I need to add more capacity to my server and replace a failed drive.  Most of my current drives are WD Red 3TB.  My first step will be to replace the two parity drives with 6TB devices.

I'm concerned about the performance aspects of the new 'shingled' drives.  Should I simply move to WD Red Pro drives, or is there another recommended brand/model?

Edited October 21, 20205 yr by PeterB

WD RED plus also CMR, btw, HGST NAS / Toshiba MG04/MD04 also CMR, those serve me 3-5yrs+ really well.

I have had good luck with all of the WD drives that I have purchased over the years.  Some blue drives that are 10-12 years old are still working fine in an old PC.

I just added a second parity drive 4TB WD Red Plus which is the CMR type, my other 4TB drive should arrive today to replace the old 2TB WD parity drive that has been running since Dec 2015 with no issues.  When I built my system in 2015 I installed 5 drives (1 2TB parity, 3 1TB data and a 1TB spare) all WD Red drives that are now called the Red Plus which I just found out last Friday.

 

I just have to decide if I retire the 5 year old 2TB WD Red or use it as a data drive.

Edited July 17, 20223 yr by toms_jeep
spelling

I would avoid shingled as parity due to the write amplificaiton, I don't see the issue in the array for write once, read many data.

 

 

My logic

In an array with 6 drives, a write to any drive triggers a parity write. The writes will be relatively random across the array drives and every one will required a 'read and rewrite' of a block of tracks on the shingled drive to keep the parity aligned. With 6 drives potentially being updated, thats a lot of extra work. More drives = greater amplificaiton.

 

For an array drive, most writes 'fill up' an empty space so there is less likelihood to need to read and rewrite a block of tracks and even if it does, it's only for the activity on that disk, not across the array.

 

 

On 11/8/2020 at 6:49 PM, Decto said:

I would avoid shingled as parity due to the write amplificaiton, I don't see the issue in the array for write once, read many data.

That makes sense.  Since the first stage of my storage extension involves replacing the parity drives, I have ordered two 6TB Red Pro drives.  I will consider further when the time comes to procure new data drives.