Anyone see a problem using a WD 4TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64MB Cache Desktop Hard Drive, black # WD4003FZEX in a Generation 2 Drobo if all the firmware and software updates are installed?
Have used WD with no problems in the past.
Thanks
Jack
Hi there,
WD Black is an excellent drive, but it is not designed and tested for NAS. WD’s consumer drives for NAS are the Red drives. They have TLER (Time Limited Error Recovery), which allows the system administrator to configure the amount of time a drive’s firmware is allowed to spend recovering from a read or write error, has reduced power consumption and low operating temperature, as well as 3 years limited warranty.
Here’s a link if you want to check it out:
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=810
Hope this helps.
Cheers!
Thanks! Not using in NAS solution. Simply Drobo Gen 2 attached to Server.
Good to know though.
i wonder do WD consider a DAS drobo, as a nas?
Anyone know how long it should take to apply firmware update? On Drobo Gen 2. Firmware 1.4.2 update? Almost 20 minutes, Dashboard still doesn’t see device & standby light still on.
hi sem,
im not too sure, but there might be some cases where a particular firmware might take as much time as a rebuild, especially if it needs to restructure the internal filesystem of the drobo in order to allow for some kind of extra future compatibility or features.
if it is still actually making drive chatter noises, then it might be churning away doing its thing, (in which case it might be worth letting it do that for at least the length of time it would have taken you to do a rebuild, such as a few days or similar)
but i also remember seeing some posts about sometimes needing to exit and restart dashboard, or exit and restart the computer/drobo to kickstart it again when it doesnt seem to be doing anything…
id wait if you can, but that might be an option.
you might also need a newer version of dashboard, but im not too sure… so hopefully someone else can chime in with more info?
I used 2TB Blacks in my Gen2 Drobo for a while.
They worked fine, however they got, really, really hot.
The switch to all Red’s lowered drive and case temps by 25 degrees.
The other thing to note is you will get NO performance increase from Blacks vs Reds in a Gen2 chassis.
Thanks. Appreciate the input.[hr]
[quote=“Paul, post:6, topic:139892”]
hi sem,
im not too sure, but there might be some cases where a particular firmware might take as much time as a rebuild, especially if it needs to restructure the internal filesystem of the drobo in order to allow for some kind of extra future compatibility or features.
if it is still actually making drive chatter noises, then it might be churning away doing its thing, (in which case it might be worth letting it do that for at least the length of time it would have taken you to do a rebuild, such as a few days or similar)
but i also remember seeing some posts about sometimes needing to exit and restart dashboard, or exit and restart the computer/drobo to kickstart it again when it doesnt seem to be doing anything…
id wait if you can, but that might be an option.
you might also need a newer version of dashboard, but im not too sure… so hopefully someone else can chime in with more info?
[/quote][hr]
Thanks. Actually waited another half hour then rebooted and update had been applied, albeit with no notice. Thanks again for the input.
New question. Still accepted practice to hot swap drives in Drobos? Upgrading from 1.5tb to 4tb drive. Just eject old & install new, let it rebuild. No reason to take offline? Drobo Gen 2 with 2x1.5TB & 2x2TB. Replacing 1x1.5 TB with 4 TB. Adding another 4 TB later.
hi sem, cool you got the above sorted out 
just linking your related post here:
http://www.drobospace.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=142612