WD Red 8TB Drives Now Available

[Abula]

In case someone is considering the Mybook route,

 

SOME WESTERN DIGITAL MY BOOK DRIVES SHIPPING WITH DISCRETE ENTERPRISE HDD INSIDE

[John_M]

Meanwhile Seagate has launched a 10 TB helium filled drive.

[JorgeB]

Expected retail price of 800$ 

 

In the past, SMR integration let Seagate keep up with HGST in capacity, but only by compromising on performance and longevity.

 

First time I see this, is this a known fact?

 

[John_M]

Expected retail price of 800$ 

 

In the past, SMR integration let Seagate keep up with HGST in capacity, but only by compromising on performance and longevity.

 

First time I see this, is this a known fact?

 

I take articles like that with a pinch of salt. The authors never provide citations to back up their assertions. I trust the headline because they'd have to be pretty dumb to get it wrong, though that is not entirely unknown. It's a pretty grudging article all told, but then it's currently fashionable to criticise Seagate, whatever it does.

 

[Abula]

WD MY BOOK 8TB – 5400RPM WD80EZZX WITH BENCHMARKS

[TUMS]

I have 2 8TB reds preclearing now....  Will get 2 more next month.  These are drives with full manufacturers warranty. I don't trust the pulled apart external drives with no warranty, that's like playing the slot machines in vegas, wether you win or not.

[garycase]

They are helium drives ...

 

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Storage/Western-Digital-Red-8TB-Full-Review-Consumer-Helium-Hard-Disk

 

That's great to know.    Basically they're the same as the HGST Enterprise 8TB helium drives except they spin at 75% of the speed and are significantly less expensive.    It's interesting that "helium" is not mentioned in the description of the drives 'nor on the spec sheet.

 

They're appreciably more than the 8TB Seagate SMR units, but it's nice to have a non-shingled alternative.  Hopefully the price will get closer to the Seagates as they start shipping in quantities.

 

[JimPhreak]

I have 2 8TB reds preclearing now....  Will get 2 more next month.  These are drives with full manufacturers warranty. I don't trust the pulled apart external drives with no warranty, that's like playing the slot machines in vegas, wether you win or not.

 

In small quantities I can understand fearing the warranty status of the external drives.  But for those looking to stock their large NAS' with these, the choice isn't as simple.  If you have $2,000 to spend on drives, you can buy 8 of the externals.  You can't even buy 6 of the "full warranty" drives for that.  So for anyone who needs 6 drives for example, you're getting 2 spare drives for less money then the person just buying 6 full warranty drives.

[TUMS]

I have 2 8TB reds preclearing now....  Will get 2 more next month.  These are drives with full manufacturers warranty. I don't trust the pulled apart external drives with no warranty, that's like playing the slot machines in vegas, wether you win or not.

 

In small quantities I can understand fearing the warranty status of the external drives.  But for those looking to stock their large NAS' with these, the choice isn't as simple.  If you have $2,000 to spend on drives, you can buy 8 of the externals.  You can't even buy 6 of the "full warranty" drives for that.  So for anyone who needs 6 drives for example, you're getting 2 spare drives for less money then the person just buying 6 full warranty drives.

 

Yes I understand the appeal of harvesting from external drives....Don't let me stop you... I was just stating what I would do.  Personally I don't think the risk is worth it.  I plan on buying quite a few of these drives over the next few months and paying full price for them.

[garycase]

... In small quantities I can understand fearing the warranty status of the external drives.  But for those looking to stock their large NAS' with these, the choice isn't as simple.  If you have $2,000 to spend on drives, you can buy 8 of the externals.  You can't even buy 6 of the "full warranty" drives for that.  So for anyone who needs 6 drives for example, you're getting 2 spare drives for less money then the person just buying 6 full warranty drives.

 

Understand ... and agree.  In fact, if you're very careful in harvesting the drives and store the cases (with a sticker noting the corresponding drive S/N) you could even pop a failed drive back in its case and still get warranty coverage.

 

HOWEVER ... there is another thing to consider => In some cases the external drives are slightly smaller than their internal cousins.    Not sure whether this is due to an HPA or some other formatting issue -- and it likely can be resolved with a bit of sleuthing (but I haven't tried this, since I don't have any harvested drives) -- but if you MIX harvested and internal drives you may have to be sure you use the internal units for your parity drives.    See this thread for a case where this was an issue (in this case the OP didn't actually harvest the drives ... but purchased drives that had clearly been harvested):  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=47892.0

 

In particular, note my post here:  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=47892.msg459267#msg459267

[danioj]

... In small quantities I can understand fearing the warranty status of the external drives.  But for those looking to stock their large NAS' with these, the choice isn't as simple.  If you have $2,000 to spend on drives, you can buy 8 of the externals.  You can't even buy 6 of the "full warranty" drives for that.  So for anyone who needs 6 drives for example, you're getting 2 spare drives for less money then the person just buying 6 full warranty drives.

 

Understand ... and agree.  In fact, if you're very careful in harvesting the drives and store the cases (with a sticker noting the corresponding drive S/N) you could even pop a failed drive back in its case and still get warranty coverage.

 

HOWEVER ... there is another thing to consider => In some cases the external drives are slightly smaller than their internal cousins.    Not sure whether this is due to an HPA or some other formatting issue -- and it likely can be resolved with a bit of sleuthing (but I haven't tried this, since I don't have any harvested drives) -- but if you MIX harvested and internal drives you may have to be sure you use the internal units for your parity drives.    See this thread for a case where this was an issue (in this case the OP didn't actually harvest the drives ... but purchased drives that had clearly been harvested):  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=47892.0

 

In particular, note my post here:  http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=47892.msg459267#msg459267

 

I'd also like to add that (while I don't practice "chucking" drives from external enclosures) you CAN / SHOULD hammer and test the living hell out of them BEFORE you remove the drives to somewhat mitigate the possibility of having the drive fail on you / have to "try" and deal with warranty issues.