SATA Drives in Hardware RAID?

[Lisa Kachold]

Hi Stephen,

<How are you?>

Here's more regarding TLER settings in the WD drives:

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=226794&mpage=1

On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 9:28 AM, Stephen <cryptworks at gmail.com> wrote:

> I have 4x160GB WD Desktop Drive running very well on a 3ware 9550SX
> controller have been in that configuration for a few years now.
>
> Im actually trying to sell the server they are in (with the drives
> included)
>
> but it still has been working great.
>
> On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 8:53 AM, Lisa Kachold <lisakachold at obnosis.com>
> wrote:
> > These are the current limitations with non-enterprise drives in hardware
> > RAID (especially with WD drives):
> >
> > a) Time Limited Error Recovery:
> >
> > TLER is not enabled in all WD drives manufactured after 2010 (unless you
> pay
> > for "RAID Enabled" Enterprise level), so RAID out of the box is
> > problematic.  As a non-TLER HDD fills up with data, the error detection
> > firmware might take too long, and the RAID controller may drop that HDD
> from
> > a RAID array.  This timeout is typically around 10 seconds with Dell
> > integrated driver/host RAID solution.
> >
> > Of course with WD drives we used to be able to get a utility
> (downloadable
> > from Western Digital site) to enable TLER so it works for hardware RAID.
> >
> > WDTLER.EXE utility (originally developed by Western Digital, but
> > discontinued, yet still downloadable from some 3rd party sites) used to
> > allow for the enabling or disabling of the TLER parameter in the hard
> disk's
> > firmware settings allowing the user to determine the best setting for his
> > particular usage as either a stand-alone or RAID drive. This utility is
> > written for DOS and a DOS bootable disk is required with this utility to
> use
> > it.
> >
> > Western Digital now claims that using the WDTLER.EXE tool on newer drives
> > can damage the firmware and make the disk unusable. The WDTLER.EXE tool
> is
> > no longer available from Western Digital, and new disks will not be able
> to
> > have the TLER setting changed.
> >
> > Most WD "Desktop class" disks cannot have the LTER setting changed as
> newer
> > drives; therefore will not provide stable RAID in Perc LSI drives.
> >
> > b) SATA Desktop Drives are not Enterprise Drives:
> >
> > For example, Western Digital enterprise drives such as Raptor, Caviar RE2
> > and RE2-GP (RAID Edition) come with TLER Read "Enabled" (7 seconds) and
> TLER
> > Write "Disabled" (0 seconds) while desktop drives such as Caviar SE,
> SE16,
> > and GP come with TLER Read and Write Disabled (0 seconds).  Dell refers
> to
> > their Enterprise Drives as Tier1 and Tier2.
> >
> > So, we know the risks, RAID failure, short lifetime, inability to rebuild
> > the RAID due to TLER off.
> >
> > Is anyone successfully using basic (Desktop class, aka cheap) SATA drives
> > with hardware controller cards?
> >
> > --
> > (503) 754-4452  AT&T
> > (602) 791-8002  Android
> > (623) 239-3392  Skype
> > (623) 688-3392  Google Voice
> > **
> > HomeSmartUniversity.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------
> > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> >
>
>
>
> --
> A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from
> rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
>
> Stephen
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss at lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>



-- 
(602) 791-8002  Android
(623) 239-3392 Skype
(623) 688-3392 Google Voice
**
HomeSmartInternational.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/pipermail/plug-discuss/attachments/20110927/707a0f33/attachment.html>