ReadyNAS Pro Hard Disk compatibility list is a joke
"You trust us to protect your data so we take it upon ourselves to list only drives that have passed our stringent disk qualification test."
I have been quite long faitful to the hardware compatibility list since it is said that using disks outside the list could void the warranty. Year ago I purchased 6 "Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS" taking extra care that the firmware is later than SD1A. So far 3 out of the 6 have completely BROKE down and 2 out of 3 remaining disks have reallocated sectors. So these are the recommended drives that has passed "stringent disk qualification test"s - only 1 out of 6 is top quality. I would think that this quality is as good as old great IBM DeskStar alias DeathStar.
Then I used WD20EARS to replace the broken ones from the list and again paying good attention that the model is WD20EARS-00S8B1. Now after a while the disk load cycle count is over 600,000, when WD is saying that the disk would tolerate something like 300k at maximum. There was no instructions whatsoever in hardware compatibility list to set the idle timer for this drive - I just trusted that it would work as it is because it is in the hard disk compatibility list. Now I need to also replace this disk because it is possible big risk to the system.
FINALLY, I purchased couple of UNSUPPORTED disks, WD30EARX and set the idle timer based on the instructions from the net. These disks have been working like a charm! No reallocated sectors, no troubles, no hiccups, great speed and they seems to be running with quite low temp.
So - make your own research and DO NOT trust the hardware compatibility list - it seems to be list of the disks to avoid at all cost. So seems that things are working like a charm if you DO NOT pick any disks from that list. This is just my experience - I admit that the disk pool is relative small to make big genralisations, but this is what has happened to me when strictly obeying the list before.
Re: ReadyNAS Pro Hard Disk compatibility list is a joke
If you have issues with the WD30EARX, so long as it isn't on the compatibility list you will be denied support.
Disks on the compatibility list are ones that have passed NetGear's extensive tests. Not all disks are equal and some are better than others.
You have chosen consumer disks. Choosing disks at the cheaper end you can expect to get disks of lower quality. Whilst they should still be good enough, they're not going to be as good as expensive enterprise disks designed for RAID use.
It's possible you may have got a bad batch of ST31500341AS. I have 14 of these disks. Whilst most of mine have reallocated sectors, none have failed yet.
As for the WD20EARS there have been lots of posts about these too. Some are more concerned about the load cycle count than others.
You should do your own research before purchasing any drives. Consult the hard drive compatibility list yes, but also search for experiences on the forum and in reviews of the drives themselves elsewhere.
Re: ReadyNAS Pro Hard Disk compatibility list is a joke
The handling of the disks when they are shipped from the vendor to you also has an impact on the life of the disk. I have purchased Seagate and WD OEM disks from several vendors and find that in the case of both brands they apparently ship 20 of the disks in a box with styrofoam trays top and bottom to protect the drives. But, once the drive is removed from that case, it is just the drive protected by the anti-static bag it is wrapped in. As recently as a year ago, my favorite supplier would wrap the drives in several layers of bubble wrap and then place the drive in a box with a lot of styrofoam peanuts. Then they went to this crumpled paper packing. My second choice supplier uses similar packing.
I recently bought 5 Hitachi OEM 3TB drives splitting the order between my two suppliers. In both cases the OEM drives came in an antistatic bag and then a plain brown corrugated container with expanded styrene standoffs to protect the drive inside the box. No identification on the outside of the box. Either both vendors shifted at the same time to this new packaging, or Hitachi is shipping their OEM drives in this new far superior packaging.
If the OEM drives are not packaged properly and they received a hard jolt during shipment, it can affect the life of the drive.
