[mythtv-users] warning for anyone with western digital green drives

[PJR]

I tried using 2 WD Green 1TB 64MB cache drives in a raid 1 setup for
myth storage, I used an SDD for all the s/w. The system would not start
due to the raid failing one drive. After lots of investigation I ran
smarttools only to find that both drives failed on read failures for the
same LBA. I've sent both drives back hoping to get them replaced.
However, further investigation suggests these drives are not suitable
for raid because of the power down issue. If the drives are replaced,
I'll try smarttools on them and if this is ok I'll try them in a raid
setup again and see what happens.




On 06/01/12 10:18, Tim Draper wrote:
> i had this issue on a 1tb WD drive, on a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo.
> the drive was actually clicking in and out alot, and was only a
> problem on earlier firmware drives iirc.
>
> i do know WD use a different head unload mechanism than some
> manufacturers do/used to, so weather or not the unloading count figure
> is something to be seriously concerned about, i dont know. WD use a
> safe method where it removes the heads from the disk surface. other
> manufactures leave the heads still intact with the surface, so load
> cycle count does have a consequence.
>
> however since my issue with the RND-Duo was the fact the drive kept
> dropping in and out of low power mode, causing a 3second delay while
> the drive span up again, i cant say if this is detrimental to drive
> lifespan. SMART data only tells half the story really.
> anyway, ran wdidle3, extended the timer in question, and everything was ok.
>
> i suspect in a mythtv environment, drive spindown is not desired.
>
> with that said, where does the HDD cache stand in all of this? some of
> the newer drives are coming with 32 and 64mb cache now - would this
> overcome the 3sec drive spinup period upon access, when using
> aggressive power saving features?
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