Need to replace an HDD. Where to buy? 3TB are weirdly out of stock or expensive and a little How-To?

[thedirtmerchant]

I have 6 WD Red drives.
1 of them is now having unreadable sectors and the error count has gone up to 2.
I'm looking to replace w/ another 3TB Red Plus, but there are barely any available at my local Microcenter or Amazon.
Where have people been buying their HDDs lately?

Also, I see that the 4TB is barely more expensive...and would consider replacing the 3TB w/ the 4TB one at a time.
Is this still the same...when I replace 1 3TB w/ a 4TB, nothing will change, but once I replace all drives with 4TB, then I will "magically" get more space and
not need to mess w/ any settings?

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

1. buy 4 TB.

2. yes, exactly - replace all drives, enjoy larger capacity.

 

[danb35]

Is this still the same...when I replace 1 3TB w/ a 4TB, nothing will change, but once I replace all drives with 4TB, then I will "magically" get more space and
not need to mess w/ any settings?

That hasn't changed. Though unless your signature's out of date, you're running quite an old and unsupported version of FreeNAS; I'd recommend you update to current TrueNAS when possible. Not that it's directly relevant to your question.

I'd suggest you look at larger drives too, as the $/TB gets better, to an extent, the larger the drive is. Looking at WD Red Plus drives at Newegg, right now 3 TB are $99 ($33/TB), 4 TB are $94 ($24/TB), 6 TB are $139 ($23/TB), and 8 TB are $169 ($21/TB).

 

[thedirtmerchant]

That hasn't changed. Though unless your signature's out of date, you're running quite an old and unsupported version of FreeNAS; I'd recommend you update to current TrueNAS when possible. Not that it's directly relevant to your question.

I'd suggest you look at larger drives too, as the $/TB gets better, to an extent, the larger the drive is. Looking at WD Red Plus drives at Newegg, right now 3 TB are $99 ($33/TB), 4 TB are $94 ($24/TB), 6 TB are $139 ($23/TB), and 8 TB are $169 ($21/TB).

Since you mention it...I am running the old and out of date version of FreeNAS.
Someone mentioned: "Current is 13.0-U5.3, I would suggest a 12.0-U8 > 12.1 > 13.0 path, then use the WebUI to update to current release."

Is there an upgrade path I need to follow? Any general walkthrus you could point me to?
Is it just the regular upgrades as usual from one to the next...or do I need to be aware of anything specific along the way to get it done correctly.

 

[thedirtmerchant]

Maybe I'll move to 6 or 8TB...
Does the Cache size matter (lol) for the HDDs? The 128MB Cache seems to be more expensive compared to the 256MB by a noticeable amount (for the 4 and 6TB at least)

 

[winnielinnie]

You know, for 8TB and higher, there's always... shucking.

 

[thedirtmerchant]

You know, for 8TB and higher, there's always... shucking.

this seems to involve buying a lot of guitar picks. How much am I saving this way?

 

[Patrick M. Hausen]

Someone mentioned: "Current is 13.0-U5.3, I would suggest a 12.0-U8 > 12.1 > 13.0 path, then use the WebUI to update to current release."

Current is 13.0-U6.1 and there never was a 12.1 release version. So upgrade path would be:

1. latest minor update for your current version
2. 12.0-U8.1
3. 13.0-U6.1

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

this seems to involve buying a lot of guitar picks. How much am I saving this way?

Enough to buy a set of strings. Used.

Some people seem to have good luck with it and don't mind the effort involved.

Is FreeNAS working well for you? Do you have a 3-2-1 backup plan? If so....don't fix what ain't broken?

 

[MrGuvernment]

Enough to buy a set of strings. Used.

Some people seem to have good luck with it and don't mind the effort involved.

Is FreeNAS working well for you? Do you have a 3-2-1 backup plan? If so....don't fix what ain't broken?

Running on old unsupported versions is not ideal, as it just leaves things open to potential problems that may be fixed, as well as performance improvements, stability, as well of course as security.

 

[danb35]

this seems to involve buying a lot of guitar picks. How much am I saving this way?

Current price for WD Elements 20 TB at Amazon: US$335
WD Red Pro 20 TB at Newegg: US$379 (the Red Plus would be a better comparison, but I don't see that model in 20 TB).

 

[thedirtmerchant]

Current price for WD Elements 20 TB at Amazon: US$335
WD Red Pro 20 TB at Newegg: US$379 (the Red Plus would be a better comparison, but I don't see that model in 20 TB).

yeah...that's way beyond my means/needs.
I'll probably go with 6TB or 8TB...and then replace the 3TB as they fail.
Though...I could just go $30ish cheaper with the 4TB at $94...
At the moment with the 3TB, I'm only using up 30% of my space...
Future proofing will probably be the move though...

 

[thedirtmerchant]

Current is 13.0-U6.1 and there never was a 12.1 release version. So upgrade path would be:

1. latest minor update for your current version
2. 12.0-U8.1
3. 13.0-U6.1

Upgrade complete. Now running 13.0-U6.1