5400rpm vs 7200rpm issue?

[JELo]

Call me crazy, but in my dealings with the lower range "thousand" series Snap Servers, I have come across 1000 and 2000 series Snap Servers that ran well with their original smaller 5400rpm drives (Maxtor and Quantum). However, when upgraded to larger 7200rpm drives (Seagate and Western Digital) would occasionally 'hang' during large or extended data transfer sessions (rapidly flashing System light, Link light on, Net and Disk lights off) - with no error codes logged. These upgrade 7200rpm drives when moved to 1100 and 2200 series Snaps (and rebuilt) worked with no problems. Now, I only ran 3.4.805 on the 1000 and 2000 series units where I ran 4.0.860 on the 1100 and 2200 series units and, of course, there may be a thermal component to the equation as the 7200rpm drives tend to run hotter. It makes me wonder if there isn't some sort of timing or other issue when using the faster 7200rpm drives with the older 1000 and 2000 series Snaps? Any comments? JELo

[dgoodrich]

I have been using two 250GB WD 7200rpm drives in my v2 2000 for a while now with no issues. The air that comes out of the case is barely warm, even during heavy transfers, so I don't think heat is necessarily an issue.

[blue68f100]

Timming can be if you have one of the drives having seek problems. The Panic you describe is typical bad drive behavior. If drives are new and not server drives the media has not been checked for flaws. So any smart tech activity like remapping may through off the timing. This is were I use SpinRite, to check media. You also need to watch for how the jumpers are set on these older units,too, makes a difference.

[JELo]

Hmm, will have to think about those ideas. I too have a WD2500(JB?) that runs well in the 1100 and doesn't seem to get too hot - warm but not hot. The WD800(BB?) in the 1000 doesn't seem to get too hot but occasionally has issues. I never noticed any problems when it was in the 1100, or when it was my primary drive in a P4 D865GLCLK based computer. When I had the Seagate 500GB pair (7200.10's) in the 2000 it would occasionally hang on trasfers but I have had no problems with them in a 2200. These were purchased new when put in the 2000 and moved over to the 2200 (and rebuilt under 4.0.860) after several months. These do seem to run warmer than any other drives I have dealt with. The CPU fan in the 2000 turned on quite often where it almost never turns on with the two original Quantum 30GB drives. I think I will look for an older drive to try in the 1000 to see if it is more stable.

When the 1000 goes into panic mode, is there anything you can do? I tried pressing the start and reset buttons in various combinations but it never seemed to do anything. I eventually unplugged the power brick, let it sit for a minute, plugged it back in and it fired right up with no problems. Checked the logs and it doesn't indicate anything.

Thanks for the info, JELo

[blue68f100]

When it goes into panic there is not much you can done. Pulling the power is your only option. You can still get 5400rpm drives. It could be a thermal problem during large transfers. I know the 1000 run 10 deg cooler than the 1100. The 1000 controlls between 95-135. On the 1100's 105-145. Also the way they are design, you need to cover the opening by the connectors, if you have the case off. Other wise it will not exhaust the heat. Once the temp reaches ~160deg it will start crashing. The 2200 does not have thermal control, the 2000v1 does not either. If you can wire the CPU fan so it will run 24/7. The cooler they run the better,

I noticed on my 4500 (with the 4 x 400gig Seagates) was having problems when I first set it up. After running SpinRite on them it improved. I have one drive in the set that has a buch of bad sectors and has seek problems. Not bad enough to signal the Smart parameter as a bad drive. When I do large transfers it shows up.