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I've had this rack mount Synology array for several years. I originally put Hitachi 6TB drives in a RAID 6, so 12 x 6TB - 2 x 6TB parity. It is my Veeam maglib destination for backups of my main array. Been a real workhorse of an array... with only the very occasional failed drive.
A couple months ago, I began a project to swap out all the Hitachi 6TB drives for Seagate Exos 8TB drives. The process was to start with drive 1, pull it, let the array see the failure, plug in replacement Exos 8TB drive. Wait 4-5 days for array to be stable again, rinse, repeat. I've been ordering 3 replacement drives at a time. I figure if I break up the drive purchases, I'll get drives from different batches and varied MTBF points. Been working great. I just ordered my last set of 3 drives last week and tried using the first one on Friday. I pulled the old drive, waited for the array to recognize, while I moved the caddie to the new drive, and popped in the replacement... like I've done 9 times already. Waited, waited, drive never came up or showed as available in management page. Just shows the slot as "empty". Hmm. DOA drive. First one I've gotten in all previous iterations. Tried removing, reinserting, to no change. So, removed drive and swapped for next new drive... same thing! Okay, 2 DOA drives out of three? Something's weird. Tried third, and final, new drive. Same thing. Okay. This is nearly statistically impossible to have received 3 DOA drives.
The drives were sold from an Amazon seller (not Amazon). They look pretty damn new. Sides of drive aren't scratched, screw holes look clean, no smudges... pretty much new. One thing I did notice is that the SATA data/power pins do seem to have a slight "shadow" like they've been plugged in at some point. I don't think Seagate individually checks drive going out the door, but I guess it's possible. Also, the anti-static bags they came in don't look like the original OEM bags... which have recently been some unusual style with a flap seam in the middle. These were the more traditional style with a heat line seal at one end. So maybe these were "expertly" refurb'd, but not necessarily factory. One other thing I noticed is revision. When I started buying the Exos drives, they were labeled "7E9". The last set were "7E10". These are all "7E8". The specs seem to be the same for all three revisions.
Okay, here's where things get much weirder... I put the first new drive in my USB dock and plugged it into my WIndows 10 PC... it came right up and allowed me to perform a full Windows format (took over 48 hours) without errors. The drive wasn't even spinning up when put in the array, but seems to work fine in a USB dock on my PC.
Is there something with the 7E8 drives that Synology doesn't like? For the meantime, I put the original Hitachi drive back in the Synology and it is almost done rebuilding.
A couple months ago, I began a project to swap out all the Hitachi 6TB drives for Seagate Exos 8TB drives. The process was to start with drive 1, pull it, let the array see the failure, plug in replacement Exos 8TB drive. Wait 4-5 days for array to be stable again, rinse, repeat. I've been ordering 3 replacement drives at a time. I figure if I break up the drive purchases, I'll get drives from different batches and varied MTBF points. Been working great. I just ordered my last set of 3 drives last week and tried using the first one on Friday. I pulled the old drive, waited for the array to recognize, while I moved the caddie to the new drive, and popped in the replacement... like I've done 9 times already. Waited, waited, drive never came up or showed as available in management page. Just shows the slot as "empty". Hmm. DOA drive. First one I've gotten in all previous iterations. Tried removing, reinserting, to no change. So, removed drive and swapped for next new drive... same thing! Okay, 2 DOA drives out of three? Something's weird. Tried third, and final, new drive. Same thing. Okay. This is nearly statistically impossible to have received 3 DOA drives.
The drives were sold from an Amazon seller (not Amazon). They look pretty damn new. Sides of drive aren't scratched, screw holes look clean, no smudges... pretty much new. One thing I did notice is that the SATA data/power pins do seem to have a slight "shadow" like they've been plugged in at some point. I don't think Seagate individually checks drive going out the door, but I guess it's possible. Also, the anti-static bags they came in don't look like the original OEM bags... which have recently been some unusual style with a flap seam in the middle. These were the more traditional style with a heat line seal at one end. So maybe these were "expertly" refurb'd, but not necessarily factory. One other thing I noticed is revision. When I started buying the Exos drives, they were labeled "7E9". The last set were "7E10". These are all "7E8". The specs seem to be the same for all three revisions.
Okay, here's where things get much weirder... I put the first new drive in my USB dock and plugged it into my WIndows 10 PC... it came right up and allowed me to perform a full Windows format (took over 48 hours) without errors. The drive wasn't even spinning up when put in the array, but seems to work fine in a USB dock on my PC.
Is there something with the 7E8 drives that Synology doesn't like? For the meantime, I put the original Hitachi drive back in the Synology and it is almost done rebuilding.
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