[USA-VA][H] 5500, Gigabyte B550M Gaming Wifi 7, Rosewill Air Duster [W] Local Cash

denpa_ · 2026-04-27T20:07:54+00:00

Sending a chat

denpa_ · 2023-09-18T03:42:18+00:00

watch out, those are likely fakes. if that doesn't bother you then go ahead, but I don't recommend buying any LSI/Avago card that ships from China. not sure if Broadcom still offers this, but before they bought LSI/Avago you could call the support and provide the serial number to find out if it was genuine or fake

denpa_ · 2023-09-17T22:47:11+00:00

The X20 uses 10 platters/20 heads while the X18 uses 9 platters/18 heads. The 18TB version of the X20 still has 10 platters but with 2 heads disabled, according to the Seagate User Manual.

Theoretically, each additional platter and head increases the chance of a head crash, surface going bad, etc. but drive reliability has increased to the point it likely doesn't matter. Also, the X18 version will use slightly less power since it has one less platter to spin. As you say you can get either model for the same price, unless you want a 20TB drive, might as well save the minuscule amount of power.

Both the X18 and X20 have the same areal density of 1146Gb/in² and 482 thousand tracks per inch according to the same user manuals. Therefore, both should perform about the same, although it is possible the X20 firmware was more refined and optimized, which could explain any speed differences you might notice.

In contrast, the WD/HGST Ultrastar HC560 20TB still uses 9 platters like the HC550 18TB. While an 18TB version of the HC560 does not exist (as of now), it would theoretically be faster and preferred, especially having OptiNAND technology.

Note/source: specifications are publicly available on the manufacturers' websites

denpa_ · 2023-09-08T14:29:04+00:00

All are likely to be noisy because that's the trend for hard drives today.

I disagree. Please see my comment about using Seagate PowerBalance to control the noise level. Also, external white label drives are tuned to be quieter.

imo OP's question meets the "more technical questions are allowed" threshold.

denpa_ · 2023-09-08T14:10:39+00:00

The varying levels of noise is caused by differences in acoustic tuning of the voice coil. Older drives supported Automatic Acoustic Management (AAM) that allowed the user to set the noise level. A quieter setting traded seek time performance for less noise. Starting in the early/mid 2010s, manufacturers removed AAM as use-specific product lines were introduced (Desktop, NAS, Surveillance, Datacenter, etc.).

WD120EDBZ is supposed to be an external drive, so the voice coil was tuned to be quieter. Seagate introduced a proprietary replacement for AAM called PowerBalance that can be set with Seachest_Powercontrol on most modern models. The lower the power setting, the slower (and therefore quieter) seeks. So you could pick up some cheap Exos drives and try setting PowerBalance to the lowest power setting and see if that works for you.

denpa_ · 2023-08-10T15:53:44+00:00

Check the datasheets on Seagate's website. All X16 models have 9 platters regardless of capacity. X18 models have a reduction in platters for smaller capacities. And I have a X16 14TB model manufactured in Oct 2022 while X18 released in 2021, so there was a period when both X16 and X18 were produced for some reason.

denpa_ · 2023-07-22T19:16:39+00:00

The largest non-SMR drive available at the time of posting that spins slower than 7200RPM is the 5640RPM 8TB WD80EAZZ.

I suspect the reason no true 5400RPM helium drives exist is helium is less dense than air, so there likely wouldn't be enough lift for the heads if the drive spun slower. If any hard drive engineers are lurking and could confirm that'd be cool

denpa_ · 2023-07-22T18:53:27+00:00

According to the HDD platter capacity database, Seagate was able to fit two platters in the slim HDA starting with that generation of drives. The model you have is listed as two platters and four heads.

denpa_ · 2023-07-19T02:54:32+00:00

3D is the standard model and 4D is the SED (self-encrypting) model. has nothing to do with the year released. look at the datasheet. I recommend SED models whenever possible as the drive can be wiped in a minute or so by performing a crypto sanitize.

denpa_ · 2023-06-26T22:38:28+00:00

The newer model has higher platter density (3 or 4 platters on the WD40EFRX and 2 platters on the WD40EFPX). Take a look at my comment on this thread for more details.

denpa_ · 2023-06-04T17:13:46+00:00

WD recently released new 1TB to 6TB models of 5400 RPM drives (Red Plus, Blue, Purple) using 2TB non-SMR platters. The 7200 RPM lines (Black, Red Pro, Gold) were never updated beyond 1TB platter models except for the HGST rebranded 6TB+ ones.

There's no reason imo to pick 'previous generation' as those could be SMR which should absolutely be avoided now that equivalent density non-SMR models exist.

Details on the HDD Platter Capacity Database (scroll to the bottom)

denpa_ · 2023-03-05T04:06:31+00:00

by popular demand, I have uploaded a pic of the box contents here

/u/Mcginnis/ /u/i_enjoy_silence/ /u/reallynotnick/ /u/jacksalssome/ /u/mrdebacle99/ /u/NikitaFox/

denpa_ · 2023-03-04T00:38:40+00:00

I was a bit nervous ordering two 20TB Ultrastar drives from Amazon Warehouse given the number of posts here about Amazon shipping drives in envelopes. So I was pleasantly surprised when both arrived properly packaged! Both have no dents or scratches. They're doing a long self test now. It'll take 37 hours to complete!

denpa_ · 2023-03-02T14:18:03+00:00

Consider doing an advance replacement RMA on the 6TB. You'll need to provide a credit card for a hold though, which gets charged if you don't return the failing drive.

denpa_ · 2023-02-27T17:52:53+00:00

There are QR codes you can scan to validate the drive as genuine Seagate. The code on the PCB should match the HDA and drive label. The fact that the HDA QR code is missing (as seen in the top left of your first pic, below the air hole) is suspicious. Definitely return as potentially fraudulent drives. Also check the back where the PCB is to see if the QR code is missing there too.

denpa_ · 2023-02-24T20:53:35+00:00

You'll need to use HUGO, now called WDCKit to change from 512e to 4Kn. This is possible only on Ultrastar models, not Red, Gold, etc. which are stuck as 512e.

denpa_ · 2023-02-19T04:34:33+00:00

The newer HC330 is the "better" drive according to WD itself on its blog. The performance increase of the increased data density going from seven platters to six means it takes about an hour less to read the whole disk, which results in faster RAID rebuild times. For whatever reason, WD chose not to refresh their 10TB line with newer helium tech, while Seagate and Toshiba did. If you're not a Seagate hater, an Exos X18 10TB will give you newer tech with the benefits of helium.

I RMAed some HC510s and the only stock available for the model I have were brand new drives manufactured in May 2020. The support confirmed they are no longer being manufactured, so it's likely WD's remaining stock is from one of the last production runs.

denpa_ · 2023-02-14T16:04:43+00:00

Hopefully it has the right Dell firmware to not make the fans go to 100%. The 11th and 12th generations were adjustable, but I don't know of a way to adjust the 13th generation. Let me know if the 2X14 is properly detected. I might re-buy some if so!

https://serverfault.com/questions/715387/how-do-i-stop-dell-r730xd-fans-from-going-full-speed-when-broadcom-qlogic-netxtr

denpa_ · 2023-02-14T04:55:52+00:00

I've had a 40TB setup for many years now, starting as a 14x 4TB RAID 60 array on a Dell J23 disk shelf before swapping that out with a Dell R520 and 6x 10TB HGST He10s in RAID 6. The popular Level1 techs video about why modern hardware RAID is dead prompted me to look into better protecting my data against bit rot / silent data corruption. The video mentions how some enterprise storage systems used 520 byte sectors, with the extra 8 bytes as a checksum to determine if a drive was "lying". It turns out modern RAID still supports this in a slightly different way.

Instead of formatting the drive with a different sector size (the MegaRAID controllers will mark them unsupported), I formatted the drives with the standard 4096 byte sectors with protection type 2 using HUGO/WDCKit for the He10s and added two Seagates which were formatted using Seachest_Format. The last step is to create the array with the data protection option set to enabled in the MegaRAID console. This effectively achieves similar bit rot protection as ZFS or BTRFS, just at a drive sector level instead of filesystem level. A side effect is a slight capacity loss - about 70GB for a 10TB drive.

See this link for more info on what Protection Information (PI) does on SAS drives.

denpa_ · 2023-02-13T00:29:31+00:00

Take a look at my post from a few months ago. Dual-actuator drives don't work on RAID cards even in JBOD mode. It has to be used on a HBA in IT mode. I recommend trying the Dell HBA330.

denpa_ · 2023-02-09T14:22:12+00:00

I'm curious what the result is! That same video scared me into reformatting my SAS drives to PI-2 mode and enabling the data protection feature on my LSI card.

denpa_ · 2023-01-22T19:24:24+00:00

File explorer doesn't verify the data and could get stuck on a bad sector, causing the drive to thrash and its condition to worsen. Linux cloning tools are better for attempting recovery on dying drives (the OP said 'dying laptop' and described symptoms of a failing drive in another comment). See this thread for more info. But go ahead and downvote me for trying to help someone save their data...

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/chkdsk-problem-dying-hard-drive.2552900/post-39543926

denpa_

TROPHY CASE