Hi all, I have the 4220, and I have 2 7k3000, for my parity and cache, and I have 4 5k3000 for my data drives. I like them, but I wanted to get a census as to what the community likes to use. I want to buy 20 Hard drives, and I need your help. I look forward to hearing your responses.

Hi all, I have the 4220, and I have 2 7k3000, for my parity and cache, and I have 4 5k3000 for my data drives. I like them, but I wanted to get a census as to what the community likes to use. I want to buy 20 Hard drives, and I need your help. I look forward to hearing your responses.

 

See here and here.

Thanks I saw those threads before and totally forgot about them. The reason I bought the Hitachi's was beacuse of Raj's recommendation. I suppose my next question is, should I buy in bulk and if so where do you recommend? I normally get all my stuff from NewEgg, and haven't had a problem, well maybe a few times but not with hard drives.

Newegg is fine, as is Amazon and other online vendors.  Just make sure wherever you buy the drives you have at least a 30 day return policy.  DOA drives aren't uncommon, and manufacturer warranties generally make you pay about $10 for a replacement drive (which is often a refurb drive).  Newegg has by far the best return policy and customer service.  If buying 20 at a time you'll probably want to wait for a sale or promo.  Also, don't bother with the 20 packs you'll find at a few places - they are more expensive than buying 20 individual drives!

 

If you purchase all your drives from multiple different vendors you will minimize the chances of getting a bunch of drives from the same bad batch.  However, it is OK to buy a bunch of drives from a single vendor as long as you plan to preclear them.  I recommend two passes of preclear for each drive (and you can do up to 6 drives simultaneously, and even more if you are using Screen).

I would suggest buying what you think you need now, plus a few spares for failure and growth.

 

My personal strategy is..

If you need 6, then buy 8 or 9. then wait the sales. Buy the the drives at different time and even different vendors if you want.

 

This would help you from getting a batch of drives from a "bad run". however unlikely it sounds, it does happen.

 

Your not paying electricity for empty drives in your Server (At home, I don't add drives until I need the space, then expand the array)

 

This also extends your warranty in a way. you don't have drives sitting idol that you are not using and eating up warranty time.

 

Also, in the computer market, prices tend to drop until it is no longer available. Then it skyrockets. the 3TB drives are not going away this year. You might see 3TB drives at $90 in 3 months.

All great advice thank you all so much. I'm going to have to investigate what this "Screen" is since I'm a little new I'll look in the wiki. Thanks all again.

Here's instructions on how to install it:

 

Installing Screen

 

And here's how to use it:

 

Preclearing with Screen

You rock Raj!!!