WD Green load cycle question

[no_connection]

From what I can see WD does not think LCC is a problem for their RED drives, at least that is the response people have gotten.

I see a lot of complaining about it, but no evidence that it would be bad. And no evidence that any drives have gone bad because of it.
Any info about the issue would be appreciated.

 

[Ramboxman]

Code:

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
 
Model Family: Western Digital Red (AF)
 
Device Model: WDC WD10EFRX-68PJCN0
 
Serial Number:
 
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 25eb02d84
 
Firmware Version: 01.01A01
 
User Capacity: 1,000,204,886,016 bytes [1.00 TB]
 
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
 
Rotation Rate: 5400 rpm
 
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
 
ATA Version is: ACS-2 (minor revision not indicated)
 
SATA Version is: SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s)
 
Local Time is: Tue Jan 7 16:46:19 2014 CST
 
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
 
SMART support is: Enabled
 
AAM feature is: Unavailable
 
APM feature is: Unavailable
 
Rd look-ahead is: Enabled
 
Write cache is: Enabled
 
ATA Security is: Disabled, frozen [SEC2]
 
Wt Cache Reorder: Enabled
 
=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
 
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
 
General SMART Values:
 
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity
 
was never started.
 
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
 
Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed
 
without error or no self-test has ever
 
been run.
 
Total time to complete Offline
 
data collection: (13200) seconds.
 
Offline data collection
 
capabilities: (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
 
Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
 
Suspend Offline collection upon new
 
command.
 
Offline surface scan supported.
 
Self-test supported.
 
Conveyance Self-test supported.
 
Selective Self-test supported.
 
SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
 
power-saving mode.
 
Supports SMART auto save timer.
 
Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.
 
General Purpose Logging supported.
 
Short self-test routine
 
recommended polling time: ( 2) minutes.
 
Extended self-test routine
 
recommended polling time: ( 150) minutes.
 
Conveyance self-test routine
 
recommended polling time: ( 5) minutes.
 
SCT capabilities: (0x303d) SCT Status supported.
 
SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
 
SCT Feature Control supported.
 
SCT Data Table supported.
 
SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
 
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
 
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAGS VALUE WORST THRESH FAIL RAW_VALUE
 
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate POSR-K 200 200 051 - 0
 
3 Spin_Up_Time POS--K 138 134 021 - 4100
 
4 Start_Stop_Count -O--CK 100 100 000 - 22
 
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct PO--CK 200 200 140 - 0
 
7 Seek_Error_Rate -OSR-K 200 200 000 - 0
 
9 Power_On_Hours -O--CK 099 099 000 - 836
 
10 Spin_Retry_Count -O--CK 100 253 000 - 0
 
11 Calibration_Retry_Count -O--CK 100 253 000 - 0
 
12 Power_Cycle_Count -O--CK 100 100 000 - 22
 
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count -O--CK 200 200 000 - 9
 
193 Load_Cycle_Count -O--CK 182 182 000 - 54778
 
194 Temperature_Celsius -O---K 115 112 000 - 28
 
196 Reallocated_Event_Count -O--CK 200 200 000 - 0
 
197 Current_Pending_Sector -O--CK 200 200 000 - 0
 
198 Offline_Uncorrectable ----CK 100 253 000 - 0
 
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count -O--CK 200 200 000 - 0
 
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate ---R-- 100 253 000 - 0
 
||||||_ K auto-keep
 
|||||__ C event count
 
||||___ R error rate
 
|||____ S speed/performance
 
||_____ O updated online
 
|______ P prefailure warning
 
ATA_READ_LOG_EXT (addr=0x00:0x00, page=0, n=1) failed: 48-bit ATA commands not implemented for legacy controllers
 
Read GP Log Directory failed
 
SMART Log Directory Version 1 [multi-sector log support]
 
Address Access R/W Size Description
 
0x00 SL R/O 1 Log Directory
 
0x01 SL R/O 1 Summary SMART error log
 
0x02 SL R/O 5 Comprehensive SMART error log
 
0x06 SL R/O 1 SMART self-test log
 
0x09 SL R/W 1 Selective self-test log
 
0x80-0x9f SL R/W 16 Host vendor specific log
 
0xa0-0xa7 SL VS 16 Device vendor specific log
 
0xa8-0xb7 SL VS 1 Device vendor specific log
 
0xbd SL VS 1 Device vendor specific log
 
0xc0 SL VS 1 Device vendor specific log
 
0xe0 SL R/W 1 SCT Command/Status
 
0xe1 SL R/W 1 SCT Data Transfer
 
SMART Extended Comprehensive Error Log (GP Log 0x03) not supported
 
SMART Error Log Version: 1
 
No Errors Logged
 
SMART Extended Self-test Log (GP Log 0x07) not supported
 
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
 
No self-tests have been logged. [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]
 
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 
SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
 
1 0 0 Not_testing
 
2 0 0 Not_testing
 
3 0 0 Not_testing
 
4 0 0 Not_testing
 
5 0 0 Not_testing
 
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
 
After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
 
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.
 
SCT Status Version: 3
 
SCT Version (vendor specific): 258 (0x0102)
 
SCT Support Level: 1
 
Device State: Active (0)
 
Current Temperature: 28 Celsius
 
Power Cycle Min/Max Temperature: 27/31 Celsius
 
Lifetime Min/Max Temperature: 21/31 Celsius
 
Under/Over Temperature Limit Count: 0/0
 
SCT Temperature History Version: 2
 
Temperature Sampling Period: 1 minute
 
Temperature Logging Interval: 1 minute
 
Min/Max recommended Temperature: 0/60 Celsius
 
Min/Max Temperature Limit: -41/85 Celsius
 
Temperature History Size (Index): 478 (7)
 
Index Estimated Time Temperature Celsius
 
8 2014-01-07 08:49 28 *********
 
... ..(172 skipped). .. *********
 
181 2014-01-07 11:42 28 *********
 
182 2014-01-07 11:43 29 **********
 
... ..( 19 skipped). .. **********
 
202 2014-01-07 12:03 29 **********
 
203 2014-01-07 12:04 30 ***********
 
... ..( 79 skipped). .. ***********
 
283 2014-01-07 13:24 30 ***********
 
284 2014-01-07 13:25 29 **********
 
... ..( 58 skipped). .. **********
 
343 2014-01-07 14:24 29 **********
 
344 2014-01-07 14:25 28 *********
 
... ..(140 skipped). .. *********
 
7 2014-01-07 16:46 28 *********
 
SCT Error Recovery Control:
 
Read: 70 (7.0 seconds)
 
Write: 70 (7.0 seconds)
 
Device Statistics (GP Log 0x04) not supported
 
ATA_READ_LOG_EXT (addr=0x11:0x00, page=0, n=1) failed: 48-bit ATA commands not implemented for legacy controllers
 
Read SATA Phy Event Counters failed

 

[Yatti420]

Edit: Please use the code tags to paste shell info..



Hmm.. If this is now standard for the red drives I can see the load cycle count going up very fast with FreeNAS.. With or without jails.. It's caused me alot of issues with the greens and using them with media straight out of the box..

With the idle timer so short at 8 secs the drives end up sleeping or whatever causing an llc increases when streaming media etc.. If the drive actually starts spinning down and then get's a new request it will be even harder on the drives/components as it spins back up etc..

My standard approach if I was to purchase red/greens at this point is test them.. take a look at idle timer.. disable or max out..

 

[Ramboxman]

Thanks, Edited post above never use code tags in forums before. I really appreciate your feedback and I am also awfully glad I caught this before my drives died prematurely. I agree, once my replacement drives arrive from Amazon I will disable the idle time before I resilver the drives. I will also update if this drive have the 8 second idle timer as well, I decided to just resilver the whole array to 2tb drives and replace all 5 of them.

 

[joeschmuck]

This is my drive results so I'm not sure what is going on with the Red drives you have.

Code:

smartctl -x /dev/ada5
smartctl 6.2 2013-07-26 r3841 [FreeBSD 9.2-RELEASE amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-13, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Western Digital Red (AF)
Device Model:     WDC WD20EFRX-68AX9N0
Serial Number:    WD-WMC3004106xx
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 602cde278
Firmware Version: 80.00A80
User Capacity:    2,000,398,934,016 bytes [2.00 TB]
Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   ACS-2 (minor revision not indicated)
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Tue Jan  7 21:59:48 2014 EST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
AAM feature is:   Unavailable
APM feature is:   Unavailable
Rd look-ahead is: Enabled
Write cache is:   Enabled
ATA Security is:  Disabled, NOT FROZEN [SEC1]
Wt Cache Reorder: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x00) Offline data collection activity
                                        was never started.
                                        Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0) The previous self-test routine completed
                                        without error or no self-test has ever
                                        been run.
Total time to complete Offline
data collection:                (27840) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:                    (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                                        Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                                        Suspend Offline collection upon new
                                        command.
                                        Offline surface scan supported.
                                        Self-test supported.
                                        Conveyance Self-test supported.
                                        Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
                                        power-saving mode.
                                        Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
                                        General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (   2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:        ( 281) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (   5) minutes.
SCT capabilities:              (0x70bd) SCT Status supported.
                                        SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
                                        SCT Feature Control supported.
                                        SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAGS    VALUE WORST THRESH FAIL RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     POSR-K   200   200   051    -    0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            POS--K   179   173   021    -    4033
  4 Start_Stop_Count        -O--CK   100   100   000    -    293
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   PO--CK   200   200   140    -    0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         -OSR-K   200   200   000    -    0
  9 Power_On_Hours          -O--CK   086   086   000    -    10698
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        -O--CK   100   100   000    -    0
 11 Calibration_Retry_Count -O--CK   100   253   000    -    0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       -O--CK   100   100   000    -    100
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count -O--CK   200   200   000    -    42
193 Load_Cycle_Count        -O--CK   200   200   000    -    250
194 Temperature_Celsius     -O---K   109   103   000    -    38
196 Reallocated_Event_Count -O--CK   200   200   000    -    0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  -O--CK   200   200   000    -    0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   ----CK   100   253   000    -    0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    -O--CK   200   200   000    -    0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate   ---R--   200   200   000    -    0
                            ||||||_ K auto-keep
                            |||||__ C event count
                            ||||___ R error rate
                            |||____ S speed/performance
                            ||_____ O updated online
                            |______ P prefailure warning

General Purpose Log Directory Version 1
SMART           Log Directory Version 1 [multi-sector log support]
Address    Access  R/W   Size  Description
0x00       GPL,SL  R/O      1  Log Directory
0x01           SL  R/O      1  Summary SMART error log
0x02           SL  R/O      5  Comprehensive SMART error log
0x03       GPL     R/O      6  Ext. Comprehensive SMART error log
0x06           SL  R/O      1  SMART self-test log
0x07       GPL     R/O      1  Extended self-test log
0x09           SL  R/W      1  Selective self-test log
0x10       GPL     R/O      1  NCQ Command Error log
0x11       GPL     R/O      1  SATA Phy Event Counters
0x21       GPL     R/O      1  Write stream error log
0x22       GPL     R/O      1  Read stream error log
0x80-0x9f  GPL,SL  R/W     16  Host vendor specific log
0xa0-0xa7  GPL,SL  VS      16  Device vendor specific log
0xa8-0xb7  GPL,SL  VS       1  Device vendor specific log
0xbd       GPL,SL  VS       1  Device vendor specific log
0xc0       GPL,SL  VS       1  Device vendor specific log
0xc1       GPL     VS      93  Device vendor specific log
0xe0       GPL,SL  R/W      1  SCT Command/Status
0xe1       GPL,SL  R/W      1  SCT Data Transfer

SMART Extended Comprehensive Error Log Version: 1 (6 sectors)
No Errors Logged

SMART Extended Self-test Log Version: 1 (1 sectors)
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10681         -
# 2  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%     10663         -
# 3  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10657         -
# 4  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10633         -
# 5  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10609         -
# 6  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10585         -
# 7  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10561         -
# 8  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10537         -
# 9  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10513         -
#10  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%     10495         -
#11  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10489         -
#12  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10465         -
#13  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10441         -
#14  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10417         -
#15  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10393         -
#16  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10369         -
#17  Short offline       Completed without error       00%     10345         -
#18  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%     10327         -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

SCT Status Version:                  3
SCT Version (vendor specific):       258 (0x0102)
SCT Support Level:                   1
Device State:                        Active (0)
Current Temperature:                    38 Celsius
Power Cycle Min/Max Temperature:     27/44 Celsius
Lifetime    Min/Max Temperature:     19/44 Celsius
Under/Over Temperature Limit Count:   0/0
SCT Temperature History Version:     2
Temperature Sampling Period:         1 minute
Temperature Logging Interval:        1 minute
Min/Max recommended Temperature:      0/60 Celsius
Min/Max Temperature Limit:           -41/85 Celsius
Temperature History Size (Index):    478 (156)

Index    Estimated Time   Temperature Celsius
 157    2014-01-07 14:02    37  ******************
 ...    ..(430 skipped).    ..  ******************
 110    2014-01-07 21:13    37  ******************
 111    2014-01-07 21:14    38  *******************
 ...    ..( 16 skipped).    ..  *******************
 128    2014-01-07 21:31    38  *******************
 129    2014-01-07 21:32    37  ******************
 ...    ..( 26 skipped).    ..  ******************
 156    2014-01-07 21:59    37  ******************

SCT Error Recovery Control:
           Read:     70 (7.0 seconds)
          Write:     70 (7.0 seconds)

Device Statistics (GP Log 0x04) not supported

SATA Phy Event Counters (GP Log 0x11)
ID      Size     Value  Description
0x0001  2            0  Command failed due to ICRC error
0x0002  2            0  R_ERR response for data FIS
0x0003  2            0  R_ERR response for device-to-host data FIS
0x0004  2            0  R_ERR response for host-to-device data FIS
0x0005  2            0  R_ERR response for non-data FIS
0x0006  2            0  R_ERR response for device-to-host non-data FIS
0x0007  2            0  R_ERR response for host-to-device non-data FIS
0x0008  2            0  Device-to-host non-data FIS retries
0x0009  2           63  Transition from drive PhyRdy to drive PhyNRdy
0x000a  2           63  Device-to-host register FISes sent due to a COMRESET
0x000b  2            0  CRC errors within host-to-device FIS
0x000f  2            0  R_ERR response for host-to-device data FIS, CRC
0x0012  2            0  R_ERR response for host-to-device non-data FIS, CRC
0x8000  4      7448417  Vendor specific

 

[joeschmuck]

@Ramboxman,
Are all your drives similar, meaning they have the same problem? And what is the manufacturing date of the drive? I'm curious if someone else have a Red 1TB drive who could post their results as well. I searched on the internet and the firmware appears correct for the 1TB drive.

Also, what is your GUI setup like for the View Disks? I would like to know how you set HDD Standby, APM, and AAM for each drive.

 

[cyberjock]

This really makes me wonder. I'd be curious to see other WD Reds that are recently manufacturered. It could be that WD made a firmware change that makes them behave more like the WD Greens. Normally, I'd think they'd make a change like that for longevity reasons. But I'm not one to make that assumption and then stand behind it.

And to those people arguing about Greens vs Reds.. suck it! (yes, this is a joke).

This is interesting information nonetheless. I'd like to see more people with this behavior before I'd go screaming fraud.

 

[Yatti420]

I really want to see what kind of internal components are used on the reds vs greens.. I'd expect higher build quality for reds.. If it's just firmware then I'm probably going to look at other drives for upgrades..

 

[cyberjock]

I really want to see what kind of internal components are used on the reds vs greens.. I'd expect higher build quality for reds.. If it's just firmware then I'm probably going to look at other drives for upgrades..

It's quite possible you won't even be able to see the difference. We're talking micrometers for quality specifications. You aren't going to notice that from the naked eye. And just because Greens have slightly different manufacturer for a given part than Reds isn't an indication of build quality.

If I won the lottery I'd build a server and buy 1/2 WD Greens and 1/2 WD Reds in some big 40 drive pool or something and use it like always and see where the failures are. ;)

But, I haven't won the lottery since I don't generally play.

 

[joeschmuck]

From what I understand there is no difference between the Green and Red drives except for the firmware. I don't know if that it true but I can't think of why there would be any physical difference between the two drive models. Firmware could extrapolate vibration data from energy required to keep the heads in place and to keep the platter rotating at the same speed. Of course I guess they could have just included a vibration sensor but that costs money.

 

[cyberjock]

From what I understand there is no difference between the Green and Red drives except for the firmware. I don't know if that it true but I can't think of why there would be any physical difference between the two drive models. Firmware could extrapolate vibration data from energy required to keep the heads in place and to keep the platter rotating at the same speed. Of course I guess they could have just included a vibration sensor but that costs money.

I'd love to buy a WD Green and WD Red just to take them apart and look at the parts more closely, but I don't have that kind of money nor is someone going to pay to take apart a brand new most-likely-working drive just to find out.

 

[Ramboxman]

@Ramboxman,
Are all your drives similar, meaning they have the same problem? And what is the manufacturing date of the drive? I'm curious if someone else have a Red 1TB drive who could post their results as well. I searched on the internet and the firmware appears correct for the 1TB drive.

Also, what is your GUI setup like for the View Disks? I would like to know how you set HDD Standby, APM, and AAM for each drive.

Yes all have the same issue 4 out of 5 the fifth was an older drive. Not sure about the Manufacturing date of the drive, I know they where made in Thailand. I will look on the drive when swapping them out with newer ones.

Gui setup is auto, always on, disable, and true for all drive in pool.

 

[Ramboxman]

If the drive are the same then we are paying approximately 20 bucks more for longer 3 year warranty. Might not be worth it since I never had a western digital drive fail in the short amount of time, and it almost 100 bucks more on 5 drives. I love to see if anyone else with newer reds drive are experiencing the same issue. I report back once my replacement drives arrive, I upgrade to all 2tb not sure how long it will be to resilver all of them. Does it matter which drive it resilvered first when going this route.

 

[Ramboxman]

Notice my transfer speeds on large files and changing directories in file explorer are both much faster now as well with idle timer off.

 

[joeschmuck]

If the drive are the same then we are paying approximately 20 bucks more for longer 3 year warranty. Might not be worth it since I never had a western digital drive fail in the short amount of time, and it almost 100 bucks more on 5 drives. I love to see if anyone else with newer reds drive are experiencing the same issue. I report back once my replacement drives arrive, I upgrade to all 2tb not sure how long it will be to resilver all of them. Does it matter which drive it resilvered first when going this route.

If the drives are the same, you are paying for the extra warranty and the firmware which can sense rotational vibration and reduce or speed up the drive spindle speed as required to reduce that vibration. And you have the TLER as well which is good for a NAS application, and yes I know there are folks who say you don't need it, I won't fight that fight.

As for the Red Drives, I'm thinking it's the model number which identifies the difference, for instance:

WDC WD30EFRX-68AX9N0
WDC WD30EFRX-68EUZN0 (parking heads)

I'm trying to find out more information on this, what the model number change means.

EDIT: Looks like I may be wrong in it being the model number differences. It just seams like everyone is reporting the bottom listed drive but I found one person who has the upper drive and has the timer issue. I still want to know what the difference is. Maybe it's which factory created the drives or maybe who programmed them.

 

[Ramboxman]

Questions to WD Technical Support and their replies below
1. Is there something wrong with this drive? At the current rate of head parking this drive will reach a count of somewhere in the 2-3 million cycles before the 3 year warranty period is reached. If WD really believes that the drives can survive this many parking cycles why do you only list 600,000 in your specification? Since this will be 4-5 times the specified value it does appear something is wrong with the drive.

(WD Response) Some utilities, operating systems, and applications, such as some implementations of Linux, for example, are not optimized for low power storage devices and can cause our drives to wake up at a higher rate than normal. This effectively negates the power-saving advantages of low-power drives, such as Western Digital’s WD Red, and artificially increases the number of load-unload cycles.
They also stated in another email that "To date, we have had no reported hard drive failures due to cycle and load times with any of our drives."

2. Should the Idle3 timer have been set to 8 seconds when I received it? I have seen several other postings and test data/reviews on the internet where people state when they received their WD30EFRX the Idle3 timer was disabled?

(WD Response) - They did not answer this question

3. Is there something I can do to reduce the LCC concern and increase the life of this drive if I am still concerned about it? I have seen several posts where people claim that using the WDIDLE3 tool works OK, but it is not listed as a drive for this tool on the WD web site. Is this tool OK to use or is there something else that can be done to change this operation?

(WD Response) - The WDIddle3 utility has not been designed for this particular product. However, we've seen cases where customers have used the tool with this internal drive and managed to set Idle3 to max time which effectively turns off load/unload power saving feature. Please also find the link for the WDiddle3 utility which should allow you to set the WDiddle 3 for your needs.

 

[no_connection]

Can't freenas just keep the drives from going to sleep during normal load?
Pinging them before the 8sec timer is done should prevent them from sleeping right?

 

[cyberjock]

Yeah...

#1: Yeah.. you prove your drive failed because of mechanical wear and tear on the bearing. Hint: You can't. And if WD drives were failing because of a feature they try to sell you on, would you expect them to make it public. Hell no!

#2: Not surprised.. tech support doesn't answer the hard questions, and since they change things so often it's hard to keep stuff up to date. Better to not answer(which they did!)

#3: Yeah. Admit it without admitting it. Again, marketing stuff. Not going to admit it works(wouldn't want to help you out) but not going to deny it when its easy to prove yourself.

See why I'm so tired of the marketing BS. You can't truely compare manufacturers or even families of drives in the same manufacturer. That's why I say its like a religion. The only people that know the answer aren't going to say a word unless you run into them at a bar and get them totally sh*tfaced.

FreeNAS can't stop the intellipark setting. That's dealt with solely on the drive firmware and you can only control it by doing reads or writes to the drive.

 

[no_connection]

The only reason for the speed increase for file copy that I can see is that the drives idle for more than 8sec between writes, reading a sector each from the disks would prevent them going to sleep during file transfer. That is what I meant by "pinging".

Still I can't wrap my head around the performance difference reported, shouldn't the file table be in cache, and the little extra latency when writing be absorbed in memory as well?

 

[Yatti420]

So is it safe to assume that the Red's need to be checked with wdidle a swell as the Greens?