PCMark05
For these tests, we use RankDisk, an application developed and copyrighted by Intel. In our testing, we found RankDisk to be suitable for a neutral benchmark. RankDisk is used to record a trace of disk activity during usage of typical applications. These traces can then be replayed to measure the performance of disk operations for that usage.
RankDisk records disk access events using the device drivers and bypasses the file system and the operating system's cache. This makes the measurement independent of the file system overhead or the current state of the operating system. In replaying traces, RankDisk always creates and operates on a new dummy file. This file is created in the same (or closest possible) physical location of the target hard disk. This allows the replaying of traces to be safe (does not destroy any existing files) and comparable across different systems. Due to the natural fragmentation of hard disks over time, they should be defragmented before running these tests.
The traces used for each test were created from real usage. The traces contain different amount of writing and reading on the disk; total ratio in the HDD test suite disk operations is 53% reads and 47% of writes.
The following input traces are used:
Windows XP Startup: This is the Windows XP start trace, which contains disk activities occurring at operating system start-up. The test is 90% reading and 10% writes. This trace contains no user activity.
Application Loading: This is a trace containing disk activities from loading various applications. It includes opening and closing of the following applications:
Microsoft® Word
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 5
Windows® Media Player
3DMark®2001SE
Leadtek® Winfast® DVD
Mozilla Internet Browser
The application loading trace is 83% reads and 17% writes.
General Hard Disk Drive Usage: This trace contains disk activities from using several common applications.
These are:
Opening a Microsoft® Word document, performing grammar check, saving and closing
Compression and decompression using Winzip
Encrypting and decrypting a file using PowerCrypt
Scanning files for viruses using F-Secure® Antivirus.
Playing an MP3 file with Winamp
Playing a WAV file with Winamp
Playing a DivX video using DivX codec and Windows® Media Player
Playing a WMV video file using Windows® Media Player
Viewing pictures using Windows® Picture Viewer
Browsing the internet using Microsoft® Internet Explorer
Loading, playing and exiting a game using Ubisoft Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
The General Usage trace is 60% reads and 40% writes.
Virus Scanning: Virus scanning is a critical task in today's PC usage. As the major bottleneck of scanning viruses is in hard disk activity, it is reasonable to include virus scanning as a HDD test. The test consists of HDD activity of scanning 600MB of files for viruses. The Virus Scanning test is mostly disk reading (99.5%).
File Write: This trace contains disk activities from writing 680MB files on the hard disk and no read operations are involved in this test.
We don't see folks installing their OS onto a Red, but I've included these results for comparative analysis.
Areca cards are great!
Areca cards are great! However very pricey. Which is why I was I posted the question above your post.
BUT as a person who owns one of these cards, I’d move away from it. Why? ZFS is a better storage system. Grab a AMD cpu (because it supports ECC), get ECC ram, and load a OS that supports ZFS. From what I hear it is a much more reliable storage system than RAID.
I would have done this myself, but I didn’t learn about ZFS until after my purchase. Secondly, I have nearly 6TBs across 8 drives. Moving that amount of data would be a pain.
Lastly, if you really decide to go with an Areca card. Try to find them second hand. I picked up my 1231ML for $375 used. Run a google search on the key phrase : “FS Areca”, and sorta by date.
Good luck!
Do any of you see a problem
Do any of you see a problem using these drives in a 12 bay NAS running FreeNAS? ZFS/2
The WD site just says for up to 5 bays.. Is this just marketing hype> Or do you think these drives will be OK for large bay NAS enclosures?
Thought? Thanks
As I understand it, It’s
As I understand it, It’s because the RED drives lack vibration sensors and pressure sensors.
However, I’m also speculating in using 15 of these babies in a file server for private use.
I’m really wondering if this will actually be a problem or not….
-JKJK-
As I understand it, It’s
As I understand it, It’s because the RED drives lack vibration sensors and pressure sensors.
However, I’m also speculating in using 15 of these babies in a file server for private use.
I’m really wondering if this will actually be a problem or not….
-JKJK-
Hi,
I would really love to
Hi,
I would really love to hear more about your 15 drive setup. Care to share some more details?
Thanks,
-jj
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Sorry about that triple post
Sorry about that triple post … got a “page could not be found for each time I tried to post”.
A while back WD Red 3TB was
A while back WD Red 3TB was selling for $169.99 now that I want to buy it is about $259.99 any idea if the prices would drop to below $200 and why the sudden increase in price?
Would you recommend the RED
Would you recommend the RED series if you don’t use a RAID solution. Why, i’ll running Windows Home Server 2011 that have 4 drives and i’ll make (lessons learned) a robocopy once a week to een external esata drive of my important DATA.
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Hey exceptional website! Does
Hey exceptional website! Does running a blog such as this take a massive amount work? I have no understanding of programming however I was hoping to start my own blog soon. Anyways, should you have any suggestions or tips for new blog owners please share. I understand this is off topic but I simply had to ask. Thanks a lot! Rufus Erbes
I know this if off topic but
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was curious what all is required to get set up? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very web savvy so I’m not 100% sure. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Kudos Deon Vanderweerd
“I have an 8-drive array of
“I have an 8-drive array of 3TB WD Caviar Greens in a RAID-5.”
This array is just a disaster waiting to happen. Consider the situation when one of your drives fails: you’re left with 7-drive RAID 0 array! And if the thought of housing your important data on such a large RAID 0 array doesn’t make your pulse race, you’re either an idiot (sorry) or the data wasn’t that important to begin with.
When you replace the failed drive of an (n-1)-drive degraded array, the rebuild process places the greatest strain on the array when it is most vulnerable. It may seem counterintuitive, but at some point an n-drive RAID 5 array is more likely to fail and suffer complete data loss than a single large disk with no redundancy. I think n=8 is well beyond that point. This has actually been studied scientifically here: http://media.netapp.com/documents/rp-0046.pdf
Conclusion, large RAID 5 arrays are not safe. You need at least a RAID 6 configuration.
As for whether TLER actually improves the safety of the array, I think some of the other comments have covered this already.
Hi,
I had some green disks in
Hi,
I had some green disks in my NAS and had to do the update with wdidle3 to come over the 8 sec park issue. Is this same fix also needed on these drives?
I find it interesting (and
I find it interesting (and very depressing and confusing) that the only Raid storage devices listed on WD’s certified Red drive compatibility list are devices that previously included Green drives in the manufacturer’s own compatibility lists.
These include Drobos, and the Synology, QNAP, et al software Raid NAS boxes. It is my understanding that the NAS boxes all use Linux MDADM under the covers of their proprietary user interfaces. It is also my understanding that Synology SHR, for example, is simply a well built user interface over Linux LVM.
Suspiciously absent from the list are any of the hardware Raid controllers and devices that use various hardware Raid controllers.
If the above is factually correct then it calls into question the true value of Red drives. We can argue the merits of using Red drives in hardware Riad solutions, but the fact is that if you do have a problem, and you attempt to get support from your Raid controller maker, he will give you a simple response: “We don’t support Red drives so we cannot tell you why your Raid array dropped (or regularly drops).
Seems to me there is little or no value in attempting to use Raid for an increased level of protection if the controller maker will not support it. It is, in that way, no better than using Green drives.
It calls into question the value of Red drives. I’ve read a lot of discussion (mostly speculation) about these new drives but never seen my concerns mentioned or discussed.
As an afterthought, I use a
As an afterthought, I use a SansDigital TR4UTBPN 4 bay eSata/USB3 external Raid/JBOD enclosure. I know, having read their now defunct support forum for many years, that in every case where someone reported Raid array failure or frequent rebuilding problems that they washed their hands of the matter by simply pointing out that they don’t support those drives in that enclosure (or any other Raid enclosure they well). You are totally on your own.
They are not listed on WD’s Red drive compatibility (lists as are no other hardware Raid devices that previously only recommended or certified Enterprise drives). Nor do they specifically address Reds on their site (and their HCL list is not easy to find).
I recently submitted a support ticket asking if they supported Red drives. They initially just said “no, they have never been tested”.
When I persisted and asked *why* they have not tested those drives, they responded by saying that because WD did not include them on their list they had no interest in testing them. I found that a strange response- does the tail wag the dog or the dog wag the tail?
Anyway, since I have no interest in using non-supported drives in a Raid device, I will continue to run the box in JBOD mode, as I always, have for the same reason, with the Green drives I currently use.
IOW, nothing has changed, except we consumers can now speculate about all the various vague claims by the various manufacturers of hard drives and the boxes that use them, and how the Raid system might respond to bad sectors.
A sad state of affairs.
Can you persistantly patch
Can you persistantly patch the red drives to disable tler or change its setting for desktop use?
Great review Allyn !
Very
Great review Allyn !
Very informative.
Bought 2 WD20EFRX (2TB)
Seriously. This is a piece of
Seriously. This is a piece of crap drive. I just lost all my data after 2 weeks old. Trying to recover and the whole drive is in raw and extremely slow trying to access it.
Was good for the first week. Then boom!!!! Instant poop.
Really the Reds seem to be
Really the Reds seem to be Greens rebranded with new firmware/ram.. Unless you are using hardware RAID (and running 24/7) they are not worth it… Go up to enterprise (actual enterprise) drives and never look back..
Also people with early failures aren’t stressing their builds before putting drives etc into production.. I’ve never lost data due to early failure.. I’ve lost a green due to head parking though in a NAS.. WDIDLE is a must for greens – and probably reds)..