[Tfug] And another one down

[Harry McGregor]

On 9/10/13 8:21 PM, Timothy D. Lenz wrote:
> So I think I'm down to 1 of these 2:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&Description=ppssHGSTenterprise&bop=And&CompareItemList=14|22-136-798^22-136-798-TS%2C22-145-420^22-145-420-TS%2C22-136-533^22-136-533-TS&percm=22-145-420%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24
>
> Mainly the HGST and the enterprise WD. The WD has a 5 year warranty
>

The Enterprise WD has more cache, a longer warranty, and is specifically
sold for RAID arrays.

That being said, the HGST is an Ultrastar, not a Deskstar, so it's also
an Enterprise drive, and built for use in RAID arrays.  Yes, it's only a
3 year warranty vs a 5 year, but you are paying an extra almost 1/3 in
price (~$25) to get those extra two years.  I know the A7K2000 quite
well, and would be very comfortable with it.  That being said, all
drives can and will die, it's just a matter of when, so as always,
backup your data.

With the way drive technology is moving, depending on the number of
drives you are getting, you would probably be better off holding onto
that $25 and applying it towards a new drive in 3 years, then the chance
that you might end up replacing the drive under warranty in years 4 and
5 of ownership.  Of course for $15 you can add two years of extended
replacement service to the HGST drive which brings you to a full 5
years, and still a lower cost then the WD RE drive.

Here is the data sheet on the A7K2000, which is stating a 5 year
warranty, so double check the warranty with HGST by going to their
support page and putting in the serial # if you do buy that drive:
http://www.hgst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/5EDA5472B7792D9D8625760A0003E88B/$file/UltraStarA7K2000_datasheet.pdf

-Harry


> On 9/9/2013 10:45 PM, Harry McGregor wrote:
>> On 9/9/13 10:22 PM, Timothy D. Lenz wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> On 9/9/2013 10:07 PM, Harry McGregor wrote:
>>>> On 9/9/13 9:52 PM, Timothy D. Lenz wrote:
>>>>
>>>> <snip>
>>>>
>>>> If the Seagates were not "array" optimized drives, then they quite
>>>> likely were going into thermal recalibration, which takes the drive
>>>> offline for a few seconds and brings it back.
>>>>
>>>> My personal opinion, dealing with thousands of drives, is that I
>>>> really
>>>> like the HGST drives, and don't care much for Seagate anymore (and
>>>> this
>>>> is enterprise class, near line sas and enterprise sata).  After
>>>> HGST, I
>>>> go for WD SAS, then WD Black, then Red.  I don't like either the
>>>> Blue or
>>>> the Green for array use.
>>>>
>>>> As far as the fans causing problems, I have seen some VERY odd things
>>>> cause drive problems, but have yet to see fans cause it...
>>>>
>>>> (and yes, I deal with enterprise storage as part of my job).
>>>>
>>>> -Harry
>>>
>>> I don't think I have ever heard of an HGST drive, but a quick google
>>> found a 600Gb drive for $400... OUCH.
>>
>> HGST is what used to be Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, which
>> before that was IBM's drive division.  HGST is now owned by WD, but
>> operated as a separate company due to restrictions the Chinese
>> government put on the merger.
>>
>> They are not all that expensive, you were probably looking at a 10K or
>> 15K SAS drive for that range.
>>
>> Here is a 1TB ultrastar with 3 year warranty for $85:
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145420
>>>
>>> I just noticed that WD has other drives now besides the
>>> red/green/black/blue. Haven't looked into then much. But looking at
>>> WD's site: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/catalog/
>>>
>>> I don't see an SAS line. Why black before red? I thought red was
>>> designed for array use.
>>
>> The WD Xe line is SAS, and the WD Re line has some SAS drives.  The
>> black vs red is more speed vs array optimized.  The Blacks are supported
>> in consumer level arrays, and are 7200 RPM, the Reds are "intellipower"
>> which means they are in the 5900 RPM range.
>>
>> Of course SAS will only help you if you have SAS Controllers, which most
>> consumer level boards and small NAS appliances don't have.
>>
>> Here is a 2TB WD RE SAS drive:
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236502
>>
>>
>>>
>>>   And yea, just reading on the green, I haven't given them another
>>> thought.
>>>
>> :)
>>
>> -Harry
>
>
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