too many "file system errors" on 2xSSD520 (Raid 0). What to do?

SZare1 · ‎10-01-2013

Before getting SSD drives, only once I saw a "file system error" on my HDDs until now.

Now, I get too many "file system errors" on 2xSSD520 (Raid 0) on

DZ77RE-75K Intel motherboard. Maybe 3 times last month. Windows error check may

recover some files, but I don't even know if that is all of my files. Some of

my Evernote files got permanently corrupted on the first "file system

error". Good thing that I just started habit of backing up data.

To me, for now it looks like SSDs on Raid 0 are about a 100 times more

likely to create these kinds of problems. Even if I could restore files from

backup, I prefer not to deal with all these hassle. I am willing to give up the

raid idea. So; I want to know how to structure my OS, files, and SSDs on my

next reinstall of windows 8 (8.1) to not deal with this problem no more. My

questions are:

Are all these errors because of Raid 0, or if I keep my

SSDs separate [with no Raid] I am still going to see more errors than used to

on HDDs?
How much Raid 1 or Raid 10 can help in this regard?

Just asking, but I am very reluctant to do that and cut my SSD storage in half;

I will need all that space (for VMs …etc.).
Can I keep my important files on one of the SSDs, or

are they safer on another HDD?

Jose_H_Intel1 · ‎10-02-2013

Pitiko, the best recommendation is running a full diagnostic scan with the Intel® SSD Toolbox in order to verify the integrity of the drives; it is possible that you may need to test each drive separately and use another drive for the operating system.

Answering your questions below:

It is possible one of the drives is not working properly, hence the suggestion above in order to clarify such possibility.
RAID 1, 5, and 10 have fault tolerance, this means they are better than RAID 0 preventing data corruption/loss but slower for write operations, you may need to consider the pros and cons of each RAID type.
Keep in mind that with RAID 0 you have no fault tolerance and it is highly recommended to have a back up if necessary.

The following article provides basic RAID information that may help you further:

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/imsm/sb/cs-009337.htm Intel� Rapid Storage Technology (Intel� RST); RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, Matrix RAID, RAID-Ready

SZare1 · ‎10-03-2013

I ran Full Diagnostic scan, once for raid volume and each SSD drive. They completed successfully. OS is still on the raid volume.

I bought the SSDs 3 months ago. SMART shows everything normalized at 100. What are other causes of repeated file system error? Can a bad Power source Unit cause it? Anyway of testing or checking event logs for PSU malfunction?

The other problems I always have with this new custom PC (after every fresh reinstall of windows 8) are:

1) USB disconnect/reconnect (in 3 seconds) randomly few times a day. I have disabled "USB selective suspend" in power options and disallowed USBs to be turned off in device manager. Problem is still there. One culprit for that could be PSU.

2) Almost every time I shut down (properly) my PC after 12am, it turns off, waits 10-20 seconds, turns itself back on [I shut it manually when tries to restart].

Jose_H_Intel1 · ‎10-04-2013

If power supply is a suspect then swap the cables powering the drives. Usually the motherboard manufacturers provide software to monitor motherboard activity such as voltages, fan speed and temperatures. You may monitor the voltages coming from the power supply especially when the system is under stress. It is even better if you can test with completely different power supply.

You may also consider testing the system out of the case in a non-conductive surface (like a cardboard) with the minimum components only since grounding issues or false contacts are usual cause for erratic behavior.