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WD20EARS just added on the official HCL - mistake and issues
The official HCL has (quietly !) been updated for Sparc based machines with a 2TB WD desktop class drive: the WD20EARS (http://www.readynas.com/?page_id=82). This is in principle good news as the WD20...
Hi everyone!
There's been so much discussion about the WD20EARS 2TB green drives working (in)correctly that I wanted to post all the information I collected and experiences that led me to use these drives successfully. Despite a lot of negative experiences from others, I did a great deal of reading and watched these forums closely for a month or two. I decided they were worth a try after all that reading, as most of the issues seemed resolvable.
First off, we should start with my original configuration: I had a ReadyNAS NV+ with 1GB RAM and 4x WD5000YS 500GB drives in an X-RAID array. These drives had worked quite well for me for the last 5 years, but since I had used 90% of my available space, it was time to expand. My NV+ was originally from Infrant, but I had kept up on firmware upgrades and happily used 4.1.6 for quite some time.
A lot of people had problems with the WD20EARS not being recognized by their ReadyNAS system until they upgraded to the newest beta firmware, so I upgraded to 4.1.7-T29 a few weeks before I ordered my drives. I was also aware that my existing disks used 4K clusters because they were originally initialized with Infrant firmware - for the new drives to work properly, I would have to factory-reset my system with the new drives to get the correct 16K cluster size. Other attempts on the forum to insert the new disks and let them rebuild generally ended badly (with expansion failing and a Netgear support call). My plan was to attach one of the new 2TB disks to my desktop, copy all the existing data from the ReadyNAS to that one drive, add the other three drives to the ReadyNAS, perform a factory-reset, reconfigure the ReadyNAS, copy the data back to the ReadyNAS, then add the fourth drive.
The firmware upgrade process was flawless and I noticed no new problems, so I proceeded with ordering the drives from mWave.com. When I received them, I found that they were all model WD20EARS-00S8B1, which is not strictly on the HCL, but I knew this would likely be the model I would receive. I plugged them all into my desktop computer to test them and start copying data from the ReadyNAS to one of the drives. I was quite surprised to find that 3 of the 4 drives were DOA - one clicked, one grinded, and another registered continuous parity errors. mWave was kind enough to advance-replace the drives while I shipped back the defective ones, but in the meantime I copied the 1.2TB of data from the ReadyNAS NV+ to the working hard drive.
The replacement hard drives arrived from mWave; I tested them (connected them to my desktop and copied a few GB of files to them) and found that they worked perfectly. I then backed-up my ReadyNAS configuration and powered down the system. I removed all 4 existing drives and inserted the 3 new 2TB drives, performing a factory-reset as I powered on the ReadyNAS. Using RAIDar, I configured the new volume to use X-RAID and let is initialize the disks (2 hours), create the volume (6 hours), and sync the disks (12 hours). Once all this was done, I reconfigured the ReadyNAS to optimal settings (no journaling since I have a UPS, fast disk writes, jumbo frames, etc.) and started copying the data from the drive on my desktop back onto the ReadyNAS.
I'd like to mention that I was quite pleased with the performance of both the ReadyNAS and the WD20EARS drives throughout the copy processes. In either copy direction, the logical data transfer constraint was from the single WD20EARS drive connected to my desktop. Copying data from the ReadyNAS to the drive took around 24 hours (it's 1.2 TB of mostly large files) and had a sustained transfer rate of 15 MB/s. Note that my desktop is a Windows machine, so this was CIFS access to and from the ReadyNAS. Copying data back to the ReadyNAS I saw the same speeds: 15MB/s. It took another 24 hours to copy data back to the ReadyNAS, and, in both copy directions, the transfer rate slowed a bit when it hit smaller files (e.g. documents). However I found the transfer rate quite acceptable and pretty darn speedy.
After data was back on the redundant ReadyNAS NV+ with 3x 2TB WD20EARS-00S8B1 hard drives, I powered down the system and put the fourth 2TB hard drive in the ReadyNAS. When it powered up, the system initialized the disk and I expanded the volume (6 hours) to include it. The final usable disk space was listed as 5560 GB - quite a nice upgrade from the original 1300 GB I had.
Once the system was working correctly, I decided to verify system health and disk settings. I checked the volume log and confirmed that the disks were formatted using the expected 16K cluster size that Infrant support indicated should be in-use. There were no errors in the S.M.A.R.T. data (ATA or otherwise). Then I went for the elephant in the room - the LCC (Load Cycle Count) values. Lots of people have extremely large values in this field, which cause concern that they will prematurely exceed the designed LCC count for the drive.
A little background on this issue: Western Digital designed their "green" drives to be as energy-efficient as is reasonably possible. As such, they enter a power-saving mode Western Digital calls "Idle 3." In doing so, the drive heads are parked / unloaded; when the drive is next used, the heads are obviously unparked / re-loaded and the load count is incremented. Western digital indicates that this is a power-saving feature that can save significant amounts of energy. However, some systems (most notably UNIX & LINUX) access the hard drives at an awkward frequency (from the drive's perspective), causing the drive to very frequently unload and load the heads as the drive enters and leaves "Idle 3" mode. From the human perspective, this causes the LCC count reported via S.M.A.R.T. on the ReadyNAS to increase rather fast - some people have it increasing by thousands per day.
The most reliable source of information for this issue is, of course, Western Digital. I say this because there is a lot of unsubstantiated rumor as to the cause of the LCC increases, how to deal with it, and how it affects one's warranty. This article specifically addresses the issue with the WD20EARS and similar drives: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5357. I suggest reading the article, but the practical up-shot is that it indicates Western Digital recognizes the issue, they are attempting to help users resolve the problem with configuration suggestions and a utility, and using the utility does not void one's warranty (there is absolutely nothing indicating it voids any warranty or causes any support issue). They also note that the WD20EARS and related drives have been tested to over 1 million LCCs, meaning that software monitoring S.M.A.R.T. data that indicates there is a problem with the drive for LCC values below 1 million can be safely ignored.
In my case, I saw the LCC value for each drive increasing by around 800 per day. It wasn't a terrible rate, but I wanted to reduce or eliminate it for the time being - as Western Digital states in the support article, the energy-saving features are negated when the drive is unloaded / loaded frequently, which is exactly this case. Using the article link above, I downloaded the utility (it is known as "WDIDLE3" version 1.05), downloaded a FreeDOS OEM boot CD image creator (FDOEMCD), placed the "WDIDLE3" utility in the boot CD root folder, made the boot CD ISO, and burned it. I then took each drive (one at a time so that I wouldn't lose track of their bay location), plugged it into my desktop, booted my desktop from the boot CD, and ran the "WDIDLE3" utility. This utility can be used to both read and change the "Idle 3" timer setting, which has a default around 8 seconds. Having read many other posts regarding the LCC values, I issues the command "WDIDLE3 /S300", which sets the drive "Idle 3" mode timer to 300 seconds (the maximum value). One can reset the timer to its default by issuing the command "WDIDLE3 /S"; one can also see the current value by issuing the command "WDIDLE3 /R".
Having set the "Idle 3" mode timer on each drive to 300 seconds, I watched the LCC value closely and noted that it did not increase much at all - only by 4 - 8 per day. I fully intend to revisit this issue when I have more time, trying values much, much lower than 300 seconds to strike some balance between LCC increases and energy savings, but I wanted to make sure the LCCs could reliably be stopped first. There were no side-effects from the utility at all and there is no risk of data loss running it as it only affects the timer value.
The summary is that the WD20EARS drives work very nicely with the ReadyNAS - well, at least, my ReadyNAS NV+. Even using the oft-berated WD20EARS-00S8B1 model, I had no significant problems. It just took a lot of reading to avoid problems, which is why I've summarized my experiences here to make it easier on others debating this drive. Given the cost of the WD20EARS drives, their size, and generally-lower power consumption, they're very nicely suited for use in the ReadyNAS. I think they should remain included in the HCL, but perhaps with a footnote regarding the "WDIDLE3" utility. The firmware version of the drives matches that of the HCL, the drives perform very well, and they do save power (my UPS reports a longer battery run-time with these drives), despite the fact that the model number is different.
I hope this helps anybody looking to use these drives. Despite the lists of issues people have had, they can (and do, in my case) work. I can't, of course, guarantee that they will work for all ReadyNAS models, but it does work in the NV+ with the beta firmware and a little effort. They are worthwhile drives and they are being supported by the Jedis, Western Digital, and Infrant.
There's been so much discussion about the WD20EARS 2TB green drives working (in)correctly that I wanted to post all the information I collected and experiences that led me to use these drives successfully. Despite a lot of negative experiences from others, I did a great deal of reading and watched these forums closely for a month or two. I decided they were worth a try after all that reading, as most of the issues seemed resolvable.
First off, we should start with my original configuration: I had a ReadyNAS NV+ with 1GB RAM and 4x WD5000YS 500GB drives in an X-RAID array. These drives had worked quite well for me for the last 5 years, but since I had used 90% of my available space, it was time to expand. My NV+ was originally from Infrant, but I had kept up on firmware upgrades and happily used 4.1.6 for quite some time.
A lot of people had problems with the WD20EARS not being recognized by their ReadyNAS system until they upgraded to the newest beta firmware, so I upgraded to 4.1.7-T29 a few weeks before I ordered my drives. I was also aware that my existing disks used 4K clusters because they were originally initialized with Infrant firmware - for the new drives to work properly, I would have to factory-reset my system with the new drives to get the correct 16K cluster size. Other attempts on the forum to insert the new disks and let them rebuild generally ended badly (with expansion failing and a Netgear support call). My plan was to attach one of the new 2TB disks to my desktop, copy all the existing data from the ReadyNAS to that one drive, add the other three drives to the ReadyNAS, perform a factory-reset, reconfigure the ReadyNAS, copy the data back to the ReadyNAS, then add the fourth drive.
The firmware upgrade process was flawless and I noticed no new problems, so I proceeded with ordering the drives from mWave.com. When I received them, I found that they were all model WD20EARS-00S8B1, which is not strictly on the HCL, but I knew this would likely be the model I would receive. I plugged them all into my desktop computer to test them and start copying data from the ReadyNAS to one of the drives. I was quite surprised to find that 3 of the 4 drives were DOA - one clicked, one grinded, and another registered continuous parity errors. mWave was kind enough to advance-replace the drives while I shipped back the defective ones, but in the meantime I copied the 1.2TB of data from the ReadyNAS NV+ to the working hard drive.
The replacement hard drives arrived from mWave; I tested them (connected them to my desktop and copied a few GB of files to them) and found that they worked perfectly. I then backed-up my ReadyNAS configuration and powered down the system. I removed all 4 existing drives and inserted the 3 new 2TB drives, performing a factory-reset as I powered on the ReadyNAS. Using RAIDar, I configured the new volume to use X-RAID and let is initialize the disks (2 hours), create the volume (6 hours), and sync the disks (12 hours). Once all this was done, I reconfigured the ReadyNAS to optimal settings (no journaling since I have a UPS, fast disk writes, jumbo frames, etc.) and started copying the data from the drive on my desktop back onto the ReadyNAS.
I'd like to mention that I was quite pleased with the performance of both the ReadyNAS and the WD20EARS drives throughout the copy processes. In either copy direction, the logical data transfer constraint was from the single WD20EARS drive connected to my desktop. Copying data from the ReadyNAS to the drive took around 24 hours (it's 1.2 TB of mostly large files) and had a sustained transfer rate of 15 MB/s. Note that my desktop is a Windows machine, so this was CIFS access to and from the ReadyNAS. Copying data back to the ReadyNAS I saw the same speeds: 15MB/s. It took another 24 hours to copy data back to the ReadyNAS, and, in both copy directions, the transfer rate slowed a bit when it hit smaller files (e.g. documents). However I found the transfer rate quite acceptable and pretty darn speedy.
After data was back on the redundant ReadyNAS NV+ with 3x 2TB WD20EARS-00S8B1 hard drives, I powered down the system and put the fourth 2TB hard drive in the ReadyNAS. When it powered up, the system initialized the disk and I expanded the volume (6 hours) to include it. The final usable disk space was listed as 5560 GB - quite a nice upgrade from the original 1300 GB I had.
Once the system was working correctly, I decided to verify system health and disk settings. I checked the volume log and confirmed that the disks were formatted using the expected 16K cluster size that Infrant support indicated should be in-use. There were no errors in the S.M.A.R.T. data (ATA or otherwise). Then I went for the elephant in the room - the LCC (Load Cycle Count) values. Lots of people have extremely large values in this field, which cause concern that they will prematurely exceed the designed LCC count for the drive.
A little background on this issue: Western Digital designed their "green" drives to be as energy-efficient as is reasonably possible. As such, they enter a power-saving mode Western Digital calls "Idle 3." In doing so, the drive heads are parked / unloaded; when the drive is next used, the heads are obviously unparked / re-loaded and the load count is incremented. Western digital indicates that this is a power-saving feature that can save significant amounts of energy. However, some systems (most notably UNIX & LINUX) access the hard drives at an awkward frequency (from the drive's perspective), causing the drive to very frequently unload and load the heads as the drive enters and leaves "Idle 3" mode. From the human perspective, this causes the LCC count reported via S.M.A.R.T. on the ReadyNAS to increase rather fast - some people have it increasing by thousands per day.
The most reliable source of information for this issue is, of course, Western Digital. I say this because there is a lot of unsubstantiated rumor as to the cause of the LCC increases, how to deal with it, and how it affects one's warranty. This article specifically addresses the issue with the WD20EARS and similar drives: http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5357. I suggest reading the article, but the practical up-shot is that it indicates Western Digital recognizes the issue, they are attempting to help users resolve the problem with configuration suggestions and a utility, and using the utility does not void one's warranty (there is absolutely nothing indicating it voids any warranty or causes any support issue). They also note that the WD20EARS and related drives have been tested to over 1 million LCCs, meaning that software monitoring S.M.A.R.T. data that indicates there is a problem with the drive for LCC values below 1 million can be safely ignored.
In my case, I saw the LCC value for each drive increasing by around 800 per day. It wasn't a terrible rate, but I wanted to reduce or eliminate it for the time being - as Western Digital states in the support article, the energy-saving features are negated when the drive is unloaded / loaded frequently, which is exactly this case. Using the article link above, I downloaded the utility (it is known as "WDIDLE3" version 1.05), downloaded a FreeDOS OEM boot CD image creator (FDOEMCD), placed the "WDIDLE3" utility in the boot CD root folder, made the boot CD ISO, and burned it. I then took each drive (one at a time so that I wouldn't lose track of their bay location), plugged it into my desktop, booted my desktop from the boot CD, and ran the "WDIDLE3" utility. This utility can be used to both read and change the "Idle 3" timer setting, which has a default around 8 seconds. Having read many other posts regarding the LCC values, I issues the command "WDIDLE3 /S300", which sets the drive "Idle 3" mode timer to 300 seconds (the maximum value). One can reset the timer to its default by issuing the command "WDIDLE3 /S"; one can also see the current value by issuing the command "WDIDLE3 /R".
Having set the "Idle 3" mode timer on each drive to 300 seconds, I watched the LCC value closely and noted that it did not increase much at all - only by 4 - 8 per day. I fully intend to revisit this issue when I have more time, trying values much, much lower than 300 seconds to strike some balance between LCC increases and energy savings, but I wanted to make sure the LCCs could reliably be stopped first. There were no side-effects from the utility at all and there is no risk of data loss running it as it only affects the timer value.
The summary is that the WD20EARS drives work very nicely with the ReadyNAS - well, at least, my ReadyNAS NV+. Even using the oft-berated WD20EARS-00S8B1 model, I had no significant problems. It just took a lot of reading to avoid problems, which is why I've summarized my experiences here to make it easier on others debating this drive. Given the cost of the WD20EARS drives, their size, and generally-lower power consumption, they're very nicely suited for use in the ReadyNAS. I think they should remain included in the HCL, but perhaps with a footnote regarding the "WDIDLE3" utility. The firmware version of the drives matches that of the HCL, the drives perform very well, and they do save power (my UPS reports a longer battery run-time with these drives), despite the fact that the model number is different.
I hope this helps anybody looking to use these drives. Despite the lists of issues people have had, they can (and do, in my case) work. I can't, of course, guarantee that they will work for all ReadyNAS models, but it does work in the NV+ with the beta firmware and a little effort. They are worthwhile drives and they are being supported by the Jedis, Western Digital, and Infrant.
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