Seagate ST4000DM000 4TB drive rated at 2400 power-on hours


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I picked up one of these Seagate 4TB drives (internal packaging) and verified that it has a 2 year warranty (via Seagate's web site).  Reading the "Desktop HDD Data Sheet":

 

http://www.seagate.com/files/staticfiles/docs/pdf/datasheet/disc/barracuda-desktop-hdd-ds-1770-1-1212us.pdf

 

I saw them list "Best-Fit Applications":

 

-Desktop or all-in-one PCs

-Home servers

-PC-based gaming systems

-Desktop RAID

-Direct-attached external storage devices (DAS)

-Network-attached storage devices (NAS)

 

So sounds like a good choice for my unRAID box...

 

But on the next page they list the detailed specs and here they quote "Power-On Hours: 2400", which is only 100 days in 24x7 mode. 

 

My guess is that they might use this as a get out of warranty card.

 

So time to turn the drive spin down mode back on.

 

Regards,

 

Stephen

 

 

 

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It is not an error. It's along the lines of 3.2 hours each day for 2 years. Which is not a crazy number for an average person's home computer systems. Recognize yourself as an above average user of computers, you know not only what RAID is, but unRAID as well. Believe me very few who know RAID, know unRAID.

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According to this document...

 

http://www.seagate.com/files/docs/pdf/en-GB/whitepaper/7200-drive-spec-comparison-gb.pdf

 

it means 2400 hours when used for 8 hours a day, five days a week and also "on as needed". 

 

So, 60 weeks in total, apparently whether it is spinning or not (I would love to see a meaningful definition of "as needed").

 

Are there any Seagate lurkers here that can enlighten us?

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According to this document...

 

http://www.seagate.com/files/docs/pdf/en-GB/whitepaper/7200-drive-spec-comparison-gb.pdf

 

it means 2400 hours when used for 8 hours a day, five days a week and also "on as needed". 

 

So, 60 weeks in total, apparently whether it is spinning or not (I would love to see a meaningful definition of "as needed").

 

Are there any Seagate lurkers here that can enlighten us?

 

To me, all this is moot, the drive has a 2 year warranty.  In the last 6 months I had 6 1.5TB Seagate 7200 RPM drives, and a couple 2 TB Seagate drives which were nearing their warranty expiration.  Of these drives 6 of them in total had high re-allocated sectors near or above 100.  For each of these I requested an RMA, and received a replacement drive.  Some of the Power On hours were very high, in the 20,000-28,000 hour area and not once did they balk at this.  I wouldn't worry about this one bit.

 

-Marcus

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To me, all this is moot, the drive has a 2 year warranty.  In the last 6 months I had 6 1.5TB Seagate 7200 RPM drives, and a couple 2 TB Seagate drives which were nearing their warranty expiration.  Of these drives 6 of them in total had high re-allocated sectors near or above 100.  For each of these I requested an RMA, and received a replacement drive.  Some of the Power On hours were very high, in the 20,000-28,000 hour area and not once did they balk at this.  I wouldn't worry about this one bit.

 

-Marcus

 

The point is that I, and probably others, would worry about it.  Yes, there's a two year warranty, but the fact is that they specify a two year warranty constrained by a ridiculously low power on hours figure, bearing in mind that they also promote (in the first document quoted) the drives as suitable for home servers and NAS devices, which are typically powered 24/7.  It simply does not make sense.  I would generally prefer to buy drives and other parts where I know for sure what I am getting.

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To me, all this is moot, the drive has a 2 year warranty.  In the last 6 months I had 6 1.5TB Seagate 7200 RPM drives, and a couple 2 TB Seagate drives which were nearing their warranty expiration.  Of these drives 6 of them in total had high re-allocated sectors near or above 100.  For each of these I requested an RMA, and received a replacement drive.  Some of the Power On hours were very high, in the 20,000-28,000 hour area and not once did they balk at this.  I wouldn't worry about this one bit.

 

-Marcus

 

The point is that I, and probably others, would worry about it.  Yes, there's a two year warranty, but the fact is that they specify a two year warranty constrained by a ridiculously low power on hours figure, bearing in mind that they also promote (in the first document quoted) the drives as suitable for home servers and NAS devices, which are typically powered 24/7.  It simply does not make sense.  I would generally prefer to buy drives and other parts where I know for sure what I am getting.

 

I agree, I had bought the first drive on the basis of their "Best-fit applications" list and that it had a 2 year warranty, it was when I was considering buying a second that I looked further (I wanted to check the power requirements) and saw the odd 2400 hour issue and this has made me stop to consider what to do. 

 

Heck I'm spending the first 100 hours (4.2%) of the drive's life just running a 2-cycle preclear...

 

Regards,

 

Stephen

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To me, all this is moot, the drive has a 2 year warranty.  In the last 6 months I had 6 1.5TB Seagate 7200 RPM drives, and a couple 2 TB Seagate drives which were nearing their warranty expiration.  Of these drives 6 of them in total had high re-allocated sectors near or above 100.  For each of these I requested an RMA, and received a replacement drive.  Some of the Power On hours were very high, in the 20,000-28,000 hour area and not once did they balk at this.  I wouldn't worry about this one bit.

 

-Marcus

 

The point is that I, and probably others, would worry about it.  Yes, there's a two year warranty, but the fact is that they specify a two year warranty constrained by a ridiculously low power on hours figure, bearing in mind that they also promote (in the first document quoted) the drives as suitable for home servers and NAS devices, which are typically powered 24/7.  It simply does not make sense.  I would generally prefer to buy drives and other parts where I know for sure what I am getting.

 

I agree, I had bought the first drive on the basis of their "Best-fit applications" list and that it had a 2 year warranty, it was when I was considering buying a second that I looked further (I wanted to check the power requirements) and saw the odd 2400 hour issue and this has made me stop to consider what to do. 

 

Heck I'm spending the first 100 hours (4.2%) of the drive's life just running a 2-cycle preclear...

 

Regards,

 

Stephen

 

I'm sure I could read the fine print on my things I buy on a daily basis that would make me ponder this.  If we were talking about a drive manufacturer that sells 1000 drives a month, and get's 10 RMA's a month, then I would worry about this.  With as many drives as Seagate sells, there is no easy/feasible way for them to check every drive upon receipt, and approve/deny the warranty according to power on hours.

 

If Seagate suddenly changes their RMA procedures, then I would worry.

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  • 9 years later...

I have this model seagate ST4000DM000-2AE166 4000.7, it has been on for 54,202 hours and its just now throwing a caution, I have had the Drive since 2015. it has 5 reallocated sectors, 99 uncorrectable sectors, and 99 pending sectors.. S.M.A.R.T says drive status is ok, I have begun transferring important stuff off of it, and im going to replace it with A WD Red NAS drive, or a Seagate Iron Wolf Nas Drive same capacity.. I only use it for storage anyway
 

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