The store has no idea. They just said to call the resellers. Which looks like no one carries any compatible drive anymore. I’ve got to research the idea of overriding which drives are compatible? like this - Force an "incompatible" hard drive?
Ok - funny story. I called the WD store yesterday, and basically got nowhere. Wait, let me go back about 9 months.
I emailed WD to ask about changing my email address on my account. I never heard back from them.
Yesterday, I called to inquire about additional drives. They basically pointed me to their website which lists the compatible models, but couldn’t tell me who sold them. Then they told me who sold their products - about 32 vendors. I could not find a compatible drive on these websites - or rather I could not confirm that any drive on these website were compatible.
Then late in the afternoon, I got a call from WD. They asked how I was. I said frustrated that it was so hard to find a drive that worked with the server I bought from them. They caller (Carlos) said, “Oh, I was calling about your request to change your email address”
Eventually I explained what I was looking for. He said he would do some research, and email me what he found. I was a little worried this email would get lost, or never happen. But he did email me a few options! GO CARLOS! Kind of ridiculous that they make it so hard to find their own drives - which we want to buy.
So I plan on buying two of these 2 TB drives. I believe this will get me 6 TB of storage. Is that correct. I read this other posting linked by Gramps (and see where I was looking into upgrading myself a while ago, and never got around to it).
I also see mention of the Thecus W4000. Does anyone else use one of these, or have experience with them? It sounds like it might be a good way to go. As I don’t want to miss the opportunity to get the other drives while they are available - I’ve got to buy them quickly. But I wonder if my money would be better spent towards the Thecus unit.
What would I be missing/losing (aside from more money) if I went that route?
Good point - on reusing the hard drives. I’ve ordered the 2 of the 2TB drives. I think 6 TB should hold me for quite a while. I plan on installing next week. I’ll let you all know how it goes.
Well I got the 2 drives. MDL: WD2000F9YZ - 09N20L1
This was the one they told me to get. This one also looks like it has the same number as on the “Compatible Drives” list. I do notice that the list has an asterisk next to this drive. The note below says * = Latest available firmware 1_7_6_21 I’m not sure how to upgrade or even check the firmware of the hard drive? I thought I read above that the suffix of the drive model indicates the firmware of the drive?
I plugged it in, and get an Incompatible Drive error message. Any ideas?
I just downloaded a utility to check the firmware of the drive I bought. It says the firmware is 01.01A02.
Not sure I understand what you mean by “firmware of the box which you must be behind”. Do you mean the firmware of my Sentinel is older than the firmware of the HardDrive?
When I go to Dashboard/Monitor tab, all I see for Drive Bay 3 is “Incompatible Drive”. The only way I know to check the firmware of the new drive is to connect it to my desktop and use a utility like "DiskCheckup. That says the firmware of the drive is 01.01A02.
I don’t understand firmware nomenclature enough to understand if 1_7_6_21 comes before or after 01.01A02, or if there is anything I can do about that?
I also downloaded a WD Drive Utilities to see if that could give me any more info or options - but it didn’t even recognize that the drive was connected.
It is the firmware of the DX4000 not the drive. My box is not on and I am not where it is to turn it on. But on that page where it says drive not recognized I think there is another tab that says software/firmware/updates maybe.
Once you get on the right page you will see the firmware. May even be a box to click to check for newer
So just to see if I understand this -
my Server is version 1.7.3.13
the new drive I have is version 01.01A02
The required drive firmware version is 1.7.6.21.
How do I get a newer version on my server? I have checked for updates numerous times - and it always says it is up to date.
WOW - I just did a search for software for the server, and found this - WD Sentinel DX4000 or RX4100 Drive Enabler
" It just came out last week.
Supposedly it "allows users to replace a failed drive with a drive not on the recommended list.
The box firmware, not drive. But that download looks like it may work, though I have no clue if it just disables the whitelist and still does the raid functions on auto, or if it enables the rst stuff to create your own raids.
It appears to be working - the LCD panels says Migrating My alert viewer says Increasing Storage Capacity
It also says Free space is low on one or more server hard drives
When I look at the hard drives on the dashboard - it appears as though drive C is low on space. only 4.5 GB of space free.
I’ve now added the second drive. So if I am understanding correctly - I should end up with ~6TB of storage when all is said and done. It will be configured in a RAID 5.
After the migration is complete, I will need to take a look at the c: drive to figure out how to free up some space there.
Forgot to add/question. I have added the two drives, and I see the Migration percentage slowly creeping up - from what I’ve read the conversion/migration should happen automatically, right? ie it is going slowly, but the number is increasing. So I imagine by tomorrow the migration should be complete, and my system will then be set up as a RAID 5, and my information will be saved across all the drives?
Yeah, I can still see my data. I’m just wondering - does server essentials automatically put the drives together into the RAID 5 format? Ie right now - they look like separate hard drives. I thought it would just appear as one 6 TB hard drive when all is said and done?
