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pumpichank's avatar
pumpichank
Luminary
Jul 23, 2014

WD RED WD20EFRX in ReadyNAS Duo v1?

I have an ancient Duo v1 which, while dog slow, is still working nicely. I'm considering eventually upgrading to a 100 or 300 series box, but in the meantime, I'm getting increasing SMART failures from one of my Seagate drives. The h/w compatibility list for the Duo v1 lists some fairly expensive 2T drives, and I'd rather put some this WD RED drive in it to replace the failing Seagate (I"ve never had much luck with Seagates, but they are often less expensive).

My question then is how safe it is to put drives in the Duo v1 that are not on the h/w compatibility list? I don't care about Netgear warranty since obviously this machine is way out and they wouldn't cover 3rd party drives any way. Before I spend the ~$100 on the WD RED drive, I mostly just want to know that it'll work and will give me generally decent reliability (at least as good as rated by WD).

How strict is the h/w compatibility list?

4 Replies

  • I've been running a WD20EFRX in my ReadyNAS Duo v1 for 5 months or so, and have had no issues with it at all.

    Of course you do need firmware that supports 2 TB drives generally, and if you don't have 4K sector alignment, you should consider a factory reset for best performance.
  • Awesome, thanks! Yes, I have 2T Seagates in there now, so this would be replacing the failing one. I don't have 4K alignment; I probably should do that, but I dread the downtime for shuffling the data off the existing drives and then back on. Of course, it's not exactly quick to put a new drive in and have it sync up either. ;)
    • wixi's avatar
      wixi
      Aspirant

      I have the same problem.

      one of the ST drives giving increasing errors, so looking to swap for a WD10EFRX.

      on the WD sitre (http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=810#Tab2&Tab10) they list the drive as being compatible for a ReadyNAS Duo..

      Suspect no-one a Netgear can be bothered to update the lsit for one of their 'legacy' boxes.

      But the WD listing is enough for me to take a punt for my 6-year old Duo. £48 in the UK.

       

      John

      • I'm sure the WD10EFRX will work out fine. The WD20EFRX has been in my duo for about 18 months now, and I have had no issues at all.


        wixi wrote:

        Suspect no-one a Netgear can be bothered to update the lsit for one of their 'legacy' boxes.

         


        This has been an issue for some years now.  Netgear won't change the list unless they have actually tested the drives in the platform.  And of course, they are focusing their resources on the going forward platforms.

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