[CentOS] Any experiences with newer WD Red drives?

[Fred Smith]

On Wed, Mar 02, 2016 at 01:53:54AM +0800, Emmanuel Noobadmin wrote:
> Might be slightly OT as it isn't necessarily a CentOS related issue.
> 
> I've been using WD Reds as mdraid components which worked pretty well
> for non-IOPS intensive workloads.
> 
> However, the latest C7 server I built, ran into problems with them on
> on a Intel C236 board (SuperMicro X11SSH) with tons of "ata bus error
> write fpdma queued". Googling on it threw up old suggestions to limit
> SATA link speed to 1.5Gbps using libata.force boot options and/or
> noncq. Lowering the link speed helped to reduce the frequency of the
> errors (from not getting a smartctl output to getting a complete
> listing within 2 tries).

One data point, possibly not what you're looking for, but it may 
be useful to someone.

I'm NOT using that motherboard, it's an Asus M5A99X
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131874) with
AMD six-core processor. It has been running since around late Dec 2015
with two 1TB reds using software raid1, so far without trouble. (prior
to that it ran a pair of smaller WD Blues also in RAID1).

I'm also using two more of the same drive in an external two-slot
RAID box for backup purposes. I had some trouble a year and a half
ago with it, but it turned out to be the box, not the drives, though
it took some considerable troubleshooting to figure that out.

One would assume that if your drives were build in Jan 2016, that they
have the latest firmware installed already, but it might be worth
checking.

good luck!

Fred


-- 
---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us -----------------------------
                         God made him who had no sin
                      to be sin for us, so that in him
                 we might become the righteousness of God."
--------------------------- Corinthians 5:21 ---------------------------------