Seagate Barracuda LP ST2000DL003

I just order three of these drives for my new Ultra 4 Plus for $120 on June 10th from Amazon.

Just looked at the price today and they dropped them down to $99
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST2000DL003/dp/B004CCS266/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_b

Thankfully, I contacted Amazon and they were able to get me a refund of the difference. They don't have a post-order guarantee for anything other than TVs, so I'm glad they made an exception as they considered the drastic price difference and the timeliness of my order.

I turned around and am using that refund to go ahead and grab me a fourth drive to fill my final slot.

May be a good time to buy. :D

EDIT: Hmm... seems like URL tags aren't allowed. :(

Your really need five drives of the same model if you fill your device.

If I drive fails you want the exact same model of drive to replace it.


But!!! If Seagate only have the confidence of a one year waranty would you trust the drive?

BritBrat wrote:
Your really need five drives of the same model if you fill your device. If I drive fails you want the exact same model of drive to replace it.

I don't think so. ReadyNAS systems are happy with mix and match. One risk with matching the drives is that if it turns out that there is a reliability issue with that model you are completely screwed. Mixing the drive models can hedge that risk.

BritBrat wrote:
But!!! If Seagate only have the confidence of a one year waranty would you trust the drive?

Ultimately the length of the warranty is just a pricing decision. Longer warranties do not mean a product is more reliable. Seagate (and all vendors) bundle the expected warranty replacement costs into the drive price.

I am going with StephenB on this one. As long as the replacement disk is the same size or bigger you can use it as a replacement. Just make sure it is on the HCL.

Although I seem to always start out with all the drives in an array matching, it seems that before long they are a mix of brands, models, sizes and even speeds. All were on the HCL for that ReadyNAS, and all seemed to play well together.

For a while it seemed as if it really was not worth it to RMA a failed drive, for with the falling drive prices, a new one was not much more expensive than the trouble to RMA the drive, pack it up and pay to ship it back. The floods in Thailand changed that for a while. I have a 1TB drive that has failed, and I have yet to send it back. I'm moving beyond 1TB drives now (mix of 1TB and 3TB in my ReadyNAS units). Now if one of my 3TB drives failed, it would go back quickly.

From the drive manufacturers prospective, trying to match a 2+ year old drive model when replacing a drive is surely part of the equation also. Back in the early days they had short warranties, but then started trying to use longer and longer warranties as a competitive edge. I also do not think the newer larger drives are as reliable as the older ones.