When will current 3TB drives be qualified for ReadyNAS?

Just to add: I'm looking to buy a ReadyNAS Pro 6 with 6x3TB drives. The drives on the HCL are not available at Amazon, Newegg or TigerDirect.

There's an onerous message on the HCL from Netgear saying that support will be denied when using drives not on the HCL.

Any recommendations?

The comment about refusing support is because there are a number of drives out there that are not compatible with RAID configuration in general the the ReadyNAS line in particular. Periodically drive manufacturers revamp their offerings and it takes a while for the testing to catch up. Looking at the four main sources, Newegg, Amazon, Tiger Direct and CDW, Tiger Direct is not showing any 3TB drives that I could find. CDW had the widest offering with 4. However the least expensive was the Hitachi HDS5C3030ALA630 at $249.99 (shipping charges unknown). The Hitachi HUA723030ALA640 is $419.99, the ST3000650NS is $425.99 and the ST33000651AS is $406.99 (shipping charges unknown).

Amazon has the Hitachi HDS5C3030ALA630 (listed as PN 0S03230) for $199.99 (free shipping with super saver) and the ST33000650NA for $507.73. Newegg on the other hand has the HDS5C3030ALA630 listed twice, first with the OEM PN 0S03230 for $207.28 (with shipping) and retail boxed PN 0S03228 for $209.86 (with shipping). They also have the ST33000650NS for $637.28.

It is worth noting that the Hitachi drives are shipped in opaque silvery anti-static bags with only the PN shown on label on the bag. However, once you open the bag, the actual drive model is listed on the drive label, but not the PN! Newegg is doing a good job of showing the actual drive model label (the 0S03230 and 0S03228 are different images both showing the same drive model. It is not unusual for retail boxed units to have a different part number than the OEM version for the same drive model.

The floods in Thailand really reduced the supply of drives and affected the price. Apparently as they recover they are also changing the drive models so there are a lot of new ones on the market. I do have 4 of the HDS5C3030ALA630 in service (2 ea in 2 NAS units) that are about a year old and have had no problems with them, but they are 5400RPM drives.

Thanks for the response:

> HDS5C3030ALA630 (listed as PN 0S03230)

Where are you finding the model numbers corresponding to the part number? I don't even see PN 0S03230

http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/9E4E119077AD1D8B86256DD0005A2F74/$file/3Q11_ProdRefCard_Final.pdf

> The comment about refusing support is because there are a number of drives out there that are not compatible with RAID configuration in general the the ReadyNAS line in particular.

It's pretty well scaring me off from making the investment in a bunch of these until I can find drives available at a sensible price. (Remember when the "I" in "RAID" meant inexpensive?)

As I said, I have four of these in service. Three were purchased from Newegg and one was purchased from Amazon. All had the identical silvery anti-static bag with a sticker on the outside with the PN on it. When opened, the sticker on the drive did not have the PN but the drive model. In addition, I still have a 5th drive as a spare still in it's original packaging. Here is the link to the Newegg listing of the OEM drive, and here is the link to the retail boxed listing. Click on the images to enlarge them and in addition you can zoom in on the label and read it. Note that the serial numbers have been fuzzed out/whited out. Newegg previously listed the PN 0F12460 as shown on the Hitachi sheet but is no longer listed as they are out of stock.

Agreed, it would be great if the some of the currently common 3TB drives would be qualified!

To be exact, these drives would be a great addition:

Seagate

• ST3000VX000
• STBD3000200

(the ST3000DM001 and ST33000651AS are already on the list, at least for the NV+ v2)


Hitachi

• Deskstar 5K3000
• Ultrastar 5K3000
• Ultrastar 7K3000

(the Deskstar 7K3000 is already on the list)


Western Digital Caviar Green series:

• WD30EURS
• WD30EZRSDTL (note that the WD30EZRS is already on the list, not sure about the difference)


• WDBAAY0030HNC

(the WD30EZRX is already on the list)

Interesting that you note the WD30EZRX is "on the list" — I've been waiting for it to show up on the Ultra 6 list. I do see it on the NV+ list now, which I'd never looked at before.

It's infuriating that only one of the five 3TB disks endorsed for the Ultra 6 is available from the likes of NewEgg, and that one costs $460. I see two modern 3TB disks under $175, the ST3000DM001 and WD30EZRX. I'm about to knuckle under and spend $500 for a pair of 5400 RPM 5K3000s, just because it's the only model I can find under $400, and no new 3TB drives have been approved for the Ultra 6 in almost a year. At least as far as qualifying new drives goes, there's no indication that the lights are still on at Netgear.

chirpa has indicated on FaceBook that they will be testing some more disks. Hopefully we'll see some additions to the compatibility list soon but there is no ETA.

ndirons wrote:

Interesting that you note the WD30EZRX is "on the list" — I've been waiting for it to show up on the Ultra 6 list. I do see it on the NV+ list now, which I'd never looked at before. It's infuriating that only one of the five 3TB disks endorsed for the Ultra 6 is available from the likes of NewEgg, and that one costs $460. I see two modern 3TB disks under $175, the ST3000DM001 and WD30EZRX. I'm about to knuckle under and spend $500 for a pair of 5400 RPM 5K3000s, just because it's the only model I can find under $400, and no new 3TB drives have been approved for the Ultra 6 in almost a year. At least as far as qualifying new drives goes, there's no indication that the lights are still on at Netgear.

As I posted earlier, the Hitachi drive listed as 0S03230 is in fact the HDS5C3030ALA630 as listed on the HCL. I did notice that the prices on them were down to $190. That's close to the $150 I paid last summer (pre-flood) so I will probably go ahead and spring for a couple more. That's less than $400 for a pair delivered to your door in the U.S.