WD10EARS in a RAID 0 (stripe) Array

WD Internal Drives Desktop & Mobile Drives
1

Hello there,

a friend of mine bought yesterday two of these hard disks. We wanted to make a stripped array of 2TB.

The system is based on an Asus MB for Intel Core i7 (X58/ICH10R) and the operating system is WinXP 32bit.

It will be used for video editing.

The first thing to do, was to set a jumper at pins 7-8 as instructed at the label.

The drives were detected instantly with no problems and then an array was created within the “Intel Rapid Strorage Technology” console.

While copying video content, about 10GB, the array failed…

Innumerous try outs of copying, editing, playing, streaming video content from this array,

indicates that it is not capable of constant output rate.

The actual speed has no difference neither if the HDDs are stripped or “stand alone”.

Has anyone of you used these drives in a stripped array?

2

First of all, these drives are not raid drives.  So, no one will support them in a raid configuration.  Secondly, they are advanced format drives, which is relatively new technology and may not be compatible with many raid chips.  You’re better just getting raid drives. 

3

Thank you,

I can say that, that was the answer I was looking for.

I told my friend that they are not RAID drives directly when he brought them to me.

We changed them with other drives, that support RAID, and the system worked fine.

4

LOL, not RAID drives.

That’s like saying…“this processor doesn’t support operating systems…its used to heat the MB to a warmer temp”.

However, he might be on to something with the 4k sector causing firmware issues.

I wonder who will have to fix the problem.  Intel and all the MB manufacturers pushing a new BIOS for Intel ICH controllers or WD pushing a new firmware to get their HDD to work properly?

Hmm…

5

They are sooooooo slooowww that they cannot be used in RAID arrays, not even for system disks.

Anyway, it is stated at their webpage, that they are intended to be used at “quieter, cooler-running desktop PCs and external storage devices.”

I still prefer W.Digital’s HDDs but the Green Series are good only for bricks.

6

The drives alone have a speed issue when their buffer fills up. This is a first where you cannot use a standard drive in a consumer class RAID. You will have to buy a WD drive specific to RAID. Regardless if the RAID is simple onboard for the consumer or advanced RAIDs found in Blade servers for Industrial. Any other HD manufacture atleast allows their drives to function in simple RAID controllers for the consumer. Consider any Hitachi or Seagate drive. I can’t see why just using even 2 of these drives togeather fail so badly in performance.