2011-02-16, 23:09
I have also heard mixed thoughts regarding the advanced format green drives.
The Samsung F4s are still solid drives (minus the firmware issue). I feel like all of the 2TB drives currently on the market have some sort of quirk.
For example, I am hesitant to use the WD20EARS advanced format drives due to the sleep settings. The things go to sleep after like 6 seconds of inactivity.
The F4s have good performance and should work fine in ZFS. I have done a decent amount of reading and have consulted FreeBSD forums and Hard Forums regarding F4 performance in ZFS.
It is best to ensure the drive is formatted properly, aligned, and using the correct 4K sector. Especially with ZFS, if they are not configured properly before added to zpool then the drives will be IDed with 512b (emulated by drive) sector.
Also, studies have shown that using them in sets of 3 or 5 are best when running in RAIDZ1 (RAID5).
The Samsung F4s are still solid drives (minus the firmware issue). I feel like all of the 2TB drives currently on the market have some sort of quirk.
For example, I am hesitant to use the WD20EARS advanced format drives due to the sleep settings. The things go to sleep after like 6 seconds of inactivity.
The F4s have good performance and should work fine in ZFS. I have done a decent amount of reading and have consulted FreeBSD forums and Hard Forums regarding F4 performance in ZFS.
It is best to ensure the drive is formatted properly, aligned, and using the correct 4K sector. Especially with ZFS, if they are not configured properly before added to zpool then the drives will be IDed with 512b (emulated by drive) sector.
Also, studies have shown that using them in sets of 3 or 5 are best when running in RAIDZ1 (RAID5).