Has anyone used WD AV-Green or Black in RAID config for their NAS boxes yet? How's the performance like?

Just bought a bunch of Reds for my next system build since it's the cheapest TLER option.

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-fea...n-your-raid-nas

WD Red may not be suitable as a single disk bootdisk. See the random transfer test below.

http://www.storagereview.com/western_digit...review_wd30efrx

However it really shine at sequential transfer tests hence its suitability in RAID boxes.

You will get better performance with WD Blue as a bootdisk.

The biggest gripe I have heard so far is the IntelliPower feature parks the HDD head every 8 secs throughout its lifetime. The HDD is supposedly saves more power then ever before as idle power for 2TB model is only 3W compared to 2TB black @ 8W. However the advantages far outweights the disadvantage. Its cheap, runs cool, lowest MYR/TB ratio, sips power like a camel and did I mention that its really affordable?

If you are not running RAID or 24/7 ops, this HDD is a great candidate for single-disk data storage with your occasional downloads etc. Just remember not to build RAID 0/5/6 and the likes with this HDD as it lacks TLER feature that prevents member disks to drop out of a group. Its still OK to use it as JBOD on your NAS.

Assuming that you are in the market for a HDD that can handle large media files, you could try AV green which comes with 3 years warranty. AV green was designed with DVR / video surveillance in mind and handles up to 12 simultaneous HD video streams. I'm glad that I've chosen AV green over the normal green as its been running 24/7 in my Linux NAS > 6 months and haven't had any issues. Note that while it has Intellipower feature, the idle disk timer is disabled by default so that it doesn't park the HDD head every 8 secs.

This post has been edited by mrbob: Nov 1 2013, 11:54 AM

Nowadays OS (Win, Linux etc) and video player software caches quite a bit of data on to the RAM and accesses HDD more efficiently so the HDD won't koyak so fast. Moreover most HDD have 64MB build-in cache assist with transfer of large data chunks. The HDD is more likely to koyak from being knocked about when the disk is spinning.

However its a different story if you are running > 2 movies at the same time and doing all those things Asians normally do when watching videos. My comments only applies to PCs and servers which have plenty of RAM and may not apply to media players with embedded OS and small RAM.

That was the regret of several users at other forums when they wanted to take advantage of its lower idle power usage and 3yrs warranty.

Darn... just when I have bought the reds. At least there is an upgrade path in the next couple of years.

There's really nothing much you can do about a HDD that is experiencing uncorrectable sectors except to get a replacement HDD ready in case of failure. You should not put any critical data on the problem HDD and keep monitoring its SMART values. Make sure that you new HDD are well cushioned from vibration etc in the drive cage.

Low level formatting etc will just makes things worst. There are plenty of tools that claims that they can revive the HDD which has bad sectors but in reality the chances of creating more uncorrectable sectors are higher in the process of reviving the bad sectors as it stresses the mechnical arm of the HDD.

You can use it for testing out other OS ie Ubuntu etc. The key thing is to monitor the SMART values on a regular or daily basis. If the 2 values pending sector count & uncorrectable sector count increases, it's a sign the HDD is going to fail real soon.

Sounds like a connection or cable issue. Try replacing the SATA cable of the problem drive. If still have problem, try connecting to another SATA port. You should be able to see all connected HDDs in BIOS under SATA Configuration sub-menu so you don't really need to boot into Winz just to check whether the HDD is working or not.

Haven't had any experience with the newer Slim Passports. Generally I think WD external drives are pretty reliable. Popular Low Yat vendors like Viewnet and Jayacom should have them.

Here are the Low Yat price lists.
http://www.hardwarezone.com.my/priceLists

That's another good study to add to Google's old harddisk failure trend study released in 2007. Let's hope Google will release an updated study on the failure trends.
http://storagemojo.com/2007/02/19/googles-...ure-experience/

This post has been edited by mrbob: Nov 15 2013, 10:10 PM

While storage technologies are not as fast changing as video and processor technologies, 2 new technologies - Helium and HAMR promise to multiply HDD capacity greatly.

HGST Helium Technology



http://www.storagenewsletter.com/rubriques...-on-helium-hdd/

Availability: Server - now, desktop - planned



Fujitsu/Seagate HAMR



http://www.gizmag.com/seagate-hamr-hard-dr...chnology/21880/

Availability: Server & desktop - Still in R&D stage

Only used it once awhile back so can't comment on reliability. The version that I used was a resource hogger.

Check Viewnet and Jayacom for SG Momentus XT

WD Blue is a plain vanilla HDD with max 1TB, idle power 6W and 2 yrs warranty while WD Black comes with some build-in vibration controls, max 4TB, increased transfer rate, idle power 8W and 5 yrs warranty.

If got extra dough, Black is a good choice. Just have to watch the temperature in your chassis if you put in one of this baby.

WD Red does come in 2.5" form - http://www.wdc.com/global/products/specs/?...1311&language=1
Not sure if there's demand for it here though. You could try to order from Newegg or Amazon. But seriously, it will be a waste of good money if you don't use it for NAS since it is tuned for NAS. For a single-slot 2.5" HDD, go for WB Black or Black2 instead that comes with 5 years warranty.

Why not try WD AV Green that comes with 3 years warranty? IMO is the best value WD HDD for 3.5" single slot storage.

More details at https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2202087/+1934#

If running SFF then you should really take care of the internal temperature. Upgrade to a higher CFM quiet fan can help bring down the temp.

This post has been edited by mrbob: Dec 9 2013, 05:44 PM

Should be coming in very soon. Retail price for model WD1001X06XDTL (120 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD) is reportedly RM 1,088. A lot of people are waiting to get their hands on this baby especially after SG Momentus XT is doing so well here (should read as always out of stock).

http://sccyberworld.blogspot.com/2013/11/w...dual-drive.html

Just wait for it to come in. My guess is that WD distis will try to match WG Momentus XT's price (if not beat it).