Help picking out 2TB drives for RAID5

F

frr792

n00b
Joined
Nov 9, 2010
Messages
19
What I want to do is make a RAID5 set of 8x 2TB [DRIVES].

I see that many of the 2TB drives today are around 80$, and their corporate edition (raid edition) are twice that. I can't afford 8x$160 drives so what are my options?

I just picked up a ROCKETRAID 2680 for cheap but when browsing through the HCL I've noticed that the drives are obsolete or out of stock.

I have had great success with my two current RAID5 sets, however it is time for me to acquire some freespace. My two current RAID5 sets are each on a 3ware 9650SE raid card and are using 4x WD1001FALS and 4x WD20EADS TLER ON and IDLE OFF.

My NAS is up to date in my signature below:
 
Last edited:
Options for 2TB drives are as follows:

1) Western Digital WD20EARS 2TB. As far as I am aware you can't set TLER on these any more.

2) Samsung F4EG 2TB. make sure to update to the latest firmware - it's ESSENTIAL.

3) Hitachi 2TB. Unlike the above two drives, this is a 7200RPM drive. Look here for more info.

4) Seagate Barracuda LP 2TB. Runs at 5900RPM, rather than the more common 5400RPM for "green" drives. With all the shenanigans related to Seagate hard drives over the past couple years, I'd steer clear. However, if you plan to run something like FlexRAID, unRAID or ZFS, Seagate drives are worth considering.
 
i've been rocking 5 of the 2tb samsung f4's in my file/media server with great results. be sure to take the time to ensure the firmware is up to date before you start writing lots of big files to them.
 
Hitachi 5K3000 2TB at Newegg for $79 with coupon code for a few more days. That's what I've been buying lately for archival. On top of it their sequential I/O is faster than my previous gen 7200RPM 2TB hitachi's.

No 4k sector headaches or firmware patching hassles like the Samsungs.
 
Last edited:
Thanks everybody, this is a lot of good information! I just wanted to add that I was mistaken at how expensive the raid edition drives really are from before, they are upwards from 250$ a pop, i must have been looking at something else during my earlier post.

I'm going to do some more research on these various drives, i would love to avoid the 4K sector drives otherwise i think if i have to get them i wouldnt do RAID with them...
 
odditory said:
Hitachi 5K3000 2TB at Newegg for $79 with coupon code for a few more days. That's what I've been buying lately for archival. On top of it their sequential I/O is faster than my previous gen 7200RPM 2TB hitachi's.

No 4k sector headaches or firmware patching hassles like the Samsungs.
Click to expand...

I see now they are on sale for 60$ after MIR on the egg. Limit 1 per customer :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top