Samsung F4 2TB $80 FS no rebate

[greybeard]

Not recommending it, just reporting it.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152245

[madpoet]

Hrm, with the 5.3 beta coming it might be worth it

[prostuff1]

Hrm, with the 5.3 beta coming it might be worth it

 

NO, these drives are the ones that have the firmware problems.  You have to update the firmware, but even then you can't be sure that it worked as they did not change the firmware number.

[madpoet]

Understood.  But between the firmware, disabling write-cache, and the beta 5.3 that solves the Secotr 64 issue the drives become more attractive.  I understand the risks involved with them, I just wish other 2TB drives were as consistently cheap.

[rhubarb9999]

Not sure what the issue is with these drives.  I have been running 2 in my setup since September.  Never did a firmware update and they work great (one is parity, one is data .. mixed in with other Samsung drives).

 

Looks like I will be picking up two more

 

[madpoet]

You really, really need to read the threads in the hardware forum then!

[wsume99]

Not sure what the issue is with these drives.  I have been running 2 in my setup since September.  Never did a firmware update and they work great (one is parity, one is data .. mixed in with other Samsung drives).

 

Ignorance is bliss comes to mind.  You should follow madpoet's advice and read the threads he mentioned.

[BRiT]

Not sure what the issue is with these drives.  I have been running 2 in my setup since September.  Never did a firmware update and they work great (one is parity, one is data .. mixed in with other Samsung drives).

 

Ah ignorance... The issue is with silently corrupting data and the user never knowing about it. It's enough of an issue to write off the drives completely. Read the threads to find out more.

[greybeard]

Knowledge is power.

 

Regarding the 63/64 allignment: I use these drives to store large files only, 20-50GB. I have no performance issues.

 

Regarding firmware: Granted, you can't know 100% for certain that firmware was updated by a flash but I have never ever flashed anything where the flash program told me it finished the job that the update was not confirmed by a version change. Well until now, but the point is the message telling me the flash was successful is extreamly reliable. I have flashed many things over the years.

 

In addition: I create ECC files with 1% data reduncancy for everything I store in unRAID. I use them to check for corruption every few months. Only found two corrupted files (not involving F4 drives), immediately after copying them to the server, which I just recopied. I use a large RAID6 array (WD RE3 drives on a Windows 7 box) the way most of you use a cache drive. I have been doing this since I started using unRAID, not because of the F4 firmware problem.

 

Anyway, these drives work for me but I understand why others avoid them. It is a choice each of us gets to make. I agree using these drives without taking precautions can lead to trouble.

[justme]

In addition: I create ECC files with 1% data reduncancy for everything I store in unRAID. I use them to check for corruption every few months.

I don't wish to side track the thread, but...  I'm familiar with .sfv tools(to verify), but not recoverery or general ECC tools. Can you send me a link to the tools/info on your setup. I'd like something like this. I got interested in catching corruption(and the tools to catch it) after reading the "whatever happened to Q parity" thread on these forums. That was a great thread, I'd love to see some of the ideas there implemented(WeeboTech's as a seperate tool, but ideally column/row parity built into unraid even tho it could add another parity drive to the array).

 

Thanks,

Michael

[BRiT]

Look into 'par2'.

 

I'm not sure if this is the latest version or not, but it's what came up first on a very course search: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2146.msg48023#msg48023

 

You might be able to just install the SABnzbd dependency packages if it includes the par2cmdline programs. [ http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2903.msg30274#msg30274 ]

 

 

[justme]

Thanks for the leads.

I'll fully look into them ASAP, feeling a little sleepy right now. I'm a big fan of .sfv files(especially recursively down dir trees) and used them before(in Windows) I ever found UnRaid. Mostly for any large size/number file copies, copying over networks, and anything backed up to optical disc. Looks like I was only using a little(detecting corruption) of the potential(detect/fix corruption) of this type of tech. If I need any help I'll post in the proper forum.

 

Peace,

Michael

[SSD]

greybread posted some information about the ICE ECC tool that was split off into its own topic in the lounge

 

HERE