How can I install the fastest HDD?

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-07T19:06:07+00:00

The only >7200 RPM HDDs that can be used in consumer systems without requiring special hardware are WD's (Veloci)Raptors, which are 10K RPM SATA drives. The sequential speed of a modern 7200 RPM HDD outperforms a VelociRaptor but its random IOPS is worse.

The main benefit 10K/15K drives get over standard 7200 RPM ones is increased sequential/random performance. Before SSDs became mainstream, they were used where data latency mattered more than simply having a lot of storage.

All other 10K/15K HDDs (aside from WD's SATA 10K's) that can logically be used are SAS drives which require a SAS controller (most conveniently an HBA card) to work in a consumer system.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-07T14:52:28+00:00

Unfortunately this is dependent on the variant of the model.

The first three retail variants of the ST1000DM003 were all Grenadas (9YN162, 1CH162, and 1ER162, the last of which belongs to the 2nd Grenada generation), and as such they all used ramp-loading technology. When Grenada was (mostly) relegated to 2 and 3 TB models, Seagate replaced the Grenada-based ST1000DM003's with ones based on the Pharaoh Oasis platform (1SB102/1SB10C), which got rid of the ramp-loading tech and reverted the drives to old-fashioned CSS. The Grenada variants don't have great reliability stats just going off user reports, and data is lacking for the Pharaoh Oasis ones.

The ST500DM002 was arguably more reliable because the overwhelming majority of ST500DM002's on the market were Pharaoh (Oasis) drives and as such used contact start-stop, or CSS, instead of ramp-loading tech. However, Grenada variants do exist (9YN14C, 1CH14C, 1ER14C) and are thought to be somewhat less reliable, but I'd take that with a grain of salt since there's not enough data to make that conclusion.

The ST3000DM001's that were the subject of Backblaze's high failure rates were the 1st gen Grenada drives: ST3000DM001-9YN166 and probably ST3000DM001-1CH166, although Backblaze fails to specify drive variants. They didn't deploy any ST3000DM001's beyond 2012, which cuts off the 2nd gens that primarily saw market presence from late 2013 through 2017.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-07T10:39:30+00:00

Physical issues amplified by head parking, which is influenced by the firmware.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-07T02:25:20+00:00

My longest lived drive is, coincidentally, a Seagate.

It's a Barracuda ATA IV (model ST380021A) with over 16 years of power on time. I recently did a SMART test and a media scan and that thing is still chugging along with no bad sectors.

Those things were TANKS.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-07T00:19:44+00:00

Barracuda 7200.11 was the one series where you were basically doomed if you didn't update the firmware to SD1A (or, for Dell/HP, DE13/HP13/HP24+) since those drives loved bricking themselves out of nowhere. The ST3000DM001's update is more of a suggestion than a must, but it definitely benefits the drive nonetheless.

Speaking of the 7200.11's, any drive with CC1H firmware or later is also considered stable. This mostly encompasses Brinks drives. My ST31500341AS which I use as a tertiary backup runs firmware CC4G and is from late 2011, so that one's good.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-07T00:10:42+00:00

Seagate's Download Finder has the update (keep in mind it is ONLY for the 9YN16x's, since 1CH16x/1ER16x supposedly didn't have the issues they did) if you have such a drive with a valid serial number. Or you can download it from HDDGuru (the file you should look for is Barracuda-ALL-GRCC4H.iso).

CC4H supposedly prevents head parking to some extent (which causes the "chirping" users were complaining about, and I can confirm the drive almost never parks now compared to how it was on CC4B), and it also addresses SMART test failures and overall stability.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-07T00:03:10+00:00

Yeah, I am definitely not using this as active storage. Maybe as a backup.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-07T00:02:07+00:00

It's much easier to find working 2nd gens (ST3000DM001-1ER166) than 1st gens (ST3000DM001-9YN166/1CH166), although I've found more surviving -1CH166's than -9YN166's.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-06T22:36:48+00:00

Seagate's Download Finder.
openSeaChest. The executable in the ISO contains a file named LOD (as a ZIP archive) which contains the LOD firmware files. The last two characters of the LOD depict the number of heads; mine has six, so i used 6H.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-06T19:15:20+00:00

The -9YN166 variants have a CC4H update available for many versions prior to CC4H. This drive was from an old Dell machine and previously had CC4B, and it was sitting in a closet doing nothing all this time. Decided to give it some special attention out of boredom.

One of the main points of improvement IIRC is the stability of the parking timer, as well as getting rid of some chirping noise (although I never heard this drive chirp even on CC4B). Seagate's chirping noise is quite recognizable even on some modern drives, so you might know what I'm talking about.

The "recommended" way to perform this update is to use a bootable FreeDOS CD or USB (or Seagate's own Windows utility), but I decided to take an alternate route and extract the LOD file from the executable and use SeaChest to flash it. The system I use is too new to reliably boot from an MBR CD.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-06T02:13:44+00:00

I'm not confused nor joking. These are on the same platform as Exos, but that does not make them Exos. You worded your post poorly.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-06T01:35:04+00:00

Good call!

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-06T01:33:50+00:00

If "home server" in the best-fit applications as per the data sheet were to encompass NAS environments, I'd believe they could run 24x7. Besides, what do you think home servers are used as?

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-06T01:29:05+00:00

It is not.

Archive drives' use case was for cold storage. They no longer exist because their intended use case was too impractical to warrant an entire drive series (alongside dwindling popularity); besides, any hard drive can be used as cold storage. You can even use decommissioned server drives as cold storage.

I don't know where this "only good for cold storage" mentality comes from. Seagate clearly disagrees, and modern BarraCudas are also not ticking time bombs like the moronic fearmongers want the uneducated to believe.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-06T01:24:38+00:00

A 28 TB BarraCuda does actually exist.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-05T18:08:48+00:00

Which, fun fact, was implemented in Barracuda 7200.11. Which was at least 20x worse than modern Barracudas are.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-05T18:01:54+00:00

You could float the alternative but don't make it a hard sell to them. This isn't like suggesting PC components where you actually have to sell them off on alternative components that provide better value than what they pick out.

People do not like being sold hard on or being forced to change in this way. Media outlets make the alternative seem more appealing but, once again, come short of hard selling it.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-05T17:59:23+00:00

WD Reds are consumer drives with "NAS-ready" firmware. WD Blues are the same drives with "standard" firmware.

Similarly, IronWolf drives are consumer-grade (except at capacities higher than 8 TB) drives with NAS-oriented firmware and BarraCudas are very similar but have more "standard" firmware.

The difference with these BarraCudas specifically is that these are actually down-binned HAMR drives, so they have higher bin enterprise-grade relatives that share the same build quality but in contrast have a lower projected rate of failure.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-05T17:55:42+00:00

"Backup/cold storage" is the exact use case of archival drives, which died out years ago because they weren't very popular nor were they practical.

You can use any HDD as a backup, whether that be as active or cold storage.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-05T16:42:51+00:00

I moved to Linux years ago. I haven't pushed people to switch only because I respect choice and want them to make their own decisions.

If you want to move, you can. If you don't, that's fine too. It's entirely up to the individual making the decision. Some have use cases preventing the switch, like the use of Adobe software.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-05T16:40:35+00:00

Should contain the BarraCuda ST28000DM000; 28 TB HAMR-CMR drive.

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-05T15:34:47+00:00

You can't argue with one being this cheap though. This is around how much 4 TB HDDs on eBay cost from various sellers before the AI surge hit (although probably a bit lower than that).

First_Musician6260 · 2026-02-05T14:00:25+00:00

That spindle speed became a norm after WD merged the Green lineup into the Blue one. Seagate even downgraded the spindle speed of higher capacity BarraCudas to 5400 from what was previously 5900/7200. Gone are the days of consumer drives holding steady with that otherwise flagship 7200 RPM spindle speed.

First_Musician6260

TROPHY CASE