Alternatives to 1TB RE2GP of WD (for a 4x1TB RAID 5) [help!]

Hard Drives, Optical Drives, USB keys, Flash memory. Need help with or have experiences with a storage device? Share it in here!
Post Reply
User avatar
Calamar
Legit Aficionado
Legit Aficionado
Posts: 96
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2007 6:48 am

Alternatives to 1TB RE2GP of WD (for a 4x1TB RAID 5) [help!]

Post by Calamar »

Hi,
I was going to set up a RAID5 4x1TB on a TX4650 promise raid controller. But it looks like those drives are MIA (as my first option 4x750GB WD7500FYPS) in Spain and will not be "available" again in about 4-5 weeks.
I'm looking for some help about:
1. Do you know any european shop (serious) where to find those drives? (I want 5) All I found say in 20-30 days they probably "have".
2. Which would be a "real" alternative for those drives? Maybe from hitachi (ultrastar series) or seagate (es.2 series)? Or any other ideas.

I'm not looking for a +30MB/s performance or -0.3ms random access, I'm looking for stability and reliability (and low wattage). It would be much appreciated any help coming from people who knows about 24x7 storage. :prayer:
Last edited by Calamar on Mon Sep 29, 2008 8:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
Image
User avatar
Calamar
Legit Aficionado
Legit Aficionado
Posts: 96
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2007 6:48 am

Re: Alternatives to 1TB GP-2 of WD (for a 4x1TB RAID 5) [help!]

Post by Calamar »

8) Thank you for so much views... I finally got the RE-2 GP Western Digital so alternatives are not required anymore. Lets RAID. :mrgreen:
Image
User avatar
Calamar
Legit Aficionado
Legit Aficionado
Posts: 96
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2007 6:48 am

Re: Alternatives to 1TB RE2GP of WD (for a 4x1TB RAID 5) [help!]

Post by Calamar »

The WD RE2-GP were broken (3 of 4). So I changed them for 4x Seagate ES.2 (ST3100340NS). If you have a Promise TX4650 remember to:

I publish this information for those who had never had a RAID5 configuration.

1. update to the latest BIOS always.
2. use the latest drivers.
3. use webpam to create the raid not the other interface because initialization is a long process. use a full initialization to create a RAID5. Wait until initialization is done before formating! It took 3 days (72h) to fully initialize a "4TB raid". Be patient.

RAID5 is not meant for performance but I post the HD Tach for those interested:
Image
Image
User avatar
Darkstar
Legit Extremist
Legit Extremist
Posts: 1910
Joined: Thu Feb 01, 2007 12:24 pm
Location: San Diego
Contact:

Re: Alternatives to 1TB RE2GP of WD (for a 4x1TB RAID 5) [help!]

Post by Darkstar »

Thanks, the Seagate HD's (Enterprise) are excellend Hard drives.

:drinkers:
Phenom II 1075T,Phenom II 1090T,Intel i7 870
Gigabyte 890XA-UD3
Evga GTX460
8 GB Corsair
Agility2 120GB SSD
Dual 24" Samsungs LCD's
User avatar
Apoptosis
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 33941
Joined: Sun Oct 05, 2003 8:45 pm
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Contact:

Re: Alternatives to 1TB RE2GP of WD (for a 4x1TB RAID 5) [help!]

Post by Apoptosis »

Calamar wrote:The WD RE2-GP were broken (3 of 4). So I changed them for 4x Seagate ES.2 (ST3100340NS). If you have a Promise TX4650 remember to:

I publish this information for those who had never had a RAID5 configuration.

1. update to the latest BIOS always.
2. use the latest drivers.
3. use webpam to create the raid not the other interface because initialization is a long process. use a full initialization to create a RAID5. Wait until initialization is done before formating! It took 3 days (72h) to fully initialize a "4TB raid". Be patient.

RAID5 is not meant for performance but I post the HD Tach for those interested:
Image
3 of the 4 WD drives were broken? What was wrong with them?
User avatar
Calamar
Legit Aficionado
Legit Aficionado
Posts: 96
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2007 6:48 am

Re: Alternatives to 1TB RE2GP of WD (for a 4x1TB RAID 5) [help!]

Post by Calamar »

Presented LBA BSR (constant reports via webpam) when initializing. 1,3,4 had so much bad sector reports that the controlled retired the disks before 5% of initialization.

Now I'm having problems with the seagates. The read speed is correct, but every time I copy a file inside the GPT begin writting at 50-60MB/s but after a few seconds speed (5-7s) is reduced to 6MB/s. I think this time is a controller problem. It is curious because with certain activities with other drives (f.e. copy a file from drive S: to T:) the write speed between whatever and the raid5 returns to 50-60MB/s.

I hate all this poltergeist raid issues. I'm really tired. Also I'm very disappointed with promise, their support (they reply fast but with no solution), and the information their provide about their products (compatibility lists). I don't know how other controllers are, but would never recommend promise. (I have a TX4310 and a TX4650).
Image
Post Reply