JimmyJoe

I am very happy with the performance and temp of the new Seagate 4TB DM drives. I did some performance testing, results are here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=26140.0 In a nutshell, performance is close to the DX and runs about 1/3 cooler.

FYI - I just posted my performance testing results here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=26140.0 For me, the DM drive is the clear winner!

Seagate currently makes 2 different 4TB drives, DX and DM. From what I have read online, DX drives run faster and hotter. Since I got my hands on a few of both, and wasn't sure which ones were better, it only makes sense to run some performance tests. Hope this may help someone else decide which drive to buy. No one kind of test can tell the whole story, so I ran several. The Contenders [u]Model RPM Cache Platters Firmware Notes [/u] ST4000DX000 7200 128MB? 5x800GB CC44 Older Model ST4000DM000 5900 64MB 4x1000GB CC43 Newer Model I bought mine from Costco, currently on sale through Sunday for $160: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=25675.0 Test System MB - ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 CPU - Intel G2020 Memory - 4GB 2x2GB PS - Corsair HX750 Case - NZXT H2 unRAID 5.0rc11 Pro, fresh install The drives I purchased were external, so I removed them from the cases. I used 3 of each type of drive. During each test, nothing else was running on the system. The NZXT H2 case hase 8 forward loading drive bays with 2 120mm fans in front of the drives and one 120mm fan in the rear. The case also has a fan speed controller, it was set on high. One type of drives were tested, pulled and replaced with the other so during the tests there were only 3 drives in the case, in the same bottom three slots. Ambient room temperature varied from 64-70F. No errors in syslog during any tests. My Tests 1. Preclare disks 2. hdparm -tT 3. diskspeed.sh (Thanks to WeeboTech) 4. Parity sync 5. Parity check 6. Copy 32.5GB file to share without Parity 7. Copy 32.5GB file to share with Parity 8. Parity sync w/fan controller on low Test Result #1 - Preclear Disks [u] HH:MM:SS (Pre, Zero, Post MB/s) Disk [/u] DX 37:06:00 125, 138, 55 38.5C DM 38:42:30 114, 130, 54 32.5C Notes: Results are average of 2 drives. 1 DX and 1 DM drive were precleared in different systems so those results are not included. Preclear was performed in a different machine within an Antec 302 case. Drives were precleared two at a time. Observations: DX drive 4.34% Faster, DM drive 18.46% Cooler DX == ST4000DX000-1CL160 Z1Z059MP == Last Cycle's Pre Read Time : 8:48:46 (126 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Zeroing time : 7:58:44 (139 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Post Read Time : 20:02:03 (55 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Total Time : 36:50:35 == Total Elapsed Time 36:50:35 == Disk Start Temperature: 24C == Current Disk Temperature: 38C, == ST4000DX000-1CL160 Z1Z05MF9 == Last Cycle's Pre Read Time : 8:56:56 (124 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Zeroing time : 8:06:55 (136 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Post Read Time : 20:17:59 (54 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Total Time : 37:22:50 == Total Elapsed Time 37:22:50 == Disk Start Temperature: 25C == Current Disk Temperature: 39C, DM == ST4000DM000-1CD168 Z3000XC0 == Last Cycle's Pre Read Time : 9:30:35 (116 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Zeroing time : 8:21:26 (132 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Post Read Time : 20:10:08 (55 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Total Time : 38:03:10 == Total Elapsed Time 38:03:10 == Disk Start Temperature: 23C == Current Disk Temperature: 30C, == ST4000DM000-1CD168 Z3000XBJ == Last Cycle's Pre Read Time : 9:52:33 (112 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Zeroing time : 8:38:03 (128 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Post Read Time : 20:50:44 (53 MB/s) == Last Cycle's Total Time : 39:22:22 == Total Elapsed Time 39:22:22 == Disk Start Temperature: 24C == Current Disk Temperature: 35C, Test Result #2 - hdparm -tT [u] MB/s[/u] DX 176.71 DM 140.34 Notes: Read test with average of 3 tests per drive. Observations: DX drive is 25.9% Faster. DX Timing buffered disk reads: 528 MB in 3.01 seconds = 175.46 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 528 MB in 3.01 seconds = 175.46 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 528 MB in 3.01 seconds = 175.46 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 532 MB in 3.00 seconds = 177.29 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 536 MB in 3.01 seconds = 178.12 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 536 MB in 3.01 seconds = 178.13 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 532 MB in 3.01 seconds = 176.70 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 532 MB in 3.01 seconds = 176.71 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 532 MB in 3.01 seconds = 176.71 MB/sec DM Timing buffered disk reads: 422 MB in 3.01 seconds = 140.12 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 422 MB in 3.01 seconds = 140.18 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 422 MB in 3.01 seconds = 140.24 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 418 MB in 3.01 seconds = 139.03 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 426 MB in 3.01 seconds = 141.65 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 426 MB in 3.01 seconds = 141.45 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 422 MB in 3.01 seconds = 140.34 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 422 MB in 3.01 seconds = 140.15 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 422 MB in 3.02 seconds = 139.94 MB/sec Test Result #3 - diskspeed.sh [u] MB/s[/u] DX ~106 DM ~118 Notes: Write test using dd to get through cache to see sustained writes. Observations: DM drive is 11.3% faster. Interesting, I didn't expect that at all. DX writing 10240000000 bytes to: /mnt/disk1/testfile 737268736 bytes (737 MB) copied, 5.13705 s, 144 MB/s 1253184512 bytes (1.3 GB) copied, 10.057 s, 125 MB/s 1777341440 bytes (1.8 GB) copied, 15.457 s, 115 MB/s 2283529216 bytes (2.3 GB) copied, 20.107 s, 114 MB/s 2791892992 bytes (2.8 GB) copied, 25.1315 s, 111 MB/s 3286574080 bytes (3.3 GB) copied, 30.1969 s, 109 MB/s 3818030080 bytes (3.8 GB) copied, 35.1811 s, 109 MB/s 4379247616 bytes (4.4 GB) copied, 40.2055 s, 109 MB/s 4965186560 bytes (5.0 GB) copied, 45.2346 s, 110 MB/s 5491135488 bytes (5.5 GB) copied, 50.2562 s, 109 MB/s 5989725184 bytes (6.0 GB) copied, 55.2767 s, 108 MB/s 6489576448 bytes (6.5 GB) copied, 60.4267 s, 107 MB/s 6993245184 bytes (7.0 GB) copied, 65.5766 s, 107 MB/s 7514140672 bytes (7.5 GB) copied, 70.3458 s, 107 MB/s 8039453696 bytes (8.0 GB) copied, 75.3777 s, 107 MB/s 8576930816 bytes (8.6 GB) copied, 80.5708 s, 106 MB/s 9074910208 bytes (9.1 GB) copied, 85.6765 s, 106 MB/s 9659454464 bytes (9.7 GB) copied, 90.6107 s, 107 MB/s 10192655360 bytes (10 GB) copied, 95.5964 s, 107 MB/s 10240000000 bytes (10 GB) copied, 96.4381 s, 106 MB/s writing 10240000000 bytes to: /mnt/disk2/testfile 614011904 bytes (614 MB) copied, 5.02322 s, 122 MB/s 1183740928 bytes (1.2 GB) copied, 10.3969 s, 114 MB/s 1700180992 bytes (1.7 GB) copied, 15.1411 s, 112 MB/s 2184924160 bytes (2.2 GB) copied, 20.0908 s, 109 MB/s 2720957440 bytes (2.7 GB) copied, 25.12 s, 108 MB/s 3228410880 bytes (3.2 GB) copied, 30.2368 s, 107 MB/s 3706005504 bytes (3.7 GB) copied, 35.1624 s, 105 MB/s 4257543168 bytes (4.3 GB) copied, 40.251 s, 106 MB/s 4755410944 bytes (4.8 GB) copied, 45.1965 s, 105 MB/s 5339218944 bytes (5.3 GB) copied, 50.5909 s, 106 MB/s 5847692288 bytes (5.8 GB) copied, 55.4366 s, 105 MB/s 6366725120 bytes (6.4 GB) copied, 60.5966 s, 105 MB/s 6858445824 bytes (6.9 GB) copied, 65.4365 s, 105 MB/s 7328440320 bytes (7.3 GB) copied, 70.3162 s, 104 MB/s 7849657344 bytes (7.8 GB) copied, 75.3465 s, 104 MB/s 8361890816 bytes (8.4 GB) copied, 80.3764 s, 104 MB/s 8869721088 bytes (8.9 GB) copied, 85.3953 s, 104 MB/s 9399530496 bytes (9.4 GB) copied, 90.7864 s, 104 MB/s 9865861120 bytes (9.9 GB) copied, 95.4505 s, 103 MB/s 10240000000 bytes (10 GB) copied, 99.0803 s, 103 MB/s writing 10240000000 bytes to: /mnt/disk3/testfile 703415296 bytes (703 MB) copied, 5.37205 s, 131 MB/s 1208062976 bytes (1.2 GB) copied, 10.132 s, 119 MB/s 1740076032 bytes (1.7 GB) copied, 15.452 s, 113 MB/s 2266833920 bytes (2.3 GB) copied, 20.4619 s, 111 MB/s 2764949504 bytes (2.8 GB) copied, 25.1054 s, 110 MB/s 3304358912 bytes (3.3 GB) copied, 30.1319 s, 110 MB/s 3843116032 bytes (3.8 GB) copied, 35.1514 s, 109 MB/s 4463653888 bytes (4.5 GB) copied, 40.3718 s, 111 MB/s 4955834368 bytes (5.0 GB) copied, 45.1918 s, 110 MB/s 5467341824 bytes (5.5 GB) copied, 50.4117 s, 108 MB/s 5989203968 bytes (6.0 GB) copied, 55.233 s, 108 MB/s 6491413504 bytes (6.5 GB) copied, 60.2618 s, 108 MB/s 7053833216 bytes (7.1 GB) copied, 65.2855 s, 108 MB/s 7554097152 bytes (7.6 GB) copied, 70.3128 s, 107 MB/s 8182678528 bytes (8.2 GB) copied, 75.331 s, 109 MB/s 8639271936 bytes (8.6 GB) copied, 80.3514 s, 108 MB/s 9140839424 bytes (9.1 GB) copied, 85.3807 s, 107 MB/s 9694949376 bytes (9.7 GB) copied, 90.4016 s, 107 MB/s 10232783872 bytes (10 GB) copied, 95.7814 s, 107 MB/s 10240000000 bytes (10 GB) copied, 95.8226 s, 107 MB/s DM writing 10240000000 bytes to: /mnt/disk1/testfile 677327872 bytes (677 MB) copied, 5.02594 s, 135 MB/s 1201383424 bytes (1.2 GB) copied, 10.0401 s, 120 MB/s 1796383744 bytes (1.8 GB) copied, 15.0659 s, 119 MB/s 2365969408 bytes (2.4 GB) copied, 20.1458 s, 117 MB/s 3029384192 bytes (3.0 GB) copied, 25.1148 s, 121 MB/s 3596010496 bytes (3.6 GB) copied, 30.142 s, 119 MB/s 4254061568 bytes (4.3 GB) copied, 35.1613 s, 121 MB/s 4813768704 bytes (4.8 GB) copied, 40.1912 s, 120 MB/s 5389747200 bytes (5.4 GB) copied, 45.2819 s, 119 MB/s 6013658112 bytes (6.0 GB) copied, 50.3856 s, 119 MB/s 6620865536 bytes (6.6 GB) copied, 55.3756 s, 120 MB/s 7179343872 bytes (7.2 GB) copied, 60.2748 s, 119 MB/s 7787981824 bytes (7.8 GB) copied, 65.3051 s, 119 MB/s 8376259584 bytes (8.4 GB) copied, 70.6117 s, 119 MB/s 8960038912 bytes (9.0 GB) copied, 75.3472 s, 119 MB/s 9590207488 bytes (9.6 GB) copied, 80.5054 s, 119 MB/s 10195432448 bytes (10 GB) copied, 85.5154 s, 119 MB/s 10240000000 bytes (10 GB) copied, 85.7847 s, 119 MB/s writing 10240000000 bytes to: /mnt/disk2/testfile 663016448 bytes (663 MB) copied, 5.0189 s, 132 MB/s 1206801408 bytes (1.2 GB) copied, 10.0457 s, 120 MB/s 1826780160 bytes (1.8 GB) copied, 15.0649 s, 121 MB/s 2446820352 bytes (2.4 GB) copied, 20.4252 s, 120 MB/s 2985231360 bytes (3.0 GB) copied, 25.409 s, 117 MB/s 3534519296 bytes (3.5 GB) copied, 30.1275 s, 117 MB/s 4094258176 bytes (4.1 GB) copied, 35.1506 s, 116 MB/s 4654068736 bytes (4.7 GB) copied, 40.1709 s, 116 MB/s 5245486080 bytes (5.2 GB) copied, 45.4288 s, 115 MB/s 5854938112 bytes (5.9 GB) copied, 50.305 s, 116 MB/s 6416282624 bytes (6.4 GB) copied, 55.2654 s, 116 MB/s 7078892544 bytes (7.1 GB) copied, 60.5187 s, 117 MB/s 7605841920 bytes (7.6 GB) copied, 65.2756 s, 117 MB/s 8156664832 bytes (8.2 GB) copied, 70.335 s, 116 MB/s 8740172800 bytes (8.7 GB) copied, 75.4386 s, 116 MB/s 9366520832 bytes (9.4 GB) copied, 80.4386 s, 116 MB/s 9902314496 bytes (9.9 GB) copied, 85.3775 s, 116 MB/s 10240000000 bytes (10 GB) copied, 88.2823 s, 116 MB/s writing 10240000000 bytes to: /mnt/disk3/testfile 615412736 bytes (615 MB) copied, 5.02409 s, 122 MB/s 1207647232 bytes (1.2 GB) copied, 10.0529 s, 120 MB/s 1834034176 bytes (1.8 GB) copied, 15.0795 s, 122 MB/s 2446029824 bytes (2.4 GB) copied, 20.1075 s, 122 MB/s 3013985280 bytes (3.0 GB) copied, 25.2239 s, 119 MB/s 3601724416 bytes (3.6 GB) copied, 30.2389 s, 119 MB/s 4168383488 bytes (4.2 GB) copied, 35.1691 s, 119 MB/s 4743455744 bytes (4.7 GB) copied, 40.1909 s, 118 MB/s 5365126144 bytes (5.4 GB) copied, 45.4138 s, 118 MB/s 5988591616 bytes (6.0 GB) copied, 50.2329 s, 119 MB/s 6589264896 bytes (6.6 GB) copied, 55.2499 s, 119 MB/s 7191553024 bytes (7.2 GB) copied, 60.2695 s, 119 MB/s 7780857856 bytes (7.8 GB) copied, 65.2901 s, 119 MB/s 8347628544 bytes (8.3 GB) copied, 70.3095 s, 119 MB/s 8936391680 bytes (8.9 GB) copied, 75.4936 s, 118 MB/s 9563902976 bytes (9.6 GB) copied, 80.3536 s, 119 MB/s 10171790336 bytes (10 GB) copied, 85.439 s, 119 MB/s 10240000000 bytes (10 GB) copied, 86.0234 s, 119 MB/s Test Result #4 - Parity Sync [u] HH:MM:SS MB/s Parity Disk1 Disk2[/u] DX 08:02:00 138.3 44C 38C 38C DM 08:38:00 128.7 33C 30C 31C Notes: MB/s is average and drive temps are when finished. Observations: DX drive is 7.5% faster. Huge difference in Temp here, DX data drives 24.6% warmer and the parity drive a whopping 33.3% hotter! Test Result #5 - Parity Check [u] HH:MM:SS MB/s Parity Disk1 Disk2[/u] DX 07:59:00 139.2 44C 39C 39C DM 08:40:00 128.2 34C 30C 31C Notes: MB/s is average and drive temps are when finished. Observations: Just about the same as Parity sync above. DX drive is 8.6% faster. DX data drives 27.9% warmer and the DX parity drive 29.4% hotter! Test Result #6 - Copy 32.5GB file to share without Parity [u] HH:MM:SS MB/s Disk1[/u] DX 00:05:01 110.5 41C DM 00:05:02 110.3 34C Notes: All tests were run 3 times from a Win7 machine copying a bluray file to a share on disk1 in the array and results are averaged. Temp is from the end of the third file copy. Observations: Speeds are essentially the same with the DX drive running 20.6% warmer. Test Result #7 - Copy 32.5GB file to share with Parity [u] HH:MM:SS MB/s Parity Disk1[/u] DX 00:11:36 47.8 43C 39C DM 00:13:34 40.9 43C 31C Notes: All tests were run 2 times from a Win7 machine copying a bluray file to a share on disk1 in the array and results are averaged. Temp is from the end of the second file copy. Observations: DX drive is 16.8% faster. DX data drive 25.8% warmer and DX parity drive 26.5% warmer. Test Result #8 - Parity sync w/fan controller on low [u] Parity Disk1 Disk2[/u] DX 53C 46C 46C DM 38C 35C 36C Notes: When I was done with the other tests, I decided to add this one. I intend to run my fan controller on low and wanted to see the difference between the drives in this configuration since it's more real world for me. I didn't let it finish, I just wanted to get to steady-state temps so watched until the temp didn't change for 5 minutes. For the DM drives this was about 30 minutes and for the DX drives it was about 45 minutes. Observations: HOLY HEATER BATMAN!!! 53C is HOT! DX parity drive is 39.5% Hotter! DX data drives are 29.6% Hotter! Summary Disk Reads: DX drives are faster Disk Writes: DM and DX drives are about the same. Temperature: DM drives are MUCH cooler, by as much as 39%!!! Parity Sync/Check: DX drives are faster by 7.5%, I assume reads must weigh heavier than writes in terms of duration. Copying Files to the array: No difference (assuming you use a cache disk) Conclusion Which drive is better? It depends, you decide. I want to reduce the noise of my systems, so heat is my enemy. The NZXT H2 case is a new build and I want to make it as quiet as possible. For me it's clearly the DM drives that I want in my system. Parity times are in the ballpark, writes to cache are the same and it runs up to 39% cooler? No brainer!

There are DX's with Win8 compatibility on the box too, but it's a sticker. The one of the left is a DM, the one on the right with the sticker is a DX. The printing is the same.

It's amazing how that upgrade bug bites you and just kind of spins you out of control... At least it does me. I was just going to add a couple hard drives to my array, honest. That's all. Now I am taking that to another extreme. So, I decided after several happy years on 4.4.2 to upgrade to 5.x. I also decided that my Norco 4020 was too loud with stock fans. Recently moved and it's now somewhere that I can hear it. That led me to build this new smaller and quieter array based on a NZXT H2 w/8 drives. Then I started thinking what to do with the Norco? Hence, this post. Components: CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1220 Sandy Bridge $199 Motherboard: Supermicro X9SCM-IIF-O $193 RAM: 32GB - 4x Super Talent DDR3-1333 8GB ECC Micron $208 Controllers: 2x IBM M1015 ~$100 each from ebay. Flashed in IT mode and passed through to unRAID VM. Controllers: 1x IBM M1015 ~$100 each from ebay. Flashed in IR mode and used for Raid 1 of datastore drives. Flashed in IT mode and passed through to OI/ZFS/Napp-it. Cables: 6x .75m Forward Breakout Cable $60 Case: Norco 4020 (older one from 2009) Power Supply: CORSAIR HX750 $140 Datastore Drives - 2x Seagate Barracuda LP ST32000542AS in Raid 1 1x 1TB Hitachi, ZFS (4x 1TB WD Green in raidz) Flash: 4GB Cruzer Micro for unRAID and 8GB Mushkin Mulholand for ESXi Fans: 3x Noctua NF-P12-1300 2x ENERMAX UC-8EB 80mm Case Fan Parity Drive: 1x 1 TB WD10EADS Green 2TB Seagate ST2000DL001 Data Drives: 5x 1 TB WD10EADS Green, 2x 2TB Seagate Barracuda LP ST32000542AS, 1x 2TB Hitachi, 2x 500GB Samsung HD501LJ Cache Drive: 1x 500GB Samsung HD501LJ Total Drive Capacity: 20 drives Hypervisor: ESXi 5.1 Guest OS: unRAID 5.0-rc11 Pro, Windows 7, Open Indiana/ZFS/napp-it Likes: IPMI is the BOMB! Love it. Won't ever go back. Headless rocks. No booting from a USB or CD to install software in a VM, just virtually mount the ISO from ESXi and you're good to go. PRICELESS! Dislikes: Would like it if the Noctua fans cooled the drives better (running into the 40's during parity sync/check). HX-750 PS fan isn't spinning, I think this is because it's not hot and automatically controlled; but I would like to be able to kick it on to see if it would help cool drives. Add Ons Used: preclear, MySql, unMENU, apcupsd, bwm-ng, socat, unraid_notify, cache_dirs, rsync Future Plans: Add more Guests (OEL, WHS, Windows 2003 Server). Add 120mm fans with higher static pressure. Will reflash 3rd M1015 and pass through to unraid if I need more than 16 drives. Will upgrade drives to Seagate 4TB DM at some point after I am comfortable with running unRAID in a VM. Primary Use: Data storage, Media streaming (TVs, PCs and Projector), Minecraft server, Terraria server, Backup PCs, Crashplan, Personal Lab Use, Oracle Database Server, MS Sql Server, MySQL Here's a before picture: Here's an after picture: Edit 1 System is built and up and running. ESXi installed with unRAID and Windows 7 guests. So far, it all looks good. IPMI is the BOMB! So cool running headless. I'll never go back for a server build ever again. It works great, I love it. I built my own fan bracket out of wood, painted black and moved it further away from the backplane to give me more space. I attached the bracket with self-adhesive industrial strength velcro. My temps are higher than I would like to see, high 30's and low 40's during parity sync/check. So, looks like the Noctua fans are no good for me with my older style 4020 case that has the SATA backplanes vertical instead of the newer cases where it's horizontal for improved air flow. I need more static pressure. Since I took the picture I did add foam/tape in the fan wall and any other place that air can get in the case to help pull from front to back. I'll probably order some 120mmx38mm higher speed fans and add a fan controller of some kind. It sure is QUIET compared to the old 80mm delta's though! So far in my unRAID guest I have moved around about 2TB of data, swapped out a couple of disks and am currently rebuilding parity and running a preclear. Before moving unRAID to ESXi I already backed up all of my data to another array, but I haven't lost anything yet at this point, which is all good. Edit 2 So I swapped out my 120mm fans for these: 3x Panaflo 120x38mm Ultra High Speed 1x NZXT Sentry Mesh Fan Controller w/ Five 30 watts Channels Wow, these fans are amazing. They move TONS of air and the static pressure is great. However, they are loud. I knew they were going to be loud, but even when using the fan controller to slow them down they have an irritating whine that drove me nuts. So, I pulled them back out and put the Noctua fans back in. My drives will run a little warmer during parity checks but I think I can live with that, still well within spec. Performance using the M1015 flashed in IR mode with two mirrored drives for my datastore was really bad so I flashed it to IT mode and passed it through to OpenIndiana so I could play with ZFS. I pulled my 6x 1TB WD Green drives out of unRAID to use for ZFS. I now have OI/ZFS/napp-it running on 4x 1TB WD Green drives in raidz and 2 spare drives on the shelf. Pretty cool stuff. Did a bunch of performance tests. I am getting ~150 MB/s writes and ~250 MB/s reads. Good for a datastore. However, when I created a virtual IDE disk on ZFS for my unraid guest I only get ~15 MB/s. That's HORRIBLE! I can get ~35 MB/s if I don't have a cache drive at all and take the parity hit or 80 MB/s with my older Samsung 500GB (limit of drive). I liked the idea of being able to have a parity protected cache drive, but not at 15 MB/s so back to a single disk. I REALLY like the Seagate 4TB DM drives A LOT. I have used them in another build, and just put two into this box and they are preclearing now.

F5 wasn't working for me, I either needed to reboot or write a file to the directory.

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FYI - I found a workaround to refresh without rebooting on another post. On the impacted client save a notepad file into the impacted folder and it will refresh. At least this worked for me and I didn't need to reboot.

F5 refresh does not fix the issue for me. A reboot does. I also found a workaround on another post... on the impacted Windows client, if you create a file (like with notepad) and save to the folder having an issue, this forces the refresh and no need to reboot.

Yea, that's what I was going to do before returning any of the drives too. I am planning on keeping the DM drives, bought 2 more today. I was just going to replace several of the drives in my existing array built around a Norco 2020... but decided yesterday, what's the fun in that? I'm gonna build a second array instead. So I picked up a NZXT H2 case from Fry's today, which will be perfect for my new build, which I want to be quiet. My Norco 2020 is LOUD. I really don't need 20 drives so looking at having 8 in my new rig. Ordered the rest of my parts, should have them before this weekend. Maybe now I'll test DX vs DM drives. In my old system, I would have been limited in speed by older drives and controllers, hopefully not so in my new rig. I am pre-clearing my DM drives now, maybe I'll do that to some of the DX drives too and give them a whirl. Hmmmm......

This happens to me too. It just happened again and I was rebooting the Windows PC to fix it, but tried writing a dummy text file and that did the trick. Much better than rebooting but would like to see this fixed.

I have seen this problem happen a couple of times too on different Windows 7 machines. Both times, files were moved around on the shares and the Windows 7 machines wouldn't refresh without rebooting the PC. I am running 5.0-rc11.

Yes, the promo is still going on. I was at Costco in Roseville, CA last night and picked up another drive. Turned out to be a DM! Yay NA5JVN## I went back and bought several more today. So, right now I have 9 DX drives and 6 DM drives. My observations: I see the same performance, as noted by ufopinball above. DX drives are about 25% faster. DM drives are running about 6C cooler for me, or about 20%. YMMV On all my DX packages, there is a "Compatible with" sticker on the side of the box (must look closely to see it's a sticker). On all my DM drives there is no sticker and the same exact text/images are printed directly on the box. (Win 8, MAC compatible, etc.) According to the Seagate website, Warranty for internal drive (if Seagate honors it) is DX=12/15 or 1/16, DM=4/15. There's always Costco's return policy if Seagate won't provide warranty service. Firmware - All my DM's are running CC43, all my DX's have CC44 (except one has CC43). According to the Seagate website, no newer firmware is available. I didn't see any download to upgrade from CC43 to CC44 for either DM or DX drives. I'm happy to have found some DM drives. To me, I'll give up 25% in performance for 20% cooler drives. To each is own.

Well, the first preclear read finished in about 24 hours and then went to start writing, and I got the following errors and it was writing REALLY slow after this: Feb 17 17:22:22 voyager udevd[706]: worker [4212] unexpectedly returned with status 0x0100 Feb 17 17:22:22 voyager udevd[706]: worker [4212] failed while handling '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:05:01.0/0000:06:00.0/ata11/host9/target9:0:0/9:0:0:0/block/sdi' (Minor Issues) Feb 17 17:24:16 voyager udevd[706]: worker [4162] unexpectedly returned with status 0x0100 Feb 17 17:24:16 voyager udevd[706]: worker [4162] failed while handling '/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1e.0/0000:05:01.0/0000:06:00.0/ata12/host10/target10:0:0/10:0:0:0/block/sdj' (Minor Issues) So I killed them both. I'll either try just running one at a time, or the settings Joe recommended. Thanks

I am currently preclearing 2 disks and copying a bunch of data off the array, so lots of reads. Here's what it looks like right now. Any ideas? root@voyager:~# free -lm total used free shared buffers cached Mem: 4016 3980 35 0 280 3038 Low: 846 837 8 High: 3169 3142 26 -/+ buffers/cache: 661 3354 Swap: 0 0 0 root@voyager:~# egrep 'High|Low' /proc/meminfo HighTotal: 3245640 kB HighFree: 30140 kB LowTotal: 867096 kB LowFree: 8140 kB root@voyager:~# vmstat 5 5 procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- -system-- ----cpu---- r b swpd free buff cache si so bi bo in cs us sy id wa 0 3 0 15868 288316 3130748 0 0 2446 57 1830 1963 3 22 6 69 0 2 0 15816 288260 3131980 0 0 121589 0 3637 5274 6 18 10 67 0 2 0 29396 287388 3119536 0 0 120675 0 3428 4598 4 18 5 72 0 5 0 28104 272964 3130400 0 0 120279 5 3918 5853 7 20 5 68 0 2 0 16092 287492 3132020 0 0 121817 5 4057 6344 4 21 9 66 root@voyager:~# top top - 00:45:16 up 2:24, 3 users, load average: 3.46, 3.54, 3.49 Tasks: 116 total, 1 running, 115 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie Cpu(s): 7.8%us, 15.7%sy, 0.0%ni, 8.6%id, 60.8%wa, 0.0%hi, 7.1%si, 0.0%st Mem: 4112736k total, 4096040k used, 16696k free, 285880k buffers Swap: 0k total, 0k used, 0k free, 3132708k cached PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND 3878 root 20 0 108m 48m 576 S 10 1.2 10:28.56 shfs 4024 mysql 20 0 122m 18m 5320 S 0 0.5 0:06.92 mysqld 4446 jimmyjoe 20 0 22612 9.8m 8272 S 19 0.2 14:24.30 smbd 9840 root 20 0 10348 8608 612 D 9 0.2 0:02.06 dd 10022 root 20 0 10348 8608 612 D 9 0.2 0:01.55 dd 4047 root 20 0 15712 3708 2980 S 0 0.1 0:00.09 smbd 17397 root 20 0 4680 3436 936 S 0 0.1 0:00.24 awk 4045 root 20 0 9192 1924 1376 S 0 0.0 0:00.10 nmbd 4506 root 20 0 6844 1920 1484 S 0 0.0 0:00.02 in.telnetd 6202 root 20 0 4596 1908 1168 S 0 0.0 0:01.32 preclear_disk.s 7559 root 20 0 4596 1908 1168 S 0 0.0 0:01.62 preclear_disk.s 4507 root 20 0 4304 1740 1320 S 0 0.0 0:00.03 bash 4152 root 20 0 4320 1732 1296 S 0 0.0 0:00.02 bash 4153 root 20 0 4320 1732 1296 S 0 0.0 0:00.01 bash 4051 root 20 0 15712 1596 868 S 0 0.0 0:00.01 smbd 1301 root 20 0 4492 1540 1216 S 0 0.0 0:00.43 ntpd 1662 root 20 0 11836 1496 1180 S 0 0.0 0:01.22 emhttp 1969 root 20 0 2808 1440 1100 S 0 0.0 0:02.11 unraid_notify 3912 root 20 0 2668 1268 1068 S 0 0.0 0:00.01 mysqld_safe 3867 root 20 0 28724 1256 556 S 0 0.0 0:02.38 shfs 9450 root 20 0 2464 1076 824 R 0 0.0 0:00.08 top 706 root 16 -4 2472 1072 528 S 0 0.0 0:00.20 udevd 9839 root 20 0 4596 1064 320 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 preclear_disk.s 10021 root 20 0 4596 1064 320 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 preclear_disk.s 4162 root 18 -2 2468 1052 496 S 0 0.0 0:01.09 udevd 9832 root 20 0 4596 1040 296 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 preclear_disk.s 10015 root 20 0 4596 1040 296 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 preclear_disk.s 4145 root 20 0 2920 1032 580 S 0 0.0 0:02.14 cache_dirs 4212 root 18 -2 2468 1032 484 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 udevd 9842 root 20 0 2588 912 704 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 awk 10024 root 20 0 2588 912 704 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 awk 1284 root 20 0 2108 788 660 S 0 0.0 0:00.01 rpc.statd 2291 root 20 0 10276 648 512 S 0 0.0 0:02.24 apcupsd 1308 root 20 0 1864 632 536 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 acpid 9841 root 20 0 2244 624 464 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 sed 10023 root 20 0 2244 624 464 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 sed 1171 root 20 0 1908 604 524 S 0 0.0 0:00.04 syslogd 1323 root 20 0 1908 584 504 S 0 0.0 0:00.01 crond 4062 root 20 0 2644 540 368 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 uu 1294 root 20 0 1900 536 468 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 inetd 4155 root 20 0 1856 536 472 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 agetty 4157 root 20 0 1856 536 472 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 agetty 4154 root 20 0 1856 532 472 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 agetty 4156 root 20 0 1856 528 472 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 agetty 4063 root 20 0 1840 520 456 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 logger 1280 bin 20 0 1960 476 400 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 rpc.portmap 1175 root 20 0 1856 384 320 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 klogd 1318 messageb 20 0 2476 364 212 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 dbus-daemon 1 root 20 0 828 308 264 S 0 0.0 0:05.64 init 1325 daemon 20 0 1900 288 220 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 atd 10140 root 20 0 1852 244 204 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 sleep 10049 root 20 0 1852 240 204 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 sleep 2 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.00 kthreadd 3 root 20 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:01.56 ksoftirqd/0 6 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0 0.0 0:00.07 migration/0

I only have 4GB of memory installed. How can I tell what is using all the lower memory?

Cool, thanks! Not sure how I missed that, I did search before I posted. Must just be tired.

I am running unMENU 1.5 on unRAID 5.0-rc11. Thanks for the GREAT tool! I recently upgraded my cache drive to a 4TB Seagate drive and every time I go to MyMain and then Inventory I see the following warning in my syslog: Feb 16 22:43:50 voyager unmenu[4063]: WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sdm'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted. (Minor Issues) /dev/sdm is my 4TB cache drive. Should I be concerned about this warning or can this be ignored? Thanks!

Last week I upgraded from 4.4.2 to 4.7 to 5.0rc11 and all has been fine until yesterday. I also recently installed the MySQL plugin to sync my XBMC library, which works great. I have 11 disks (9 data, 1 parity and 1 cache). Been moving a good amount data around and I am going to be upgrading several drives so I wanted to backup my data first, before I start upgrading drives and moving some disks between different controllers. I have twice in the last 24 hours had my system crash (kernel errors in log, won't respond to telnet and won't respond to powerdown command on console). The last time was this morning, here's what I did: 1. Normal Powerdown. 2. Connect USB drive and add new disk to server. 3. Start system. 4. Mount external USB drive with ntfs. 5. Start rsync to copy data to external USB drive. 6. Start preclear on new disk. 7. System crashed almost immediately. 8. Powerdown did nothing. Interestingly, if I went to /usr/sbin and ran "sh powerdown" and then it ran through some of the process, but did not turn off. 9. "shutdown -now" and once got to single user mode I power cycled the system. Syslog attached. I was gone most of the day, so I been running memtest for the last 11 hours and looks fine. Any ideas on why my system is crashing? I still want to backup my data, so I guess I am going connect a disk, but not add to the array, and format so that I can backup data directly to the drive without using ntfs. Next resort would be to backup over the network, but that would take a really long time. FYI - My server build is here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=3817.msg33483#msg33483 syslog.txt

Noticed this on another thread: "Went to costco to see if I can see a differece in packaging or case. Low and behold it was right there staring at me. The DX (7200rpm) drives have the case that says "Windows 7 Compatible" with additional sticker that says "Windows 8 Compatible" kinda stuck on top. The DM (5900rpm) drives just say "Windows 8 Compatible"... Hope this helps somebody " Link: http://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=57509122&postcount=45 Can you check the boxes you have between the DX and DM drives and see if the Windows compatibility sticker is any different, or one printed and one stuck on the box? Thanks!

I got MySQL all setup on my unRAID and working great syncing my library for 2 windows xbmc clients and 1 openelec running on an Intel NUC. Life was good. I bought a second NUC and I have been pulling my hair out all day long. I am using the same advancedsettings.xml and sources.xml files across all 4 clients. On one of the NUCs I have never seen an issue connecting to MySQL. On the one I just got today, it has connected to MySQL maybe 2-3 times out of 50 reboots and 10 reinstalls. I am using version OpenELEC-Intel.x86_64-2.99.2. This is what I see in the log: <SNIP> 01:01:44 T:139762704336704 NOTICE: Running database version Addons15 01:01:44 T:139762704336704 DEBUG: Initialize, updating databases... 01:01:44 T:139762704336704 NOTICE: Running database version ViewModes4 01:01:44 T:139762704336704 NOTICE: Running database version Textures13 01:01:44 T:139762704336704 ERROR: Unable to open database: MyMusic32 [2003](Can't connect to MySQL server on '192.168.1.99' (101)) <SNIP> 01:01:44 T:139762704336704 ERROR: Unable to open database: MyVideos75 [2003](Can't connect to MySQL server on '192.168.1.99' (101)) <SNIP> I am using DHCP on both. When I get the above error, I don't see the Movies or TV options on the menu. I can go to files, select a source, browse and playback content just fine. The only difference between the two NUCs is one has a 32GB SSD and the other is 64GB. I would have ordered exactly the same, but that's what was in stock. The one that is having a problem has the 32GB card installed. Both are Crucial M4. Any ideas?

Picked up a couple NA5JS### drives yesterday looking for a DM drive, no go. I got two more DX drives. Oh well, guess I'll stick with DX drives. DX: Serial from box: NA5JS### Serial from drive: Z1Z06H## Warranty: 26-Dec-2015 Firmware CC44 DX: Serial from box: NA5JS### Serial from drive: Z1Z06G## Warranty: 09-Jan-2015 Firmware CC44

Just got back from Costco in Roseville, CA with a few more of these. Unfortunately for me, I got all DX drives and I would prefer DM. Don't care about the performance difference, but would like drives that run a little cooler. Cooler and less platters to me hopefully equates to longer lasting. I didn't want to crack the cases but did connect them so I could get the internal serial number and check that on the Seagate warranty site to see if they were from the same batch or not. I am assuming that if they are from the same batch, they would have the same warranty expiration date. I did buy two NA5JR### and that appears to confirm my assumption. Also, interesting to note the different firmware on the older drive. Info for anyone that's interested: DX: Serial from box: NA5JH### Serial from drive: Z1Z02S## Warranty: 16-Nov-2015 Firmware CC43 DX: Serial from box: NA5JR### Serial from drive: Z1Z059## Warranty: 26-Dec-2015 Firmware CC44 DX: Serial from box: NA5JR### Serial from drive: Z1Z05A## Warranty: 26-Dec-2015 Firmware CC44 DX: Serial from box: NA5JP### Serial from drive: Z1Z03W## Warranty: 09-Jan-2015 Firmware CC44 I guess I need to check some other Costco's to see if I can find any DM drives.

FYI - I got one of these from group NA5JR### and it is a DX model with 175 MB/sec

Just got back from Fry's in Woodland Hills, CA and they have the Seagate 2TB drives on sale for $174.99. These are retail boxed with cables, software and 5 year warranty. Price is good until Thursday 9/10. Most of my drives are WD 1TB Green but I am excited that I have preclear_disk running on my new Seagate drives and they are both currently at the same temp as my WD's sitting idle. That is cool! More info on this drive in this thread: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=4270.0