Opinions on Seagate Barracuda LP

[dmxlite]

So, I know Seagate wasn't doing too well in the previous gen, but how about the LP drives?
I haven't seen any decent reviews on it, but I'm wondering if anyone has tried it and what do you think of it?

I was thinking of the WD Caviar Green, but the parking head issue is worrisome. I read that the LP also parks the head, but I don't think they do it as frequently?

 

[nobb]

Don't alot of the LP drives frequently park the heads? That's one of the reasons how they save a tiny bit of power...because of the reduced drag from the heads. But yes, I have to say...my WD10EADS parks the heads VERY frequently. Like after 8 seconds of inactivity...regardless of OS power management settings.

 

[dmxlite]

The manual says it parks the head while in standby mode, but it doesn't say anything about initiating that on its own. The manual reads like it accepts a standby signal, which will then park the heads. If this is true, it may be controlled in the power scheme options of windows?

 

[Emulex]

they are great for reduced power. since you are not using raid and if you use the pseudo raid you'll still get good multi-drive reads in the protected mode.

if you have technet go install windows storage server 2008 with DPM 2007. It's essentially the same thing except far more powerful.

 

[nobb]

No, you cannot control the head parking in windows. When it is idle after 8 seconds, the heads will automatically park on the WD Green. On the previous generation, you can see in the SMART data, everytime the heads park, the value for Load Cycle will increment by one, but with the newer models, the automatic head parking does not appear in SMART. But if you listen closely, you will hear it.

 

[dmxlite]

Originally posted by: nobb
No, you cannot control the head parking in windows. When it is idle after 8 seconds, the heads will automatically park on the WD Green. On the previous generation, you can see in the SMART data, everytime the heads park, the value for Load Cycle will increment by one, but with the newer models, the automatic head parking does not appear in SMART. But if you listen closely, you will hear it.

Yeah, I know, I meant if it can be controlled for the Barracuda LP. I read that the GP with the older firmware will write the head parking as a load/unload in SMART. The new firmware doesn't do it.

 

[dmxlite]

Well, I took the plunge and got 2 1TB LP drives for my MediaSmart server.
They cost about $10 more than the 1TB GP drives, but for that, I am sure to get 2 platter, and a pass on the head parking issues.

 

[M0RPH]

Originally posted by: dmxlite
Well, I took the plunge and got 2 1TB LP drives for my MediaSmart server.
They cost about $10 more than the 1TB GP drives, but for that, I am sure to get 2 platter, and a pass on the head parking issues.

All of the WD10EADS 1TB Caviar Green are 2-platter as well.

And Seagate quotes a slightly lower idle power usage than WD does for the Green drives, but do you really think they have some secret way to achieve this other than parking the heads just like WD does? Very likely they are doing the same thing.

I don't know why people are so worried about it. These hard drive manufacturers wouldn't do it if it was going to adversely affect the drive. Do you guys really think you know better than the manufacturers in this regard?

The Barracuda LP and Caviar Green drives are pretty much equivalent, the next time I go to buy a low power drive I'll just get the one that's cheaper.

 

[dmxlite]

Originally posted by: M0RPH

All of the WD10EADS 1TB Caviar Green are 2-platter as well.

Actually, they're not. You have to check the part number of the drive.
WD10EADS-00M2B0 is two platter
WD10EADS-65L5B1 is three platters.

Originally posted by: M0RPH
And Seagate quotes a slightly lower idle power usage than WD does for the Green drives, but do you really think they have some secret way to achieve this other than parking the heads just like WD does? Very likely they are doing the same thing.

I dunno, they could be, but they're not saying it, which some could say is deceiving. Or the WD material takes into account any extra power needed to park and unpark the head, and that's why their numbers are higher?

Originally posted by: M0RPH
I don't know why people are so worried about it. These hard drive manufacturers wouldn't do it if it was going to adversely affect the drive. Do you guys really think you know better than the manufacturers in this regard?

Well, time will tell. Could be that they last long enough that most feel it's acceptable... like how warranties are estimated.
The fact that they changed how it's reported (or not reported anymore) in SMART can be taken both ways:
It's measure wrong, don't worry about it it's fine.
or
It's worrisome to people, we don't want them to know about it.

I like WD, most of my drives are WD. It may not be a big deal like people think, but excessively parking and unparking heads is extra wear and tear.

 

[nobb]

Can anyone confirm that the Seagate LP series also has excessive head parking like the Green series? It might not show up in SMART, but all you have to do is listen carefully. Fortunately, as far as I know, the Green drives do not seem to be any more or less reliable than normal drives that do not park its heads.

 

[Emulex]

just as excessive as laptop drives

 

[dmxlite]

Originally posted by: nobb
Can anyone confirm that the Seagate LP series also has excessive head parking like the Green series? It might not show up in SMART, but all you have to do is listen carefully. Fortunately, as far as I know, the Green drives do not seem to be any more or less reliable than normal drives that do not park its heads.

From what I hear from my drives, it doesn't sound like they park the heads. They will park them if you have it in your power management profile to put the hard drives in standby.