Building Low Cost RAID6 (8x 2TB)

T

tale

n00b
Joined
Nov 8, 2007
Messages
53
Hi,

I posted this question on another forum, but it appears HardForum gets more traffic.

I am planning to upgrade my storage to using 8x 2TB drives. I want to use the cheaper non-RAID certified, lower RPM drives. The candidates are listed below. These drives have RAID challenges (TLER, head parking, power cycle, etc). My dilemma now is which 2TB drive should I use? Also, I need input on the Seagate drive.

WD 2TB WD20EADS: Based on what I've researched, this is the best solution. TLER can be set to 7 secs and Intellipark can be modified. Both settings can survive a power cycle.

SAMSUNG 2TB HD203WI: Quindor confirmed TLER can be set to 7 secs, but the setting cannot survive a power cycle. Quindor has a workaround for the power cycle by using USB bootdrive. Details here: http://forums.storag...8333-tler-cctl/

Seagate 2TB ST32000542AS: Does anyone know if TLER needs to be set on this drive? Can the setting survive a power cycle?
 
Well none of those things are a problem if you use software raid, which goes well with 'low cost'.
 
Hitachi 2TB?

Raid 6 is going to be slightly safer since odds are you won't see multi-drive TLER drops unless there is a serious issue with the config.
 
I have reviewed the Hitachi 2TB drive and liked it, but TLER will need to be modified.

So after research and forum inputs, I have found out that all desktop drives will need the TLER/ERC to be modified to 7 seconds to correctly work in hardware raid cards, which is what I am using (3Ware).

So in summary,

- All non-RAID certified drives need TLER/ERC/CCTL to be modified for hardware raid
- The use of smartmontools can modify TLER/ERC settings, but modified settings will not survive a reset or power cycle
- WDTLER tool can be used only with WD drives (not all WD drives) and the settings can survive a reset or power cycle


This situation is a tough call.
-I like WD drives because the settings do not revert, but the warranty is voided after modification.
-I like the Samsung for reliability, performance and low power
-I like the Hitachi drive for the APM (Advance power management) feature and reliability. You can change the power consumption while the drive is idle, thus less heat.
-No Seagate drives for me, too unreliable.

I will report back with my decision and my solution.
 
tale said:
This situation is a tough call.
-I like WD drives because the settings do not revert, but the warranty is voided after modification.
-I like the Samsung for reliability, performance and low power
-I like the Hitachi drive for the APM (Advance power management) feature and reliability. You can change the power consumption while the drive is idle, thus less heat.
-No Seagate drives for me, too unreliable.

I will report back with my decision and my solution.
Click to expand...

I thought (could well be wrong) that since sometime late 2009 WD drives revert to old settings? Consumer WD drives I belive can no longer have a persistent TLER change.

Seagate being unreliable is a bit of a generalization. Of the 17 Seagate 7200.11's I've had running 24x7 for the past 14 months, one was DOA (poor shipment packaging), one died in the first three days due to firmware. I upgraded all firmware and have not had a drive die since.

Hitachi I have both 1TB and 2TB drives, just ordered another today. Have 8-10 installed for the past two or three months, zero failures.

WD - bought the WD Green 1.5TB (EADS) x8 in December. Three have died and been replaced.

OCZ - 1 / 4 of my Indilinx OCZ SSD's have died in the past 6 months. It was due to a v1.5 firmware update that caused a dead drive (known issue)

Intel - All X25-M and X18-M's are alive

Patriot - PS-100 32GB x2 still alive

Then again, I don't have 100's of any brands to where I could make a conclusion based on an accurate sample size. I will tell you that I'm more than happy to buy more Hitachi and Seagate drives based on which drive is cheaper.
 
It has been posted that certain LSI cards let you set the drive timeout as high as 120seconds on the controller itself. Does anyone know exactly which models? The new 9750?

For what it's worth, I've had a few WD20EADS replaced under warrant no problem, with TLER enabled on the drives.
 
Of the 17 Seagate 7200.11's I've had running 24x7 for the past 14 months, one was DOA (poor shipment packaging), one died in the first three days due to firmware. I upgraded all firmware and have not had a drive die since.
Click to expand...

I have over 50 7200.10s or 7200.11s running 24/7/365 for many months. I believe I have replaced 2 in the last 2 years.
 
pjkenned said:
I thought (could well be wrong) that since sometime late 2009 WD drives revert to old settings? Consumer WD drives I belive can no longer have a persistent TLER change.

Seagate being unreliable is a bit of a generalization. Of the 17 Seagate 7200.11's I've had running 24x7 for the past 14 months, one was DOA (poor shipment packaging), one died in the first three days due to firmware. I upgraded all firmware and have not had a drive die since.

Hitachi I have both 1TB and 2TB drives, just ordered another today. Have 8-10 installed for the past two or three months, zero failures.

WD - bought the WD Green 1.5TB (EADS) x8 in December. Three have died and been replaced.

OCZ - 1 / 4 of my Indilinx OCZ SSD's have died in the past 6 months. It was due to a v1.5 firmware update that caused a dead drive (known issue)

Intel - All X25-M and X18-M's are alive

Patriot - PS-100 32GB x2 still alive

Then again, I don't have 100's of any brands to where I could make a conclusion based on an accurate sample size. I will tell you that I'm more than happy to buy more Hitachi and Seagate drives based on which drive is cheaper.
Click to expand...
Does your WD Green 1.5TB (EADS) has the high load cycle count (LCC) issue?
 
I haven't seen the green drives experience this. The three failures happend in the first two weeks of use while I was doing burn-in. They were basically under load 100% of the time. That issue tends to occur later in life. Needless to say I'm not buying more of them.
 
I just built a low cost RAID 6 with 6 2tb drives. I had most of the parts already, so it was easy. This is my backup server, so it isn't super redundant like my other boxes.

Case: Antec 300
PSU: Thermaltake modular 550w
MB: SM X7SLA-H (Atom CPU)
RAM: 2gb
HDs: 6x Seagate 2tb
Other: 2 port PCIe 1x card, IDE DVDROM, 1gb USB key

I used Fedora 12 x64 w/software RAID. The USB key was put in the internal port and used for /boot. The drives were put in a RAID 6 with LVM on top for /, swap, and the iSCSI target (tgtd). TLER is not an issue because the Seagates let me set TLER with smartctl 5.40. That's easily put in a startup script. The only problem I have had is that Fedora's 2.6.32 has a major bug with software RAID and multicore... I switched back to 2.6.31 and the RAID is building at 45mb/second.

I'll performance test tomorrow and see how this ghetto setup compares with my Areca on a Xeon.
 
Thanks for bringing up an old thread. I see above I stated that I wouldn't be getting anymore Green drives... and I ended up buying 2x 2TB EARS drives in the meantime (but 2 more Hitachi 2TB drives also).
 
I was going to buy 4x2TB green drives (raid 5 with perc 6/i), do you suggest me hitachi drives instead?
 
I don't know what's wrong with WD20EADS, I have 6 and they seems good once TLERed and WDidle3.
(1 week old raid)
Do I think no EARS can be TLER enabled

@pjkenned: Link is for usb enclosed hitachi, I'd still go with green at 125$
 
I saw eads being more expansive, (more backward compatible),

I would rather someone confirm his EADS cannot be TLERed,

beware, I'm having some problem with EADS disappearing from the controler (9690sa) I'll update with any findings
 
darkbasic said:
Really? This should explain why EARS are more expensive than EADS even if they have more cache.
Can someone else confirm newer EADS can be TLED enabled?
Click to expand...


The EADS are more expensive and yes TLER can be enabled on the EADS. I personally own 10 WD 20EADS and 4 Hitachi 2TB drives and prefer the WD ones by far. The Hitachis run pretty hot.
 
i was under the impression TLER/CCTL/ECR could be enabled on the hitachi is this not true?
is the hitachi just more prone to not erroring out and dropping from the raid?
 
Transisto said:
@pjkenned: Link is for usb enclosed hitachi, I'd still go with green at 125$
Click to expand...

Not sure which link you are referring to. Maybe [H]'s aggressive contextual links?

I have at least 10 WD Greens (only 2x 2TB EARS) and many more Hitachi's at this point. The Hitachi's run slightly warmer (fine with any airflow basically)... but I'm still at a 0% failure rate over the past 6 months while greens are now at 30% in 5 months. WD has a great RMA process though.

BTW the jumpering to SATA I speeds is also required for WD Greens on Adaptec controllers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top