SlowNIC Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 These have been reliable for me after the firmware upgrade procedure. I have 33 of these drives connected to Unraid version 4.4.2. http://www.macmall.com/ttsvr/p/5368796?dpno=7766570 There have been plenty of people who will tell you to stay away from these drives. Make your own decision, but I believe this is a good price that is worth mentioning. Quote Link to comment
William Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 How hard and what is the procedure for upgrading the firmware? Quote Link to comment
William Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Ordered 4 and found the update utility here. Do you just hook up each HD to your PC (can you do more than 1 at a time?) download and run the firmware update utility and it's done? Then unhook and install in the unRAID? If it's so easy why aren't they already done? Also is it 100% safe for my WD 500GB C: drive and will ignore or not effect it? Quote Link to comment
Joe L. Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Ordered 4 and found the update utility here. Do you just hook up each HD to your PC (can you do more than 1 at a time?) download and run the firmware update utility and it's done? Then unhook and install in the unRAID? If it's so easy why aren't they already done? If they are "refurbished" then odds are they will already have the new firmware. It is a great price. Do you know what the warranty is? If still 3 years, I'll go for it too. If only 90 days, it might still be worth a try. Joe L. Quote Link to comment
SlowNIC Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 I'm assuming it is the 90 day warranty and that these come from the factory with the new firmware. Otherwise, if not from the factory, it would probably be what remains on the 3 year and possibly old firmwire. Those two are the most common when I get a refurbished Seagate drive, but I have not received any from this particular company yet. Their website leaves you with the impression that these are "factory refurbished", but it looks like a text box that they paste on any of the products that have the word "refurbished" in the title. To prove this point, first look at the item in question (the drive), then go to the search bar and type in "refurbished" for the search. Click on any of the products that come up and you'll see the same "manufacturer refurbished" blurb on each of the products. Quote Link to comment
SlowNIC Posted July 17, 2009 Author Share Posted July 17, 2009 As far as how important warranty is, that depends on a number of factors... I'm assuming that everyone here is filling up their Unraid box(es) and that the cost per SATA port is about $40 with hardware and unraid license. So, by the time you get to the third year of a warranty, the drive sizes have become so much larger, that you probably would not want to spend the time packing and the money shipping the broken drive for warranty when the drive size has doubled or tripled. After all, that "mini-drive" is pulling electricity and not providing as much capacity. It's using up that $40 SATA port on your Unraid box. Time to upgrade anyway. This is what I am finding in my own experience. I don't even bother sending in that broken 500GB drive that still has 3 months warranty left. I could buy a faster one that uses 60% less electricity for $40 (refurbished) if I really needed it, but I do not because the price point now is 1500GB. Add in the fact that statistically, drive failure is unlikely after the first month provided you have proper power and cooling and I'd say that the warranty is worth about $10 to me personally. Depending on your situation and experience, you may have a different opinion. If this is the only drive you buy, get the warranty. Otherwise, buy 10 of them and if one of them fails after 15 months you are still ahead of the game. Especially because Unraid saved your data! Quote Link to comment
William Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 If they are "refurbished" then odds are they will already have the new firmware. It is a great price. How do you tell if they have the firmware updated or not? Also looks like they are sold out and I only have 2 shipping and 2 on back order (which I may not get). Quote Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Do you know what the warranty is? If still 3 years, I'll go for it too. If only 90 days, it might still be worth a try. If the warranty is only 90 days, I don't think it's worth it. If the drive dies within a year. You will be spending the same amount of money to get a new drive (albeit possibly larger) I think it's better to wait until you actually need a drive, get one with full warranty. Chances are, if you outgrow the drive , and it still works and has time left on warranty, you can pawn it off to someone else for a few dollars. Any cost back is now usable toward the new drive. Quote Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Otherwise, buy 10 of them and if one of them fails after 15 months you are still ahead of the game. Especially because Unraid saved your data! Chances of multiple drive failures are much higher if you purchase drives in batches. Remember, these have been refurbished for a reason. If the warranty is shorter. there is a reason. I have bought refurbished WD drives, but the warranty was just as long as a regular drive. One of the drives failed within a few months. Quote Link to comment
vca Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 If they are "refurbished" then odds are they will already have the new firmware. It is a great price. How do you tell if they have the firmware updated or not? Also looks like they are sold out and I only have 2 shipping and 2 on back order (which I may not get). Seagate has a utility called "SeaTools" that you can download for free. Run it and it will talk to the drive and tell you the firmware version that the drive is running. I know there is a version of seatools that runs under Windows, but I seem to recall they also had one that you burned to a CDROM and then could just boot into it without needing any particular operating system. Regards, Stephen Quote Link to comment
cj0r Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 Buyer Beware!! This is not exaclty the best place to buy products from... your especially taking a gamble on a product without full warranty. MacMall has a lifetime rating of 3.51/10 on http://www.resellerratings.com... that's pretty poor out of 153 different reviewers. Their past 6 month rating is a bit better at 6.84/10. Either way I would definitely not gamble on this one but "to each his own." Quote Link to comment
William Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 Did anyone else get any ordered? I ordered 4 right away but only 2 have been shipped. 2 were listed as back ordered but had a message on my phone saying they would not be getting any more and could "upgrade me" to new ones for $120 each. If anyone ordered after me and got an order in that means they probably limited my order (maybe hoping to up sale). May go back and order a couple of more of the $67 1TB HDDs unless Dell does their 2 pack for $199 deal soon. Quote Link to comment
SlowNIC Posted July 20, 2009 Author Share Posted July 20, 2009 According to the vendor, I have 6 coming for Tuesday. I was not aware of the bad reviews for this vendor, thank you for pointing it out. I know that 33 drives is not a statistically significant sample, and I know that I've only been running half of them for about a year, but the Seagate 1.5TB "refurbished" drives have been kind to me (no failures yet). Perhaps it is because I run them using Unraid, 30 minute spin-down, and media server application. I can say the same for the 21 WD10EACS (1TB Western Digital Green) drives that I have. 7 of those are refurbished. 30 days or more warranty is all I consider a firm requirement. More warranty is worth some amount of money, the exact amount to be decided by the particular individual making the purchase and which side of the brain they are thinking with... I did have a 500GB Western Digital fail after 2 years (new) and a 750GB Seagate fail after 1.25 years (refurb), but those are my only disk failures in 3 years of Unraid use. I have a total of 68 drives. Maybe I'm just lucky and I have yet to learn an expensive lesson, but from a $$$ point of view, refurbished has allowed me to take my media server obsession to new heights. Quote Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 ...in 3 years of Unraid use. I have a total of 68 drives. Maybe I'm just lucky and I have yet to learn an expensive lesson, but from a $$$ point of view, refurbished has allowed me to take my media server obsession to new heights. I suppose if you have 68 drives there are drives coming and going all the time I think unRAID use is easier on drives despite the whole spin up spin down issue. With a few of my servers, the drives spin 24x7x365. I usually get about 2 years of life before one of them might fail. Since then I've switched all my archive, backup and media storage to unRAID and I've seen less failures. Anything that is critical for the OS is RAID1, anything that can be offloaded is mounted over the network via unRAID. My experience with Refurbished drives has not been as good as yours. Out of two WD refurbished drives, one failed. Luckily it had a 1 year warranty. Quote Link to comment
SlowNIC Posted July 21, 2009 Author Share Posted July 21, 2009 Unexpected surprise: They have a 3 year and 3 month warranty! Warranty: Serial Number Seagate Part Number Warranty Status 9VS062VT 9JU138-302 In Warranty Expiration 09-Oct-2013 All six came today in UPS ground. Factory refurbished package (double static bagged w/dessicant) Labels on drives have the standard "Seagate Certified Repaired Hard Drive" for refurbs... latest firmware.... Looks like MacMall came through for me... I know - I was lucky... Quote Link to comment
PhilH Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Unexpected surprise: They have a 3 year and 3 month warranty! Warranty: Serial Number Seagate Part Number Warranty Status 9VS062VT 9JU138-302 In Warranty Expiration 09-Oct-2013 All six came today in UPS ground. Factory refurbished package (double static bagged w/dessicant) Labels on drives have the standard "Seagate Certified Repaired Hard Drive" for refurbs... latest firmware.... Looks like MacMall came through for me... I know - I was lucky... Then you got one H*ll of a deal... Quote Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 woo hoo 3 year and 3 month warranty.. Great Deal!!! Good for you! Last time I bought refurbished Seagate they had a 3 month warranty. Glad it worked out for you! Quote Link to comment
William Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Unexpected surprise: They have a 3 year and 3 month warranty! Warranty: Serial Number Seagate Part Number Warranty Status 9VS062VT 9JU138-302 In Warranty Expiration 09-Oct-2013 All six came today in UPS ground. Factory refurbished package (double static bagged w/dessicant) Labels on drives have the standard "Seagate Certified Repaired Hard Drive" for refurbs... latest firmware.... Looks like MacMall came through for me... I know - I was lucky... Mine will be here today. Was going to remove my HTPC hookup drives to test and if necessary update firmware. So I can now skip this time consuming procedure and just install them in my unRAID? Quote Link to comment
Joe L. Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Unexpected surprise: They have a 3 year and 3 month warranty! Warranty: Serial Number Seagate Part Number Warranty Status 9VS062VT 9JU138-302 In Warranty Expiration 09-Oct-2013 All six came today in UPS ground. Factory refurbished package (double static bagged w/dessicant) Labels on drives have the standard "Seagate Certified Repaired Hard Drive" for refurbs... latest firmware.... Looks like MacMall came through for me... I know - I was lucky... Mine will be here today. Was going to remove my HTPC hookup drives to test and if necessary update firmware. So I can now skip this time consuming procedure and just install them in my unRAID? You can check the firmware version after they are in the unRAID server, but before you assign them. Just type: hdparm -i /dev/sdX Where sdX = the three character drive designation of your newly installed drive(s). It will look show you the model/serial number/firmware version, and size root@Tower:# hdparm -i /dev/sda /dev/sda: Model=ST31500341AS , FwRev=CC1J , SerialNo= 9VS069T8 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5% } RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?16? CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=18446744072344861488 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120} PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5 udma6 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled Drive conforms to: unknown: ATA/ATAPI-4,5,6,7 * signifies the current active mode Quote Link to comment
William Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 You can check the firmware version after they are in the unRAID server, but before you assign them. Just type: hdparm -i /dev/sdX Where sdX = the three character drive designation of your newly installed drive(s). It will look show you the model/serial number/firmware version, and size root@Tower:# hdparm -i /dev/sda /dev/sda: Model=ST31500341AS , FwRev=CC1J , SerialNo= 9VS069T8 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5% } RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?16? CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=18446744072344861488 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120} PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5 udma6 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled Drive conforms to: unknown: ATA/ATAPI-4,5,6,7 * signifies the current active mode Thanks Joe L but answering one question for me only opens up 3 more. First I must use 1 of the 2 refurb 1.5TB drives to replace my 1TB parity drive. Should/can I check the 1.5TB firmware with no parity drive mounted or should/can I check before I unmount the smaller current 1TB parity drive (sound safer if it will work with a larger drive hooked up but not mounted)? How do I determine the three character drive designation? Also I'm upgrading to Pro so should I do this first and then change the parity drive? It's a big unRAID day for me adding 3 drives (also have a new 1TB), changing the parity drive and upgrading to Pro. Here are my current drives. Is it the 3 letters in ()? Quote Link to comment
Joe L. Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 You can check the firmware version after they are in the unRAID server, but before you assign them. Just type: hdparm -i /dev/sdX Where sdX = the three character drive designation of your newly installed drive(s). It will look show you the model/serial number/firmware version, and size root@Tower:# hdparm -i /dev/sda /dev/sda: Model=ST31500341AS , FwRev=CC1J , SerialNo= 9VS069T8 Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5% } RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=4 BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=0kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=?16? CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=18446744072344861488 IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120} PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5 udma6 AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled Drive conforms to: unknown: ATA/ATAPI-4,5,6,7 * signifies the current active mode Thanks Joe L but answering one question for me only opens up 3 more. First I must use 1 of the 2 refurb 1.5TB drives to replace my 1TB parity drive. Should/can I check the 1.5TB firmware with no parity drive mounted or should/can I check before I unmount the smaller current 1TB parity drive (sound safer if it will work with a larger drive hooked up but not mounted)? How do I determine the three character drive designation? Also I'm upgrading to Pro so should I do this first and then change the parity drive? It's a big unRAID day for me adding 3 drives (also have a new 1TB), changing the parity drive and upgrading to Pro. I would do it this way. First, do a full parity check... just to make sure there is nothing strange going on with your existing drives. Then, stop the array, power down, install the new drives in new physical ports on your drive controllers. Then, power up. Your array should start as normal. Next, download and install the preclear_disk.sh script I wrote from here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2817.0 You will want to use it to prove the new drives work properly BEFORE you trust your data to them. You can do this before they are assigned in your array. To determine the new drive assignments, one way is to look in your syslog. If you are running 4.5beta2 onward you can capture your syslog directly by browsing to http://tower/log/syslog (substitute 'tower' with your server name). If you put your "pro.key" file on your flash drive and reboot (that's all you need to do to upgrade to "pro") you can also stop the array and go to the "devices" page and see the three character "drive" designation in parens (sdX) for each new drive in the drop-down-lists. Do NOT assign the drives just yet... as the pre-clear script will not clear drives already assigned to your array. In the syslog, you will see a "Device Inventory" of all the drives on your server. It will look like this: Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: Device inventory: Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:00:1f.1-ide-0:0 (hda) ata-ST3750640A_5QD2AX3G Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:00:1f.1-ide-0:1 (hdb) ata-HDS725050KLAT80_KRVA03ZAG3V5LD Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:00:1f.1-ide-1:0 (hdc) ata-ST3400620A_5QH00QPN Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:00:1f.1-ide-1:1 (hdd) ata-HDS725050KLAT80_KRVA03ZAG4V99D Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-0:0:0:0 (sde) ata-WDC_WD10EACS-00D6B1_WD-WCAU44206983 Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-1:0:0:0 (sdf) ata-ST31000340AS_9QJ0JPJS Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:02:00.0-ide-0:0 (hde) ata-ST3400620A_5QH00PF4 Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:02:00.0-ide-0:1 (hdf) ata-WDC_WD5000AAKB-00YSA0_WD-WCAS88067391 Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:02:00.0-ide-1:0 (hdg) ata-ST3400633A_3PM0BE0T Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:02:00.0-ide-1:1 (hdh) ata-MAXTOR_STM3500630A_5QG00FTK Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:02:01.0-scsi-1:0:0:0 (sda) ata-ST31500341AS_9VS069T8 Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:02:01.0-scsi-2:0:0:0 (sdb) ata-ST31500341AS_9VS0G9D8 Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:02:01.0-scsi-3:0:0:0 (sdd) ata-Maxtor_6Y250P0_Y63KH45E Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:02:02.0-ide-0:0 (hdi) ata-ST3400633A_3PM0LZ3D Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:02:02.0-ide-0:1 (hdj) ata-QUANTUM_FIREBALLlct15_08_611020017228 Jul 1 14:22:47 Tower emhttp: pci-0000:02:02.0-ide-1:0 (hdk) ata-ST3750640A_5QD29FXK Again, the device names are in the parens (sda, sdb, sdc, hda, hdb, hdc). You can match them with the model/serial numbers. The pre-clear script has two purposes. First is to prevent the long down-time if you let unRAID clear the data disks after you assign them. For your 1.5TB drive, this could easily take between 2 and 5 hours (depending on drive speed) during which your server will not be on-line. The pre-clear still takes the same time, but occurs while your array is on-line. (Your family can still watch movies, play music, etc) This was the original reason I wrote it. The second, and in your case more important purpose is to stress test your new drives. It will allow you to have some confidence in their ability to work properly. With refurbished drives, in my mind, this is very important. Some older versions of unRAID were missing a support library needed for the "smartctl" command If you type: smartctl and see an error like this smartctl: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc++.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory You will need to download and install the missing library. you will want to do this before you run the preclear, as you can use the output of the smartctl program to determine the health of your refurbished drives both before you exercise them in the clearing process and after. (If smartctl is functional, the preclear script does this for you) Joe L. Quote Link to comment
William Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 WOW Joe L. I would like to follow this but I don't even know who to install the script file. Have searched and looked through the manual/FAQ but don't see how. Do I unzip the Preclear file on my Mac or PC and then transfer to a flash drive and then plug into my unRAID or is it copied directly to the unRAID Flash share (can it be done on my Mac?)? After installing the script you just run it from the consoles' command line with the syntax preclear_disk.sh /dev/hdk? IS hdk the number (XXX) of the drive I want to pre clear/format/test? Also can you do more than 1 drive at time and what is the syntax for that command? Quote Link to comment
Joe L. Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 WOW Joe L. I would like to follow this but I don't even know who to install the script file. Have searched and looked through the manual/FAQ but don't see how. Do I unzip the Preclear file on my Mac or PC and then transfer to a flash drive and then plug into my unRAID or is it copied directly to the unRAID Flash share (can it be done on my Mac?)? download and unzip on your PC or MAC, copy it to the root of your flash drive using windows-explorer, or the equivalent in the MAC. The flash drive should be visible on your network as \\tower\flash You may need to turn on the viewing of system and hidden in Windows Explorer to see the files on the flash drive. After installing the unzipped script you just run it from the consoles' command line with the syntax preclear_disk.sh /dev/hdk? after you unzip the file and copy it to the flash drive, log in via telnet or via the system console. then, change directory to the flash drive's "root" level directory. When running in unRAID, it is mounted at /boot, therefore, first type cd /boot Then type preclear_disk.sh /dev/sdX (where sdX = the three letter designation of your drive being cleared) IS hdk the number (XXX) of the drive I want to pre clear/format/test? The actual drive would depend on your hardware, since "hdX" drives are IDE, and "sdX" drives are SATA, I'm pretty sure it will not be /dev/hdk. for an SATA drive, it will be /dev/sdX (where X will depend on your hardware) Also can you do more than 1 drive at time and what is the syntax for that command? You can log in via telnet multiple times from your PC or MAC, and in each session invoke one preclear script. Or, if you log in at the system console, (assuming you have a monitor and keyboard attached) you can switch between 6 different "system consoles" using "Alt-F1" through "Alt-F6". You can log in on each in turn, cd to /boot, and invoke one clear operation on each, each on a different disk. The syntax is identical for any of these, there is no special syntax to have it operate on multiple drives. Each command operates on one drive. So, you would use the "/dev/sd?" that corresponds to YOUR new drives on YOUR hardware plugged into YOUR disk controllers. Make note of their serial numbers as you unpack and install them and you'll be fine. The preclear script will not let you clear a drive already assigned to your array. (it will try its best to keep you from shooting yourself in the foot) Oh yes, I just now posted a new version of the preclear_disk.sh script. It fixed a problem some users had in clearing some Western-digital drives where it would freeze at the 88% point in the post-read process. You can find the new version attached to the first post in the thread I linked to earlier. Joe L. Quote Link to comment
William Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 One problem after another. When I click on the file I get. What's up with that. I have already deleted my plus file and copied my Pro file to config folder of my flash so I would have no problem coping the file but I can't download it. Quote Link to comment
Joe L. Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 One problem after another. When I click on the file I get. What's up with that. I have already deleted my plus file and copied my Pro file to config folder of my flash so I would have no problem coping the file but I can't download it. I just tried and was able to download it. Perhaps I was editing the post when you went to download the file. Joe L. Quote Link to comment
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