Seagate NAS HDD vs WD Red?

[kirkdickinson]

I have been looking at hardware to put together a system. Everybody here seems to really like the WD Red drives, but on Newegg they have 3/5 dependability reviews. I realize that people usually only complain when they have problems, but there are a lot of reviews and a lot of complaints. I see there are two versions of the Red, Red and Red Pro. Is the regular Red the recommended drive?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...bbr=1&cm_re=ppssNAShdd-_-22-236-599-_-Product

What about the Seagate NAS?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...bbr=1&cm_re=ppssNAShdd-_-22-236-599-_-Product

These Seagate drives have nearly as many reviews and they are 4/5. Price difference is not important here.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Kirk

 

[SweetAndLow]

Did you try searching for this topic? it comes up about twice a week.

I think drives are drives and just buy what works for you and know that they will fail. When people on here talk about WD reds they are referring to the non pro versions. Spend your time thinking about how to mitigate the drive failure and not trying to prevent it.

 

[kirkdickinson]

I did search and keep hearing how good the reds are, but Newegg reviewers didn't really have a lot of love for them. With my last server build, I used a very expensive Areca RAID card and expensive drives. I built that in April of 2008 and I haven't had a single drive bite it in 7 years.

I am a big fan of doing a lot of research on hardware before taking the plunge. That system is running RAID 6 with a separate drive for the OS. I had the OS drive go south and replaced it but didn't loose the RAID because it was hardware RAID. I have an external dock that I alternate backup drives a couple times a week, so am prepared for crash or data loss. One backup is offsite. I am prepared for anything short of an EMP pulse.

I just looked back at my order sheet and those were WD Reds, so I guess that answers my question on the reliability of WD Reds.

 

[mjws00]

The Reds are very popular here. No real need for the pros for most of us, they spin a little faster... meh. There is a pretty good chunk of us that would have put WD and Seagate as equals at one point who are only buying WD. I'm pretty brand neutral and only buying WD and HGST at the moment.

 

[Bidule0hm]

The only difference I see between the WD red and the Seagate NAS (look at my sig if you want more details) is that the Seagate are noisier when they seek.

If I needed to choose which one to buy now I'd buy the WD red, but really they are very close, you'll be happy with both ;)

 

[kirkdickinson]

Thanks. I will change my wishlist to the Red.

 

[joeschmuck]

I know there have been a lot of complaints against the WD Reds however as you stated, most people without an issue don't tend to post except a few and complaints are pleantiful. I personally like the Reds, no complaints and have been running them continuously (parking disabled and not sleeping) for almost 3 years (warranty expires in a few months) and have had zero issues/errors. Based on my personal experience and the experience of others who I trust, the WD Reds seem very reliable. Of course there will be infant mortality, everyone has it so some drives will fail early. And you will have delivery people who could care less how rough they are with packages so they toss you hard drive around. This is why I buy from NewEgg, they have a fantastic return policy and I have had to use it because of jack ass delivery people (obvious shipping damage). Even if it costs me more money I still show where I can return the product without question and quickly.

 

[DrKK]

We have one guy (@marbus90) who is partial to the Seagates. Most of the rest of though, recommend WD reds. I have built several systems with WD reds, and I have yet to have any drive out of the two dozen or so I've purchased in the past 2 years have a single bit out of place in a FreeNAS.

You'll notice on Amazon, the reviews are very strong for the reds. I never understood why they were much more modest on Newegg. I wonder if Newegg maybe doesn't ship them as safely as Amazon.

 

[joeschmuck]

I wonder if Newegg maybe doesn't ship them as safely as Amazon.

I have had drives show up in lots of packaging and then the last drive I received showed up in a simple box and pressurized air mattress, the most minimalistic one to date. I was a bit unsure about the last drive I got (WD Purple drive) but it has been working for almost a year non-stop in my DirecTv DVR without issue. Again, at least NewEgg has a great return policy. I'm not sure how well Amazon packages and I'm not sure about how well the returns are handled.

 

[DrKK]

I have had drives show up in lots of packaging and then the last drive I received showed up in a simple box and pressurized air mattress, the most minimalistic one to date. I was a bit unsure about the last drive I got (WD Purple drive) but it has been working for almost a year non-stop in my DirecTv DVR without issue. Again, at least NewEgg has a great return policy. I'm not sure how well Amazon packages and I'm not sure about how well the returns are handled.

For the record, 100% of the WD reds I have bought were bought from Amazon.com, or MicroCenter retail locations. I have had zero RMA's, or any other issues.

 

[diedrichg]

EVERYTHING I buy from Newegg comes with excellent packaging on ONE side of the box but NOT the other! AYFKM?! Other than that, I love Newegg. I do, however, price shop with www.pcpartpicker.com first.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

I wonder if Newegg maybe doesn't ship them as safely as Amazon.

For some WD models Amazon claim to use "WD Certified packaging." I've never noticed that claim on Newegg. Now I can't find it on Amazon for the Reds, but I'm pretty sure that's what mine came in.

 

[Ericloewe]

In Europe, Amazon seems to have switched to packaging very similar to the one used by WD for retail drives (only smaller) - cardboard box with two plastic shock absorbers suspending the drive. These are then packed in typical Amazon boxes with whatever else was ordered.

Definitely better than the local computer hardware store, which just sells the drives in their bare antistatic packaging.

 

[cyberjock]

I did search and keep hearing how good the reds are, but Newegg reviewers didn't really have a lot of love for them. With my last server build, I used a very expensive Areca RAID card and expensive drives. I built that in April of 2008 and I haven't had a single drive bite it in 7 years.

I am a big fan of doing a lot of research on hardware before taking the plunge. That system is running RAID 6 with a separate drive for the OS. I had the OS drive go south and replaced it but didn't loose the RAID because it was hardware RAID. I have an external dock that I alternate backup drives a couple times a week, so am prepared for crash or data loss. One backup is offsite. I am prepared for anything short of an EMP pulse.

I just looked back at my order sheet and those were WD Reds, so I guess that answers my question on the reliability of WD Reds.

I had an almost identical setup at that time frame too. I'm definitely in the vote for WD Reds. I'm running 10x6TB of them in a RAIDZ2 and not had a single hiccup in a year.

 

[DrKK]

I had an almost identical setup at that time frame too. I'm definitely in the vote for WD Reds. I'm running 10x6TB of them in a RAIDZ2 and not had a single hiccup in a year.

Have the 6TB's been out for a whole year already? Jesus.

 

[cyberjock]

Purchased mine on 7/22/2014.. so very close. ;)

 

[Bhoot]

Maybe I have been unlucky but out of the 8 WD red 4tb I bought 3 have shown smart error

CRITICAL: Device: /dev/ada3, 1 Currently unreadable (pending) sectors

not sure how severe it is. but yes I have replaced them with disks from other system. Note the 3 failing were different disks of my 8 disk freenas array. Currently I am all set and I have sent 1 for RMA. 1 is pending the "WD test" and 1 shows no SMART fault in the WD software. I am holding the last one (no smart error) as a hot spare for now. I hope I don't face issues anymore with the current array.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Maybe I have been unlucky but out of the 8 WD red 4tb I bought 3 have shown smart error

View attachment 9584
not sure how severe it is. but yes I have replaced them with disks from other system. Note the 3 failing were different disks of my 8 disk freenas array. Currently I am all set and I have sent 1 for RMA. 1 is pending the "WD test" and 1 shows no SMART fault in the WD software. I am holding the last one (no smart error) as a hot spare for now. I hope I don't face issues anymore with the current array.

Do you have smart data to show why they failed? Could be poor environment or maintenance.

 

[Bhoot]

Do you have smart data to show why they failed? Could be poor environment or maintenance.

Would be happy to provide it. How do i obtain the said data? Currently my disks are running at a temp of 35C-40C obtained from the FreeNAS shell. 2 SP 120 fans blowing air straight on the cage. The place I live in is hot and humid yes but there is only so much I can do to control that part. The drives are constantly spinning with activity from various plugins so I would discount disks being idle and then starting all of a sudden causing such issue. I maintain a positive pressure cabinet cleaning the dust filters once in a fortnight and internals once in 30-45 days. So dust imo isn't a factor.
The first SMART error occurred within 3 months of assembly. The last 2 failed in quick succession in December (which happen to be the cooler months) with OAT about 20C average. I do have them in a tower case with 8 3.5" dedicated bay cage (no adapters/ extra fitting than what was provided by the manufacturer).
Infact even I am surprised that I am probably the only one suffering from such problems :(.

Right now scrubbing my disks for the last 2 hours so I guess I'll call them stressed

Code:

CPU temp :
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 42.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 46.0C
dev.cpu.2.temperature: 44.0C
dev.cpu.3.temperature: 47.0C
dev.cpu.4.temperature: 48.0C
dev.cpu.5.temperature: 44.0C

HDD temp :
ada7 38C WD-WCC4E2VSE6NP WDC
ada6 37C WD-WCC4E6KZN58Y WDC
ada5 38C WD-WCC4E4JL9D6R WDC
ada4 35C WD-WCC4E4KC79HK WDC
ada3 40C WD-WCC4E5PL8DNS WDC
ada2 38C WD-WCC4E4JL9NDZ WDC
ada1 38C WD-WCC4E4JL90L8 WDC
ada0 36C WD-WCC4E4JL934K WDC
da0

 

[DrKK]

Would be happy to provide it. How do i obtain the said data? Currently my disks are running at a temp of 35C-40C obtained from the FreeNAS shell. 2 SP 120 fans blowing air straight on the cage. The place I live in is hot and humid yes but there is only so much I can do to control that part. The drives are constantly spinning with activity from various plugins so I would discount disks being idle and then starting all of a sudden causing such issue. I maintain a positive pressure cabinet cleaning the dust filters once in a fortnight and internals once in 30-45 days. So dust imo isn't a factor.
The first SMART error occurred within 3 months of assembly. The last 2 failed in quick succession in December (which happen to be the cooler months) with OAT about 20C average. I do have them in a tower case with 8 3.5" dedicated bay cage (no adapters/ extra fitting than what was provided by the manufacturer).
Infact even I am surprised that I am probably the only one suffering from such problems :(.

Right now scrubbing my disks for the last 2 hours so I guess I'll call them stressed

Code:

CPU temp :
dev.cpu.0.temperature: 42.0C
dev.cpu.1.temperature: 46.0C
dev.cpu.2.temperature: 44.0C
dev.cpu.3.temperature: 47.0C
dev.cpu.4.temperature: 48.0C
dev.cpu.5.temperature: 44.0C

HDD temp :
ada7 38C WD-WCC4E2VSE6NP WDC
ada6 37C WD-WCC4E6KZN58Y WDC
ada5 38C WD-WCC4E4JL9D6R WDC
ada4 35C WD-WCC4E4KC79HK WDC
ada3 40C WD-WCC4E5PL8DNS WDC
ada2 38C WD-WCC4E4JL9NDZ WDC
ada1 38C WD-WCC4E4JL90L8 WDC
ada0 36C WD-WCC4E4JL934K WDC
da0

Issue

Code:

smartctl -x /dev/ada0

for each device ada0..adaN, then pastebin the result and give us the link.