Which 2 TB drive should I buy?

[BRiT]

Is this firmware already released and how to you upgdate the hard drive with it?

Yes, see the warning Samsung Data Corruption link in my signature for it's firmware update details.

[artagnan]

Hi!

I have bought several HD204UI. I've read in other forums that the 2011 produced HD204UI (mine are from 2011.02) have the new firm/patch installed by Samsung. Is it true? If it's true I need only to preclear them. Hope someone can confirm this point.

Thanks in advance.

[neilt0]

Is this firmware already released and how to you upgdate the hard drive with it?

Yes, see the warning Samsung Data Corruption link in my signature for it's firmware update details.

You need to troublesoot your Sig!

[Superorb]

Hi!

I have bought several HD204UI. I've read in other forums that the 2011 produced HD204UI (mine are from 2011.02) have the new firm/patch installed by Samsung. Is it true? If it's true I need only to preclear them. Hope someone can confirm this point.

Thanks in advance.

Check the other thread for replies to your question.

[rajsri]

Hello,

Not sure if I should start a new thread. Thought of asking here first:

What is the list of BEST 2TB hard drives for Parity Drive? 

I know Partity drive is a important one. This is what I have in mind so far:
Samsung 2TB HD204UI
HITACHI Deskstar 5K3000 2TB

Please let me know if you recommend anything else. Should I go for a 7200RPM one (for Parity drive)? Thanks...

[Superorb]

Hello,

Not sure if I should start a new thread. Thought of asking here first:

What is the list of BEST 2TB hard drives for Parity Drive? 

I know Partity drive is a important one. This is what I have in mind so far:
Samsung 2TB HD204UI
HITACHI Deskstar 5K3000 2TB

Please let me know if you recommend anything else. Should I go for a 7200RPM one (for Parity drive)? Thanks...

If you lose a parity disk you can still recover as long as no other disks die while you're rebuilding the Parity drive. The Samsung is fine as long as you flash the firmware with the JP1 firmware, otherwise it cannot be trusted. I have one, and it's been great. I also have one of the 5K3000 drives and it's been good, albeit a little slower than the F4.

If you use a cache drive the speed of the parity drive doesn't really come into play. If you don't use a cache drive, it might be slightly faster with a 7200rpm drive, but I'd rather not have the added heat and power draw of one.

[wsume99]

I know Partity drive is a important one.

The parity drive is not any more important than any of the other drives.

Having a 7200 rpm parity drive in an array with all green data drives is basically useless.  You won't see much of a benefit until all the drives in your server are 7200 rpm.  The best way to achieve maximum performance from your array is to use a 7200 rpm cache drive - all the others can be green drives.

[rajsri]

Thanks. Now I understood this, whats the better MODKE/MODEL for Parity?
Samsung 2TB HD204UI
HITACHI Deskstar 5K3000 2TB

[wsume99]

I would say they are going to perform pretty much the same. So the difference would be in cost and reliability/reputation.  Right now I personally think the 5k3000 is the better of the two drives.  Mainly just because I'm a little afraid to use the Samsung after the firmware problems they've had recently.  They supposedly have it fixed but I'm staying away from Samsug for a while just in case.

[Superorb]

I'd say go for whichever one is cheaper, and right now that's the Hitachi by far when you factor in the rebate.

[rajsri]

Thanks... one more quick question, if I plan to use cache drive, does it's size need to match to parity's or other drive's size? I was planning to use 2TB for all the drives and 750GB for the cache drive. Is this fine?

[Superorb]

Thanks... one more quick question, if I plan to use cache drive, does it's size need to match to parity's or other drive's size? I was planning to use 2TB for all the drives and 750GB for the cache drive. Is this fine?

Cache drive can be ANY size, it is not tied to anything else.

[rajsri]

Thanks... I am going to build my FIRST unRAID server build over the weekend and shall post my results here (motherboard etc.,)...

[wsume99]

The rule of thumb related to cache drive size is that it should be large enough to handle the most data you would ever write to the array in a single day.  If you try to write more data to the array than can fit on the cache drive you will eventually get a disk full error.  Other than the first time you populate the array with data - which you should do before establishing parity BTW - I'd be surprised if you wrote more than 50-75GB of data to your array in a single day. But only you will know how much data you'll be writing. You can also partition your cache drive and use some of the space for installing apps like sabnzbd. You can basically use any old drive you have lying around for a cache drive.  If you don't have anything already I'd suggest something in the range of 160-320 GB.  500Gb would probably be WAY more than you'd ever need.  Just get whatever you can find the best deal on.

[furymaster]

So, I'm a *little* bit odd...

My cache drive is a 2TB drive - I use it until my server needs more space, then I'll add it to the array, that's why...