[mdlug] Power supply & hard drive

[Mark Thuemmel]

On 05/21/2011 09:19 PM, Paul wrote:
> Raj KANNAN <rk111810 at gmail.com>, on Sat  2011.05.21 said:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I am planning on collecting components to be used to build a media desktop
>> (mythubuntu possibly). I would like your opinion (good / bad) on power
>> supply & hard drive deals I found.
>>
>> http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=PS-IM400W&title=iMicro-IM400W-400W-ATX12V-Power-Supply&c=CJ
>>
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152245&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=361116&SID=FW9vfa2b
>>
>>  The hard drive is only 5400 rpm. Any disadvantages with not going for 7200
>> rpm.
>>
> 	Hi;
> 
> 	I have both a WD and Samsung 2tb drive. The problem with
> the WD green one (WD20EARS), is that it has a very aggressive
> power management behaviour that you cannot change via normal
> means. (ie. hdparm) The result, is that it wants to park the
> heads after a few seconds, and a Linux system using it will tend
> to wake it up in short order, so you will see the
> Load_Cycle_Count rapidly increasing. I dont know how bad this
> *actually* is, but I didnt care for it. Unfortunately, the only
> way to stop it was to download a DOS program called wdiddle.exe
> from WD, and run that on the drive to either increase its
> timeout, or turn it off.
> 	The Samsung HD204UI was shipped with a firmware bug that
> could cause data loss if you do an inquiry during a write. (eg.
> smartctl -a /dev/sdX) This has been fixed with newer drives, but
> you couldn't distinguish the good from the bad firmware, as it didnt
> change the version number. So, if you get one of these drives it
> would probably be best to update the firmware to the latest.
> 	(Both of these problems are easily googled for more
> detailed information)
> 
> 	As far as speed goes, neither is a fast drive; they are both
> *cheap massive storage* blocks, but they are very quiet, cool running,
> and power efficient. And they should be fine for DVR use.
> 
> 	As far a brands go, you can read in any give set of
> reviews people who claim that brand X is total crap, but they
> love brand Y, and the complete opposite in the next review. These
> sentiments are generally based upon a bad experience in the past.
> The trouble is that there has been a lot of consolidation in the
> drive manufacture space, so who exactly makes brand X can have
> changed, in addition to the fact that real reliability problems
> tend to track actual model and manufacturing runs vs. brands.
> Modern drives are simply very reliable, espeically after they
> started using fluid dynamic bearings.
> 	The best you can do there is do some web searching on your
> particular drive and take its warrenty into account, along with the
> return policy of the reseller and manufacturer's RMA.
> 	
> Paul


Dam Paul, you're right, I forgot about the WD Green problem!