letter on mine and shows 4 of the drives at the bottom of the list as not recognized but has the correct names and drive letters down there. Very annoying,
Volt

p.s. I send a report to the developer using the direct link.

Thanks for the report, still checking and will make the update specifically for this situation.

Yes, some external hard disk enclosures with 4-5 drives also work slightly similar: technically they may report if all drives would form a single array - and this is why all drives displayed with the same letter. Their health, status, temperature etc.. all reported just they may show the same drive letter - and the other drive letters associated with the following disk drives (like if they'd be different USB drives).

All hard disks detected and reported properly: all disks appear and the check mark on the first logical drive of the enclosure confirms that ALL drives are in good health.
But I can understand that this is annoying, so will make the required changes specifically for this enclosure too

Ok great. Thank you. I appreciate it.
Volt

Ok thanks. I understand there are a lot of controllers, drives etc. Then add Microsoft Windows into the picture and the odds quickly get worse.
Volt

I am happy to report that after sending the report to the developer (from inside the app), he responded within a few days. He worked on the issue and it was fixed within a week. Works great now for my 5 drive Oyen Mobius external enclosure filled with 44TB of storage. So if you have any issues, use the "Send Test Report to the Developer". It really works.
Thanks Janos,
Volt