WD Black in RAID 1/0 or 10

[theSeb]

Yeah, so we all know that we should not be using consumer drives in RAID, but are things really going to blow up if I use 2 WD blacks in RAID 1 or 0? I don't feel like paying the extra for RE drives and I think that the Reds will be too slow for the intended use. Any real use experience?

I have consumer Seagate drives in a Pegasus R4 and a Lacie 2 Big and they seem to be doing fine. I am trying to now consolidate my storage and would appreciate some advice. Maybe the WD SE is a decent compromise?

 

[AidenShaw]

performance reviews

Here you can compare the performance:

http://www.storagereview.com/wd_red_4tb_hdd_review_wd40efrx
http://www.storagereview.com/wd_black_4tb_desktop_hard_drive_review_wd4003fzex

Real world - I used to use consumer drives in 4 to 8 bay cabinets, but simply too many failures.

Real world - the WD Thunderbolt Duo comes with Hitachi Deskstar 5K drives, but these are rated for 24x7 operation.

The Black spec sheet http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/SpecSheet/ENG/2879-771434.pdf does claim that it handles vibration.

 

[Loa]

Hello,

Hardware RAID: shouldn't do it.
Software RADI: no problem. I've been using two WD Blacks in software RAID0 for a couple of years now, with no issues.

Loa

 

[mnlth0]

Hello,

Hardware RAID: shouldn't do it.
Software RADI: no problem. I've been using two WD Blacks in software RAID0 for a couple of years now, with no issues.

Loa

Why not hardware RAID?

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Yeah, so we all know that we should not be using consumer drives in RAID, but are things really going to blow up if I use 2 WD blacks in RAID 1 or 0? I don't feel like paying the extra for RE drives and I think that the Reds will be too slow for the intended use. Any real use experience?

I have consumer Seagate drives in a Pegasus R4 and a Lacie 2 Big and they seem to be doing fine. I am trying to now consolidate my storage and would appreciate some advice. Maybe the WD SE is a decent compromise?

It mostly depends if TLER is enabled or not. There's been report on web that lots of people have WD Black drives failing in RAID configurations due TLER, but in the same time, equal amount of people saying no issues at all. I personally have witnessed my buddies RAID10 build with 5 WD Black, no issues at all. I believe it differs in series of drives, probably they started messing up TLER at WD after RED series was released.

RAID1 should not be issue though.

 

[Loa]

Hello,

I think you answered your question: Blacks are not timed for hardware RAID set-ups. As you said sometimes it works, sometimes not. IMO, if you're going to invest in a hardware RAID, invest in drives timed for it.

Loa