Western Digital Green 2TB WD20EARS-00J2GB0 vs 00MVWB0

Hi, I purchased two Western Digital 2TB WD20EARS a week apart, receiving the WD20EARS-00J2GB0 created on the 11th May 2010 in Malaysia and the WD20EARS-00MVWB0 created 23rd May 2010 in Thailand.

The drives are slightly different with the latter missing two screw holes at the bottom right hand side.

I have these running in a NAS in Raid 1 and was wondering if there was any actual difference between the drives other the the shells?

 

I doubt it, but just be carefull with those in raid0, they arn't particularly good raid drives. If you have issues (freezes), try setting jumpers 5-6 to force SATA 1.5gbps.

 

Do some benchmarking on the individual drives, that may give you a clue. Could be something minor like a PCB revision, or something more substantial like 3 versus 4 platters.

And don't forget to back up, a 4TB RAID0 array is a lot of data to lose.

 

My bad I meant to write Raid 1

 

And don't forget to back up, a 2TB RAID1 array is still a lot of data to lose.

(RAID isn't a backup.)

 

http://forums.vr-zone.com/hardware-...d20ears-00mvwb0-because-3-platter-better.html

 

The latest WD20eaRs 00MVWB0 appears to be 3 platter HDD.

The Advanced Format HDD are not a problem in a Raid Array such as Netgear's ReadyNas Pro as long as you are running the latest firmware which ensures that the 4KB sector blocks are aligned.
There was a performance problem before the firmware fix. Say 10MB/s write which increased to 100MB/s+ after 4KB sector alignment in a Raid6 environment.

Issue discovered but nobody talking http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=40828

Issue Fixed http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=42373&start=0

WD20eaRs-00S8B1 4 Platter BEFORE 4KB sector Alignment. Bonnie++ Benchmark

Code:

Version      1.96   ------Sequential Output------ --Sequential Input- --Random-
                    -Per Chr- --Block-- -Rewrite- -Per Chr- --Block-- --Seeks--
Machine        Size K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP  /sec %CP
ReadyNasPro      2G   329  88  [COLOR="Red"][B]7822[/B][/COLOR]   2  [COLOR="Red"][B]6316[/B][/COLOR]   2  1126  77 167589  26 217.7   3
Latency               236ms    7076ms    6171ms   28730us   53606us     213ms
                    ------Sequential Create------ --------Random Create--------
                    -Create-- --Read--- -Delete-- -Create-- --Read--- -Delete--
files:max:min        /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP
ReadyNasPro     256 10145  29 245025  99  [COLOR="red"][B]1663[/B][/COLOR]   4 10873  30 311737  99   502   1
Latency              1428ms     509us   17719[COLOR="red"][B]ms[/B][/COLOR]    1878ms      39us   51477ms

WD20eaRs-00S8B1 4 Platter AFTER 4KB sector Alignment. Bonnie++ Benchmark

Code:

Version      1.96   ------Sequential Output------ --Sequential Input- --Random-
                    -Per Chr- --Block-- -Rewrite- -Per Chr- --Block-- --Seeks--
Machine        Size K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP K/sec %CP  /sec %CP
ReadyNasPro      8G   745  88 [COLOR="Red"][B]127790[/B][/COLOR]  22 [COLOR="red"][B]82582[/B][/COLOR]  22  1477  98 213548  34 484.9  12
Latency              9936us     593ms     267ms   32760us     137ms     102ms
                    ------Sequential Create------ --------Random Create--------
                    -Create-- --Read--- -Delete-- -Create-- --Read--- -Delete--
files:max:min        /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP  /sec %CP
ReadyNasPro     256   239  99 313784  99 [COLOR="red"][B]83281[/B][/COLOR]  69   257  99 322636  99   649  98
Latency               458ms     376us     426[COLOR="red"][B]us[/B][/COLOR]     439ms    1307us    5947us

 

iv just purchased a 2tb green, , thailand, 00j2g80, 11 may

is this 4 , or 3 platters?

 

I'm pretty sure that 4 platter, like the 1st one i bought.

 

So has anyone come across any thorough English reviews/discussions that compare the WD20EARS-00MVWB0 with other 2TB "green" makes/models?

I'm finding that there's a real lack of comparative data...
There's heaps of Japanese & German reviews/discussions, but gtranslate sux, & most of them focus on figures for the one drive anyway.

I don't think this is actually a review of the -00MVWB0...
http://www.storagereview.com/western_digital_caviar_green_2tb_review_wd20ears

http://translate.google.com/transla...-a&hs=Wly&sa=G&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
http://translate.googleusercontent....&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhg6dAxZo-QxGLIwyGydz_KcaiGnVA
http://translate.google.com/transla...ient=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
http://translate.google.com/transla...-a&hs=Wly&sa=G&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
http://translate.googleusercontent....kJrhjTQtK88ocYhKGL35h2IrtjDrlaAQ#post14814629
http://translate.google.com/transla...firefox-a&sa=G&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
http://translate.google.com/transla...ient=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official
http://translate.google.com/transla...ient=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16822136514

 

aren't all EARS drive 3 platter should be the EADS that is 4 platter

 

nope, 667GB platter is relatively new. (at least in this class)
xxxEARS range heralded 64mb cache & a few other things which escape me right now.

 

well i have 5x 2tb hdd.

2x old non adf 2tb wd green hdd
1x 2tb wd adf drive (old design)(see above)
1x samsung eco green drive 3x
1x seagate lp 5900 rpm drives..

i could do somre benchies...

 

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2010/08/03/samsung-launches-2tb-tri-platter/1

and SG have the 5x 667 platter in their 3T drive

*shrug*

 

Yeah I know, I'm personally more interested in comparing 2TB "green drives".
I don't think I'll bother, think I'll just "bite the bullet" on a -00MVWB0.
Even if it's not the no.1 performing "green drive", the differences won't be noticeable 99.99% of the time.
Given the smaller no. & more dense platters, I'd be surprised if it wasn't the best performer & most energy efficient.*
But how the firmware's been carved-up often has a big role to play.....


*at least until the samsung eco green w/3 platters comes out, then it may fall.

 

then why are people excited when 667 platter are already out in market place?

 

Well the denser platters aren't usually rolled out across all capacities at the same time.
They're often reserved for flagship drives, the ones that carry a higher premium (3TB etc).

 

There is only 1 HDD with the platter density of 667GB (in 3.5" anyway).
Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB WD20EARS

But in September there will be a few more
Samsung EcoGreen F4 2TB
Samsung EcoGreen F4 1.5TB

But I would rather see some WD blacks with this tech.. even thought its
great to see high density anywhere.