I know Seagate handled their recent drive issues poorly, however I was wondering how everyone running them has been since the firmwire update?

 

I was just about to pull the trigger on 2 more of the 1.5TB drives, but I thought I would check with the group to see how everyone is holding up with drives on the newer firmware.    I would hope that NCIX is only selling drives with the firmware updated.

 

I figured its better to go with the devil I know ( Seagate 1.5TB drives ) than to go with the 2TB LP/Green drives , especially when the price is good ( $80CDN )

I bought 3 of the 7200.11 1.5TB drives in the past 3 months and they all came with the latest firmware.  The latest firmware fixed any prior problems.

 

There is someone on the forum who claims to be running at least 6 of the Seagate LP drives, you would have to search for it.  I believe that poster says the LP drives are very power sensitive.  I've almost bought them recently but still just too leery.

I'm not too concerned about energy conservation, considering the drives will be spun down 99% of the time ( only one would be running for a few hours a night ).

 

I think I will re-visit the 2TB drives when the 7200rpm models come down in price.  As it stands, getting a 2TB drive would result in me having to replace my 1.5TB parity drive with it.

I have nine of the these particular 1.5TB 7200RPM drives. I honestly like them. The firmware issue was a long time ago- only the first two I bought in Nov. 08 had the old/bad firmware.

 

In fact I like these much more than the Seagate 5400 RPM 1.5TB drives as those keep completely dying on me.

 

The worst thing about the 7200RPM drives in which you ask about is that they are hot. Very hot compare to say, a WD green drive. If they stay too hot too long then they start to die. So keep them cool. Trust me, I learned the hard way on that one (which brought me here).

 

Overall though, they are currently my favorite Seagate drive.

And very fast too!

The worst thing about the 7200RPM drives in which you ask about is that they are hot. Very hot compare to say, a WD green drive. If they stay too hot too long then they start to die. So keep them cool. Trust me, I learned the hard way on that one (which brought me here).

 

I wonder what "too hot, too long" is, in numerically.    My server is only accessed by one user ( me ), at the moment, so it really never gets heavy use.  The heaviest use would be when I am uploading new movies to it or running a parity check.  I haven't optimized the server's cooling right now, as I honestly haven't had to yet.  I have 6 drives in 4 drive cages, each cage having a fan on it ( Coolmaster ).  I haven't sealed up the side of the case vents ( to force air in the back/front and out the top ).

The worst thing about the 7200RPM drives in which you ask about is that they are hot. Very hot compare to say, a WD green drive. If they stay too hot too long then they start to die. So keep them cool. Trust me, I learned the hard way on that one (which brought me here).

 

I wonder what "too hot, too long" is, in numerically.    My server is only accessed by one user ( me ), at the moment, so it really never gets heavy use.   The heaviest use would be when I am uploading new movies to it or running a parity check.   I haven't optimized the server's cooling right now, as I honestly haven't had to yet.  I have 6 drives in 4 drive cages, each cage having a fan on it ( Coolmaster ).   I haven't sealed up the side of the case vents ( to force air in the back/front and out the top ).

 

If you have fans blowing air over the drives from the front, chances are they are fine.

 

In my case, the air flow works by negative air pressure pulling air from the front via back and top 120MM exhaust fans.

So if I take the side off the case for too long the drives can get too hot. I have not had any failures, I have some smart warnings, but that was many moons ago.

I'd keep the drives below 40C if at all possible, regardless of manufacturer.

 

Joe L.

I had 5 of the Seagate 7200.11 1.5TB drives running with unRAID 4.5.3. I was having some problems that Lime Technology said were the drives failing but I'm not convinced it was as I had swapped a bunch of them through Seagate. I wound up swapping all of them with WD20EARS drives and the problem seems to have gone away but it could have been timing issues with the unRAID version.

 

That said the 7200.11 drives definitely runs a bit warmer than the WD20EARS I have in there now. The Seagate 7200.11 drives that I pulled out work just fine in other systems. YMMV.

***Knock on Wood***

 

The only hard drive I have ever experienced a failure on was an older Hitachi "Deathstar", however that doesn't mean I will never buy Hitachi again.  Every manufacturer seems to have its lemons.

 

I did end up ordering 2 more of the Seagate 1.5TB drives at $79.99CND (free shipping and no Provincial Tax) , with the understanding I will make sure the temperature of the drives doesn't get too hot.  My Coolmaster case and 4-to-3 cages do help as each cage has a fan that draws cool air from the outside across the hard-drives and then I've added two extra fans to the top of the case to help draw the heat out.

 

I've pretty much decided that I prefer the 7200RPM drives, so I am going to stick with them.  I only have one "Green" drive that I will eventually phase out.

 

For Canadians that like to buy from B.C., best off to buy what you need before the end of the most as both B.C. and Ontario have H.S.T. coming into play, thus even if you are in Ontario ordering form B.C., you now have to pay the full HST ( no longer are you PST exempt ).

 

Thanks

Be careful loading up on 7200 RPM drives. I did that only to find in review of 2TB 5900 RPM drives that the performance between the two is very minimal. Now I am having to build two Unraid servers- one with just my 7200 RPM drives- so that I can go the extra mile to cool them separately (which means my Antec case fans on high instead of the usual medium).

Be careful loading up on 7200 RPM drives. I did that only to find in review of 2TB 5900 RPM drives that the performance between the two is very minimal. Now I am having to build two Unraid servers- one with just my 7200 RPM drives- so that I can go the extra mile to cool them separately (which means my Antec case fans on high instead of the usual medium).

 

I did not find this to be the case. it all depends on how much speed, how many and how large your files are.

For many small files that you want as fast as possible, 7200RPM.

For large video files, the 5900/5400 drives are fine.

I did not find this to be the case. it all depends on how much speed, how many and how large your files are.

For many small files that you want as fast as possible, 7200RPM.

For large video files, the 5900/5400 drives are fine.

 

That is true. I would hate for one of my WD Greens to be my system drive, but I could live with one of my 7200 Seagates being one. In fact the only places I use the Hitachi 2TB 7200RPM drives is as the "data" drive for my main computer (with the OS running off a SSD), and as the parity drive in my newest Unraid system. Personally I would only use a 7200 RPM drive for a parity drive for that reason....

I did not find this to be the case. it all depends on how much speed, how many and how large your files are.

For many small files that you want as fast as possible, 7200RPM.

For large video files, the 5900/5400 drives are fine.

 

That is true. I would hate for one of my WD Greens to be my system drive, but I could live with one of my 7200 Seagates being one. In fact the only places I use the Hitachi 2TB 7200RPM drives is as the "data" drive for my main computer (with the OS running off a SSD), and as the parity drive in my newest Unraid system. Personally I would only use a 7200 RPM drive for a parity drive for that reason....

With all 5400RPM WD20EARS drives got the same parity performance or slightly better than having ALL Seagate 1.5TB 7200.11 drives.

 

I did not find this to be the case. it all depends on how much speed, how many and how large your files are.

For many small files that you want as fast as possible, 7200RPM.

For large video files, the 5900/5400 drives are fine.

 

That is true. I would hate for one of my WD Greens to be my system drive, but I could live with one of my 7200 Seagates being one. In fact the only places I use the Hitachi 2TB 7200RPM drives is as the "data" drive for my main computer (with the OS running off a SSD), and as the parity drive in my newest Unraid system. Personally I would only use a 7200 RPM drive for a parity drive for that reason....

With all 5400RPM WD20EARS drives got the same parity performance or slightly better than having ALL Seagate 1.5TB 7200.11 drives

Checking parity only involves reading the drives.

 

Calculating parity involves reading  and then writing.  The same when writing files to the server.

Both will be about a third slower if ANY 5400 RPM drive is involved vs. an array with only 7200 RPM drives involved.

 

Good that checking parity is about the same speed.  I'd expect that.  But do not get the false impression that it does not affect the "write" speed to the array. (unless the data drive ivolved is also a 5400 RPM drive, in which case, it is already slowed by it.)

With all 5400RPM WD20EARS drives got the same parity performance or slightly better than having ALL Seagate 1.5TB 7200.11 drives.

 

When I put a WD 2TB 5400 RPM drive into my array of mixed drives. Party check/sync speeds dropped.

I surmise that with all the same/matching drives in a system, they would be highly in sync so it would work out very well.

Be careful loading up on 7200 RPM drives. I did that only to find in review of 2TB 5900 RPM drives that the performance between the two is very minimal. Now I am having to build two Unraid servers- one with just my 7200 RPM drives- so that I can go the extra mile to cool them separately (which means my Antec case fans on high instead of the usual medium).

 

I do realize that my 7200 drives are running hotter ( or at least report hotter temperatures, as I have read elsewhere about one of the brands mis-reporting temps ), however the only time I see them get much warmer is when I run a parity check, as all 6 drives run similtaneously.    Otherwise, the drives are typically "stopped" and of course cool.    If I am using it, for normal viewing, I would only have one drive in the array active, thus minimal heat being generated.    The drives all have fans drawing air across them, so even when hitting 44C during a parity check, I don't feel too concerned.

 

With the exception of Seagates one bad firmware, they have otherwise had a decent track record.    Given the option of a Seagate 7200 for the same price as a WD5400, I am inclined to go with the Seagate.    "Green" is a relative term.  Saving 25 cents a month ( or whatever it translates to ) isn't important to me.  I will find other ways to save.