[Assassinhtpc]

We are always trying to find ways to give back to the HTPC community in productive ways so we try to do some independents tests when we can on parts we all use.


We do not get any payment, bonuses, gifts, etc. from anyone for these tests (trust me, I wish we did because we'd post a lot more test results). And in no way are we expert testers or anything along those lines. Just builders like many of you out there.


Your experiences may be much different than ours and we understand that. Also our testing is rudimentary (does it work?) and geared towards media use only.


However this was too alarming to not share when we put the final numbers to paper of what we have seen in the past year and wanted to share with everyone.


We also wanted to make sure it wasn't just a bad batch we experienced. This has been spread out over 8 months of purchasing.


The 2TB hard drive brands we purchase and use are:


Western Digital,

Toshiba,

and Seagate.


Of those 3 brands, Western Digital and Seagate both performed well. We'd experience a bad one every couple hundred or so but that's as expected.

However, our failure rate for Toshiba drives is over 40%.


So until Toshiba gets their act together or start offering hard drive prices at half the price since we have to buy 2 in order to get one that works, we will be sticking with WD and Seagate.


Just wanted to pass this information on to the community in hopes of saving some headaches for our fellow HTPC'ers!

 

[assassin]

Thanks for the post Ben. Thanks for sharing.

 

[captain_video]

I hope their 3TB models are more reliable. I recently purchased a pair of them to use in my unRAID server so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I haven't used any 3.5" Toshiba drives before so this is new territory for me.


Thanks for the feedback, Ben. It's always good to hear some real world results, even if it's not uplifting.

 

[Dropkick Murphy]

Cap Video - Do you use any raid cards in your server? I have a SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 in mine and I wanted to move up to 3TB drives but I cant seem to find a definitive answer as to whether they will work or not.

 

[Toys7505]

Seagate user here, have multiple 2tb and 3tb drives........have had Great performance from them. Was wondering and looking at Toshiba but after this post, I will just continue to "window shop" them going forward.


Thanks for posting results!


Toys

 

[T0R0]



Duly Noted Guys, thanks for the heads up !

 

[captain_video]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Dropkick Murphy  /t/1517225/2-tb-hard-drive-test-results-assassin-htpc#post_24342784


Cap Video - Do you use any raid cards in your server? I have a SUPERMICRO AOC-SASLP-MV8 in mine and I wanted to move up to 3TB drives but I cant seem to find a definitive answer as to whether they will work or not.

I use the same cards with the 0.21 firmware. You need to upgrade to 0.21 for drives larger than 2TB if you're still using firmware 0.15. I've got several 3TB drives and a couple of 4TB drives in my array.

 

[Dropkick Murphy]



Quote:
Originally Posted by captain_video  /t/1517225/2-tb-hard-drive-test-results-assassin-htpc#post_24342970


You need to upgrade to 0.21 for drives larger than 2TB if you're still using firmware 0.15.

Good to know, thanks


How do I check the version and more importantly, how would I go about upgrading it? I built this thing, it stores and serves all my media and that's about all I know about it. I'm running 5.0-beta 14 on the unRaid and I have Putty installed on my workstation if that helps any.

 

[captain_video]

You should see the version listed when your system boots and it scans the controller for attached drives. It will say something about Marvell at the top of the screen followed by some numbers. The last three numbers shown will either be 0.15 or 0.21, IIRC.


Here are a couple of links to instructions on upgrading or downgrading the firmware:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12404.0

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1324649/3tb-drives-and-supermicro-aoc-saslp-mv8


Check post #29 in the 2nd link for download links pertinent to the firmware for your version of the controller.

 

[Dropkick Murphy]

Cap Video


Thanks allot. I'll get moving on that tonight.

 

[ElJimador]

Thanks for the info. Do you mind sharing what model Toshiba's you were using? I bought a 2TB PH3200U-1I72 for my dad last July to upgrade the 250GB hd that came in his bluray player (LG BD690) and I'd be curious to know if you've had issues with that one in particular.

 

[el_kano]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Assassinhtpc  /t/1517225/2-tb-hard-drive-test-results-assassin-htpc#post_24341907



However, our failure rate for Toshiba drives is over 40%.

Thanks Assassin.


Out of interest, I'm assuming this is over the life of the product rather than before it's shipped? I also assume this is all within the warranty period, or are you including drives outside of the warranty period as well? What is that period on your standard systems?


That failure rate is horribly high though. People are right to ask about what models you are using, there could be some kind of batch or model deficiency. The vertex2 SSD's also had high failure rates although some are still using theirs without issue.

 

[Assassinhtpc]

The majority of the failures were Model DT01ACA200 2TB 7200 RPM. The PH3200U-1I72 2TB 7200 were a little better, but still much higher than the other two brands.

 

[Assassinhtpc]



Quote:
Originally Posted by el_kano  /t/1517225/2-tb-hard-drive-test-results-assassin-htpc#post_24344145


Thanks Assassin.


Out of interest, I'm assuming this is over the life of the product rather than before it's shipped? I also assume this is all within the warranty period, or are you including drives outside of the warranty period as well? What is that period on your standard systems?


That failure rate is horribly high though. People are right to ask about what models you are using, there could be some kind of batch or model deficiency. The vertex2 SSD's also had high failure rates although some are still using theirs without issue.

Actually the only good part of how these things failed is the majority of them were DOA. I would say about 50% have been DOA. 25% failed within first week, The other 25% failed within first 3 months.


-Ben

 

[ElJimador]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Assassinhtpc  /t/1517225/2-tb-hard-drive-test-results-assassin-htpc#post_24344584


The majority of the failures were Model DT01ACA200 2TB 7200 RPM. The PH3200U-1I72 2TB 7200 were a little better, but still much higher than the other two brands.

Thanks. I'll check w/my Dad to make sure he's got all the video files on that bluray player backed up just in case. (Which he should already be doing anyway of course, I just know he's lazy about that sort of thing so maybe this will give him a little extra motivation).

 

[Andy_Steb]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Assassinhtpc  /t/1517225/2-tb-hard-drive-test-results-assassin-htpc#post_24344584


The majority of the failures were Model DT01ACA200 2TB 7200 RPM. The PH3200U-1I72 2TB 7200 were a little better, but still much higher than the other two brands.

Aren't these 2 models the same drive? one retail the other OEM

 

[Mfusick]



Quote:
Originally Posted by el_kano  /t/1517225/2-tb-hard-drive-test-results-assassin-htpc/0_100#post_24344145


The vertex2 SSD's also had high failure rates although some are still using theirs without issue.

Vertex2 120GB owner checking in here. Still going strong. 4 years old.

 

[el_kano]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick  /t/1517225/2-tb-hard-drive-test-results-assassin-htpc#post_24345392


Vertex2 120GB owner checking in here. Still going strong. 4 years old.

Glad to hear it


I had some misfortune with my own drive unfortunately- it's now a sleek looking mini-brick. Using a samsung now thats going strong.

 

[Mfusick]



Quote:
Originally Posted by el_kano  /t/1517225/2-tb-hard-drive-test-results-assassin-htpc/0_100#post_24345454


Glad to hear it


I had some misfortune with my own drive unfortunately- it's now a sleek looking mini-brick. Using a samsung now thats going strong.

Funny. I owned 1 Crucial. RMA-ed it. Replacement still going.


Owned 1 Samsung (830) RMA-ed it. Replacement going strong. (used the 840 samsung for many builds, had only 1 go bad out of perhaps 10)


Owned 30 OCZ SSD's. RMA-ed 1. Replacement going strong.


I guess OCZ is winning

I've had generally good luck with them. But the VERTEX3 120GB in my server did die recently and I replaced it.


OCZ is pretty easy company about replacement and RMA too. Just set up RMA online you get another one. The warranty is pretty decent on them too. Some of mine had 5 years. (many actually)


You really can't predict reliability with internet here-say or rumors. Just like this thread is suggesting the Toshiba is bad but you can find plenty of good results with Toshiba too.


In fact, the 3TB Toshiba (that is the one I would buy anyways) is a much better choice since it's $20 more for 1TB more and it's a totally different design inside. It's a HITACHI rebadge and there is likely no more correlation between the reliability of the 2TB and the 3TB models as there is about the Hitachi models the design is based upon and which were just declared by the backblaze study most reliable. Hitachi had about a 1% failure rate across the board with over 12,000 drives tested over a period of years. Hard drive reliability really is a crap shoot.


You might as well compare a TOYOTA CAMRY to a TOYOTA TUNDRA. If one is bad does not mean the other will be. This thread is a bit misleading in that regard, but I'm mostly just here to read this time.


BTW those TOSHIBA HARDDRIVES are MFG by WD. They are made in the WD factory right along side the WD models.

Part of the anti trust regulation as a result of WD buying part of Hitachi (now called HGST) was that Toshiba got long term lease and MFG by WD at the WD plant of models to be sold as Toshiba models. Most of these are either rebadge WD or rebaded Hitachi. I believe the 2TB Toshiba is a re-badge WD CAVIAR 2TB, and the 3TB Toshiba is a rebadge Hitachi. I do believe what the Assassin team is saying about the 2TB Toshiba models, but I would not hesitate to purchase the 3TB model knowing it's not exactly the same hard drive. I also would not think all Toshiba are bad simply because the Assassin team has had a bad experience. I might avoid the 2TB model they speak of specifically, but generally 3TB are a better deal anyways so personally I am not very likely to ever buy them anyways. It's like $10 more for the 3TB when it's on sale anyways

Bigger is better with hard drives, it's all about the cost to size ratio