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I have bought several of these SMR drives and they can be SLOW!!! This might be OK for backup drives though.... if you are patient. By going to Device Manager and then 'Disk drives', then 'Policies' for the drive, you can speed it up a bit by choosing the better performance options. -TidalWaveOne
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Buy it after you know what exactly SMR is and decide to take the risk. SMR doesn't only mean slow speed, it can also lose data if not taken care of, for example abrupting the writing process while you think it has stopped working.
Check my comments: https://slickdeals.net/f/15350722-costco-members-starts-11-15-seagate-backup-plus-hub-8tb-external-desktop-hard-drive-119-99?p=150687460#
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Anyone know what kind of drive is inside?
edit: looks like they are smr drives. need to see how they will work with unRAID.
not recommended for raid configurations.
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The new post is from BestBuy, same price, same product, even better BF price guarantee policy, just search it.
[Added] @creedyB OMG, I just noticed the new deal from BB is the same price but for 14TB one. Grab it if you need!!! Link:
https://slickdeals.net/f/15367588-14tb-wd-easystore-external-usb-3-0-hard-drive-199-99-free-shipping
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank oahortsa
It's hardware raid10 on dell h730 card
If the manufacturer publishes a list of SMR drivers, and yours are on it, then definitely they are SMR. But the list is not exhaustive. If yours are not on the list, it doesn't mean it is CMR.
About testing, usually it involves carefully monitoring the writing speed while overloading the cache deliberately. Or, rewrite the same location of the drive and monitor the speed. But these tests may fail if TRIM is used or filesystem like ZFS is used. Anyway, tests are complicated and there is no guarantee for CMR.
Some also claim it can be determined from the storage density listed in manufacturer specifications. But it was a great burden to me to check and decypher those information...
It seems many people agree that high-end drivers with >10TB capacity are CMR; while those with [3.5in, >1TB per disk, usually 2T, 4T, 8T], or [2.5in, >0.5T per disk, usually 1T, 2T, 4T], are very much likely to be SMR.
Anyway, SMR is not devil, it can be quartered by a well backup manner. For me, I just want to save some hassle, so $200 for 12TB CMR is still an appealing deal to me.
If the manufacturer publishes a list of SMR drivers, and yours are on it, then definitely they are SMR. But the list is not exhaustive. If yours are not on the list, it doesn't mean it is CMR.
About testing, usually it involves carefully monitoring the writing speed while overloading the cache deliberately. Or, rewrite the same location of the drive and monitor the speed. But these tests may fail if TRIM is used or filesystem like ZFS is used. Anyway, tests are complicated and there is no guarantee for CMR.
Some also claim it can be determined from the storage density listed in manufacturer specifications. But it was a great burden to me to check and decypher those information...
It seems many people agree that high-end drivers with >10TB capacity are CMR; while those with [3.5in, >1TB per disk, usually 2T, 4T, 8T], or [2.5in, >0.5T per disk, usually 1T, 2T, 4T], are very much likely to be SMR.
Anyway, SMR is not devil, it can be quartered by a well backup manner. For me, I just want to save some hassle, so $200 for 12TB CMR is still an appealing deal to me.
> I just noticed the new deal from BB is the same price but for 14TB one. Grab it if you need!!! Link:
> https://slickdeals.net/f/15367588-14tb-wd-easystore-external-usb-3-0-hard-drive-199-99-free-shipping
> I just noticed the new deal from BB is the same price but for 14TB one. Grab it if you need!!! Link:
> https://slickdeals.net/f/15367588-14tb-wd-easystore-external-usb-3-0-hard-drive-199-99-free-shipping
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SMR.
Had one of two fail on me.
Lowest price I've seen for these were $110 last year.
For myself, other than replacing a failed hard drive, I don't see buying one ever again. Btw, this drive did fail on me a while back, so I disconnected it and haven't used it since as it didn't store critical data. Haven't gotten around to seeing if it permanently failed or just flaked out on me.
Thank you. I'm not a tech savvy.
Might be OK for backup drives though.... if you are patient.
By going to Device Manager and then 'Disk drives', then 'Policies' for the drive, you can speed it up a bit by choosing the better performance options.
Got to call BS.
You should not have thrown out a defective hard drive. Who would just trash a drive that could easily be RMAd or returned to Costco?
They have a 2-yr warranty. which gets extended from Costco and further extended if you used their Citicard. If you are serious, you did it wrong. Life has no guarantees, but warranties are there just in case.
Costco has the best return policy and Seagate gives 2-year data recovery services included with this Costco purchase to attempt to recover your data.
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