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numb7rs · 2011-01-25, 20:17

The Seagate LP series has 512 sectors. Part numbers ST32000542AS (2TB), ST31500541AS (1.5TB), ST31000520AS (1TB). I've got a 2TB as a backup drive, had no problems so far. The newer models (with 6GBps sata interface) have 4K though.

ubuntuf4n · (This post was last modified: 2011-01-25, 20:36 by ubuntuf4n.)

Ogi010 Wrote:Can you elaborate on the jumper settings for the WD 2TB green drives? I have 3 of them in my WHS, haven't set any jumpers... but getting transfer speed performance issues... perhaps this is the culprit.

Ogi

Older WD20EADS (512) are running fine without any modifications.

Newer WD20EADS (Labeled with Advanced Format, 4096) need a Jumper on pos. 7/8, but only if you're using a single Partition on WinXP.
This is important for the max. drive speed.

Newer OS are running fine.
If you're going for multiple Partitions then you've to install a WD-Tool (WinXP).

Same Procedure for the WD20EARS.

btw, the ecogreen F4 should be 4k-drives, the F3 are 512'-drives.

**Ogi010** · 2011-01-25, 20:35

ubuntuf4n Wrote:Older WD20EADS (512) are running fine without any modifications.

Newer WD20EADS (Labeled with Advanced Format, 4096) need a Jumper on pos. 7/8, but only if you're using a single Partition on WinXP.
This is important for the max. drive speed.

Newer OS are running fine.
If you're going for multiple Partitions then you've to install a WD-Tool (WinXP).

Same Procedure for the WD20EARS.

These hard drives are running in a WHS box (running a watered down version of server 2003 I suppose?). I suppose they only have one partition per drive but I'm not sure what kind of impact the drive extender would have.

ubuntuf4n · 2011-01-25, 20:41

You should check the label of those drives.
If there is somewhere stated 'Advanced Format', then you need to set the jumper as mentioned above.

Warning: All data is gone, after you place the jumper.
1.You need to BACKUP all your data
2. Place the Jumper on position 7/8
3. Copy your files back to the hdd

If nowhere is written 'Advanced Format', then you've a older WD20EADS drive which don't need a jumper.

bmcclure937 · 2011-01-25, 20:41

I am still at a tossup over the two drives... Sad

The Samsung seems to have better performance and works better in RAID. I will be using RAIDZ, so that may be an important factor. I understand that a firmware update may be in order (and they have the updated firmware listed as the same version as the old -- stupid!)

I do not know what is holding me back from either drive. I want as little hassle as possible to get it working properly in my FreeNAS (ZFS). What things need to be done to each of these to prepare them?!

Samsung: update firmware... then what? jumper? disable AAM?

WD20EARS: ??

ubuntuf4n · 2011-01-25, 20:46

I am not sure if you also need to set up a jumper on the newer Samsung HDDs.

You could buy a WD20EARS, place the Jumper, and the System should handle it like an older 512'kbytes-drive.

**Ogi010** · 2011-01-25, 20:47

bmcclure937 Wrote:I am still at a tossup over the two drives...

The Samsung seems to have better performance and works better in RAID. I will be using RAIDZ, so that may be an important factor. I understand that a firmware update may be in order (and they have the updated firmware listed as the same version as the old -- stupid!)

I do not know what is holding me back from either drive. I want as little hassle as possible to get it working properly in my FreeNAS (ZFS). What things need to be done to each of these to prepare them?!

Samsung: update firmware... then what? jumper? disable AAM?

WD20EARS: ??

The Samsung is loved on newegg from the reviews... If I was in the market for a 2TB drive right now, that's what I would get hands down.

**Ogi010** · 2011-01-25, 20:48

ubuntuf4n Wrote:You should check the label of those drives.
If there is somewhere stated 'Advanced Format', then you need to set the jumper as mentioned above.

Warning: All data is gone, after you place the jumper.
1.You need to BACKUP all your data
2. Place the Jumper on position 7/8
3. Copy your files back to the hdd

If nowhere is written 'Advanced Format', then you've a older WD20EADS drive which don't need a jumper.

Thanks! Luckily w/ WHS it's pretty easy to backup the drives "select for removal" then wait a while, then remove.

If this is what has been causing my variation of file transfer speeds I'm going to be delighted to have finally gotten to the bottom of it.

Ogi

bmcclure937 · 2011-01-25, 20:52

ubuntuf4n Wrote:I am not sure if you also need to set up a jumper on the newer Samsung HDDs.

You could buy a WD20EARS, place the Jumper, and the System should handle it like an older 512'kbytes-drive.

Yeah. The thing I am worried about with the WD20EARS is the AAM settings have the thing spin down after about 6-8 seconds of "inactivity" which is not too good for RAID setups.

Ogi010 Wrote:The Samsung is loved on newegg from the reviews... If I was in the market for a 2TB drive right now, that's what I would get hands down.

I agree. I am just not sure what I need to do to get the Samsungs going! Update firmware and then a jumper setting?

**Ogi010** · 2011-01-25, 21:11

given how quickly the stock of the samsung drives run through on newegg, I would be surprised if you had one w/ the older firmware (how long ago was a fix made?). I know nothing of any jumper setting on the HD.

avus m3 · 2011-02-03, 21:19

Due to pricing I pulled the trigger on 5 WD20EARS drives. Will run them all through testing to make sure they are good to go before throwing data on them.

Phokus · 2011-02-03, 21:39

Samsungs need a firmware flash and even then they are unreliable.

bmcclure937 · 2011-02-03, 21:48

Phokus Wrote:Samsungs need a firmware flash and even then they are unreliable.

LMAO

why don't you back up your opinion with at least some sort of data or supporting aricle?! it would be nice Rolleyes

You say this expecting people to believe you, but you provide no facts. From everything I have read (benchmarks and reviews), once you update the firmware the F4s are the best option available.

xecutionx · 2011-02-03, 21:55

I have 3 1.5tb and 2 2tb Samsungs. I'd go with the Samsung drives.

Just flash the firmware to be safe. I have yet to do so, but will asap.

Loto_Bak · 2011-02-04, 00:26

bmcclure937 Wrote:I am still at a tossup over the two drives...

The Samsung seems to have better performance and works better in RAID. I will be using RAIDZ, so that may be an important factor. I understand that a firmware update may be in order (and they have the updated firmware listed as the same version as the old -- stupid!)

I do not know what is holding me back from either drive. I want as little hassle as possible to get it working properly in my FreeNAS (ZFS). What things need to be done to each of these to prepare them?!

Samsung: update firmware... then what? jumper? disable AAM?

WD20EARS: ??

Re: samsung fw,
check out this huge post at hardforum
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1566067
These guys really live and breath these things. They'll know what the deal with these drives is.

Regarding ZFS and the WD drives well I can tell you all about it as I run 8 of these drives in RaidZ2.

Re: HDDs settings
you have two to worry about when dealing with Raid
* Idle Spindown - by default 8sec. I set mine to unlimited using the WDidle utility. This is supported on all drives.
* TLER - Time limited error recovery. You'll hear alot about this. There are alot of writeups on this. Google it if you need to know more. With hardware and (some ie. windows) software raid setups you want this feature. Generally it is only available on old drives and RAID edition drives which go for more money.
Bottom line is with ZFS DO NOT ENABLE TLER. (It is off by default) ZFS will plays just fine with the drive attempting to recover bad sectors in Firmware and wont drop drives because of this

Re: 4k sectors and ZFS
ZFS will play nice with 4k sectors by default... the problem is that the HDDs PRETEND to be 512k drives! Grrr, so what we have to do is when creating the pool fake one drive to be 4k. The pool will be created using 4k sectors and will always remount as a 4k sector pool. Although this sounds complicated its really quite simple. If your using FreeNas you will have to get dirty at the command line and create a GOP device with 4k sectors.
FreeNAS is reletively out of date in the FreeBSD world. FreeBSD 8.2 is stable and has alot of updates for ZFS. You might look at using ZFSguru instead. Its interface isnt quite as mature but it supports all 8.x and 9.x Freebsd releases. As well it also supports creating 4k sector pools through the web interface. Take a look at http://www.zfsguru.com

You can find alot of ZFS information on the hardforum as well http://www.hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29