Hi, my server currently has eight of the WD1500BLFS drives in hotswap bays. So that’s 147GB, 2.5", SATA. I’m looking to upgrade my server capacity, and the new 2.5" SATA VelociRaptors have my attention, specifically the WD1000CHTZ or WD5000BHTZ. Both of these are listed as “enterprise” drives, but they are also listed under “workstation”, not server. I have questions about the following points:
Are these drives recommended for use in a server environment?
Are they compatible with hardware RAID (Adaptec 5805), e.g. do they do TLER? I have had some issues with the current drives falling out of the array on occasion, but they always rebuild ok after a reboot. I just found out about this issue where some “consumer grade” drives take a long time to recover from an error condition, which makes the RAID card time out and drop the drive from the array. This sounds a lot like what has been happening with me. So I’m wondering if these new “enterprise” Raptor drives I referenced above are made for RAID environments or not.
Is there anything special about having a “hotswap” bay? Do the drives need to be aware of this, or will they be just fine? It seems to be a standard SATA connector inside, just that the drive is attached to a handle/rail that means it can easily be removed and reinserted. Not sure if that needs something special in the drive firmware.
I notice these 2.5 VelociRaptors come with this IcePack cooling enclosure. Is it ok to run them in a tight multibay environment without that enclosure? The server has internal fans bringing in air from the front, so there should be some cooling from that. The current drives have been fine running 24/7 since 2008.
Hi yes they have not updated the specs yet for the new raptors this is WD official response why they moved them to desktop section.
After I received your reply, I decided to look into the issue to see what changes have been made to the newer generation of the Velociraptor drives. The change from Enterprise to Workstation was really driven by the utilization of Advanced Format to drive higher areal density and align capacity points with traditional client-type capacity points. AF is an issue in older servers that still support 512n-sector I/O, so unilateral support in Enterprise is not possible. Workstations typically utilize the latest OS and applications that are AF-friendly. It’s important to note that the fundamental design of VelociRaptor remains unchanged – still has TLER, RAFF, other enterprise-like robustness - and maintains many of the same specs as the previous generation.
The change from Enterprise also allows us to clarify our Enterprise positioning. VelociRaptor confused many of our enterprise customers. With this move, our 2.5" 10K SAS becomes our focused Tier 1 Enterprise product, consistent with the positioning of other suppliers. The other question if you remove the icepack you void the warranty and they need the ice pack to keep them cool. Now the BHTZ and CHTZ are 2.5 drives only but you need to special order them. The 3.5 drives in the list here are 2.5 in a 3.5 icepack. http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=20
Hi Hammey, thanks very much for your reply. I just want to make sure I understand this correctly, because it sounds like a showstopper: I cannot use those drives without the Icepack enclosure without voiding the warranty??? So they cannot be used in 2.5" drive bays then, since the Icepack fits into 3.5" bays. Then I guess I can’t use these drives in my server?
Does anyone know if the 10k SAS 2.5" drives require the same type of cooling enclosure?
I’m really hoping there is a 2.5" SATA “enterprise” class drive I can use here… without breaking the bank, I’m not a big corporation and I need to buy 10 of these (8 for the server and 2 spares)… any suggestions? I’d be ok going down to 7200 if I had to, I just want somewhere in the 500GB-1TB range, 2.5", server class, and also RAID friendly… any suggestions?
Hi from what I understand the models BHTZ and CHTZ are 2.5 drives no icepack, although when you google the 3.5 or 2.5 it shows the drive as 2.5 in the icepack I dont think they know what a BHTZ is lol, but I am quite sure they are 2.5 drives only no icepack but you need to contact WD and see what the price and specs are on the drive.
