[CentOS] Any experiences with newer WD Red drives?

Tue Mar 1 17:53:54 UTC 2016
Emmanuel Noobadmin <centos.admin at gmail.com>

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).

Tried two Reds produced in Jan 2016, two HGST, two SSDs on the same
combination of cable/bay/SATA port as well as different combos. SSD
maxed out at 450Mbps dd write test so doesn't appear to be lousy
cables or board problem. Basically only the Reds were having problems.

Strange thing is a netinstall of CentOS 7.0 "minimal" worked with one
of the Reds before starting to cough. Now that I think about it, could
be due to an update to 7.2 after installing.

Needed to get the server out the door ASAP so didn't have time to try
C6 once I confirmed it was the drive and promptly replaced it with
another HGST.

Since I'm likely to use Reds again, it is a bit of a concern. So
wondering if I just happen to get an unlucky batch, or is there some
incompatibility between the Reds and the Intel C236 chipset, or
between Red / C236 / Centos 7 combo or the unlikely chance WD has
decided to do something with the firmware to make them work on on NAS
and not workstation/server chipsets to make people buy better stuff.

Anybody has recent experiences with them recently on the same chipset with C7?