This was sent to me in PM and I felt it worthy of posting in this thread...
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Originally Posted by Sifter
Fry's has a really good deal on these drives! Free shipping too. So exactly what have you seen with the cable select issue with Seagate drives?
$49.99 and free shipping is cheap!
http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4596257 |
This goes beyond what you asked, but is in the spirit of what you asked.
Okay for starters, keep in mind I have been in this field for a lot of years (30+), and at one point, was in a shop in the military where our shop was responsible for many thousands of computers. Because it was a military installation, dead hard drives could not be just thrown out. They had to be destroyed. The place that did the destruction (with huge magnets that would literaly rip the drive units apart) only did it for us once a year. So, until that one time a year, we had to store those dead drives in a large walk in safe for security purposes (the drive could have classified material on them). Keep this in mind when I tell you I am familiar with failure rates of various hard drives companies.
When I worked in that shop, we had a ton, and I do mean a ton, of dead hard drives. Guess which brand had the highest number of dead drives per units in the field? Yup, Maxtor. Guess who was second? Seagate. Guess who was last? Western Digital (with Quantum, who is no longer around in close rear also). Now you know why I use WD drives. Yes, it has been a few years since then, and drive companies do change over time, but my personal experiences and work in another civilian shop (also large) says it aint changed that much if you get my drift.
Now let's talk about the drives you put a link to. First of all, those are 7200.8 revision Seagates. Go read the reviews on that model. The 7200.7 and current 7200.10 model had decent reviews, but the 7200.8 models got terrible reviews with high failure rates (the 7200.9 weren't much better). They were not very well loved by the community. That right there is reason enough to pass over those drives, and should tell you why they are so cheap...
Next, and more direct to what you asked. I won't go into all the boring details, but I can tell you what happened when using 4 Seagate 7200.9 250 GB drives in a SNAP 4000. When in C/S, like they should be in a -003 or -004 model, the drives would drop in and out, kind of like when you have a weak power supply. But when in M/S, they would work fine. With 4 Quantum 30 GB drives or 4 WD 250 GB drives, this did not happen, but it did with the 4 Seagate 250 GB drives. I found the root cause down the road (long and boring topic), but Seagate's lousy tech support when it comes to utilities made the solution that much more difficult to achieve.
So use M/S right? Sure, go ahead. But here is a little dirty secret about the SNAP 4000 for you. There is a reason the -003 and -004 versions went to C/S. If you are in M/S mode, RAID 5, and a drive fails, if you reboot the unit with the failed drive removed or that drive's electronics fails (anything that makes that drive disappear to the controller), the 4000 will fail the other drive. What happens in a RAID 5 array when 2 drives fail (are failed)? Yup, bye bye data... Not a very secure RAID 5 is it? Thus, they made a mod for the -003 and -004 revisions so this would not happen. They use C/S mode. And before someone asks, even though all of this is covered in another message thread, the revision -001 and -002 can be used in C/S mode, but you have to modify the cables.
So, what have I seen with the C/S issue? Or a better question, what do I think about using those Seagate drives? I think it is clear here, but just in case. I myself don't think very highly of it. To use crap drives that are known for heat and high failure rates in most likely a mode that prevents a good secure RAID 5 in a SNAP 4000, is just not a good idea in my opinion. Simple as that.
Disclaimer: I know some people swear by Seagate drives and even use large quanities of them for various reasons and your experiences may be different. If you like Seagate drives, more power to you. Use them if you like. If you disagree, then please feel free to tell Sifter all about it and let him make up his own mind. But DO NOT try to start a debate with me about it or send me e-mail or PM about it. If you are a Seagate fanboy, I doubt I will be able to change your mind (nor do I care to waste time trying), but I can assure you that you won't change my view on it. So just leave it be. And yes, I am aware of the various warranties offered by the various companies. Just remember, that warranty does not cover YOUR DATA!