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Old SCSI vs WD4000YR

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djskankho

Gawd
Joined
Jan 5, 2004
Messages
923
So I'm looking at trashing this old 15k rpm scsi drive I have because it is just too loud, too hot, and, most of all, too freaking small. A 17GB application drive just isn't cutting it anymore.

So, I was thinking of replacing it with a 400GB WD sata server drive. At least, this change would be temporary until the next generation raptors. So what do you think of this plan? The drive is $225.90 at ZZF. I figure I could probably spend the better part of $200 on 400GB of storage in the near future so rather than buy a whole bunch of those cheap 160s, just spend a little extra and pay for the savings in real estate. Any input or alternatives would be appreciated.
 
The only issue i can see with these "nearline" drives in a desktop is that the firmware is optimised for raid use, not desktop. By this I'm mostly refering to certain error correction features being turned off or read after write being enabled.
 
When you figure that you would have to pick up two 160GB drives and a 80GB drive, or two 250GB drives, to match the 400GB of the unit you are considering, it's actually pretty cheap. Right now, WD has the most compelling 400GB drive out there. Hitachi's 400GB drive is past its prime, and Seagate doesn't deliver the application level performance that it should, although they are king of transfer rates right now. With the 16MB buffer, you will see better performance over your ancient 15K drive (unless it's an MAS or Atlas 15K), in addition to the improved environmental factors you desire.

Buyer's Guide Update today - and a big shakeup. I think Caviar SE16 has what it takes to dethrone Maxtor in 'All-around, >200GB' category. Caviar SE16 looks fantastic in the new SR 2006 DriveMarks, and they run cooler/quieter than the Maxtors. Pricing has also been pretty good on the SE16 drives, something I hadn't anticipated.
 
Will/does seagate have any nearline drives in the same price range? The 15k rpm is a seagate from '01. I think it was on the storage review leaderboard and I bought it shortly befor eit was dethroned.

What is the difference between the YR and the KD. They're both sata150 16mb cache 400gb HDs but one is the RE2 and the other is a SE16. Is there an advantage to oneor the other?
 
Seagate NL35 ST3400862NS (400gb, 7200 rpm, 16 mb, 1.5gbs) would be their nearline drive. These are not recomended for desktop use by Seagate. They have many firmware "upgrades" which are geared at improving relialibility, but due to overhead actually slow down the drive slightly. This information is straight from my Seagate rep.
 
djskankho said:
Will/does seagate have any nearline drives in the same price range? The 15k rpm is a seagate from '01. I think it was on the storage review leaderboard and I bought it shortly befor eit was dethroned.
Click to expand...


Seagate has the NL35 which will be available in fibre and sata setup. It is basically the 400gb 7200.8 with either a different controller card or different firmware.

Personally I would get a desktop drive. These nearline drives have quite a bit of firmware differences that will make performance not optimal for normal desktop use.

Since you already have scsi equipment I would also look at the maxtor atlas 10k V. This what I am using for my main drive and I have been thrilled with it. I would get one of these and then pickup another cheap large sata for storage.

edit: beaten with seagate info but the rest of my suggestion stands.
 
The desktop 400gb 16mb cache is actually a few dollars more expensive than the server version. Is there any reason for this besides supply?

draksia said:
Since you already have scsi equipment I would also look at the maxtor atlas 10k V. This what I am using for my main drive and I have been thrilled with it. I would get one of these and then pickup another cheap large sata for storage.
Click to expand...
I'm trying to move away from scsi. It takes up an extra pci slot and I have 8 sata ports on my mobo so I might as well make use of them. My scsi card is also only 160, so there's not much difference between it and sata1. I probably should have never bought it in the first place, although it was blazing back in the day. I was always first done with level load, even on 56k sometimes.
 
If anything, it should be the other way around. Like the difference between DM10 and MLIII, the SE16 and RE2 drives are differentiated by higher quality components and tighter tolerances during assembly to justify their higher MTBF rating, longer warranty, and marketing as enterpise drives. The firmware has probably been tweaked as well, but I don't think WD and Maxtor make as many tweaks as Seagate, although the time limited error recovery setting difference between desktop and enterprise Caviars is a single signigifcant tweak. I'd stick to the desktop version for that reason alone.
 
The limited error recovery time is dangerous in a desktop. You really don't want your drive dropping offline when any little thing goes wrong.
 
OK, so there's a good chance I'll get the SE16. What can I use to make an image of my scsi drive and copy everything to the new drive? Is this possible with SCSI? ATA?
 
Norton Ghost works really well for that kind of aplication. I've used it to image my boot drive and back it up.
 
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