Review of White Label 4TB drives

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.

Rigel

New Member
Feb 22, 2015
4
0
1
I had another 4TB on order and I asked them to send me an HPG1 if it was possible. Jackie replied saying that they're out of those and all they currently have in stock are 01.01AX1 - which were originally WD4000FYYZ models. That doesn't seem to explain the rather sub-par benchmarks I'm getting on my 01.01A01 though. I guess I'll wait and see how the new drive compares when it arrives; it it performs the same then maybe my test system just doesn't like them.
 

The Gecko

Active Member
Jan 4, 2015
116
81
28
45
Here is my experience using the Ebay "Best Offer" functionality.
  • 12 Drives @ $105 each
    • Offer Expired
  • 12 Drives @ $110 each
    • Countered by Seller at $125 each
      • Countered by Buyer at $118 each
        • Offer Expired
  • 12 Drives purchased at full price because allowable offers used up.
In conclusion, it is my experience that this seller does not like bargaining. Furthermore, rather than countering with the same price as before (to indicate that they are not willing to drop the price any further), they will ignore your latest offer and let it expire. Letting an offer expire adds wait time and frustration for the buyer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: xbliss

The Gecko

Active Member
Jan 4, 2015
116
81
28
45
...Really? I could have saved $10/drive by buying with Amazon? I wish there was a way to cancel my committed eBay purchase . *sigh*
 

The Gecko

Active Member
Jan 4, 2015
116
81
28
45
I ordered 12 drives and I think they are mixing 5400 RPM and 7200 RPM drives under the same product label, or perhaps a different platter count. Physically, I *think* they looked identical. I didn't notice a difference when I installed them, but I will look closer when I pull them out. All 12 of my drives are plugged into the same 6Gbps SuperMicro backplane which is connected to a single IBM M1015 6 Gbps SAS controller in IT mode (dumb HBA, no RAID) using all eight channels.

This is my FreeNAS box performing a standard BadBlocks test on two drives simultaneously. Notice how da3 peaks at 170 MBps while da4 peaks at 150 MBps.


I will post the SMART details next. Notice how the faster drive (da3) advertises its speed to be 7200 RPM while the slower drive (da4) doesn't advertise a speed? Also notice how the SMART Attributes Data Structure is different between drives.

Here are the SMART details from da3:
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model: WL4000GSA6472E
Serial Number: WOL----
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 209dbf4a9
Firmware Version: WE01
User Capacity: 4,000,787,030,016 bytes [4.00 TB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate: 7200 rpm
Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS (minor revision not indicated)
SATA Version is: SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is: Sun Mar 22 12:22:48 2015 EDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 149 149 021 Pre-fail Always - 11541
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 6
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 52
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 6
16 Unknown_Attribute 0x0022 000 200 000 Old_age Always - 6658243380
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate 0x0032 099 099 000 Old_age Always - 1
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 5
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 116 112 000 Old_age Always - 36
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered 0x0036 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0

Here are the SMART details for da4:
=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model: WL4000GSA6472E
Serial Number: WOL----
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 20798792d
Firmware Version: 01.01C02
User Capacity: 4,000,787,030,016 bytes [4.00 TB]
Sector Sizes: 512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Device is: Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is: ATA8-ACS (minor revision not indicated)
SATA Version is: SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is: Sun Mar 22 12:22:51 2015 EDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled


SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x002f 200 200 051 Pre-fail Always - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0027 150 150 021 Pre-fail Always - 11475
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 6
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 200 200 140 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x002e 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 52
10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0
11 Calibration_Retry_Count 0x0032 100 253 000 Old_age Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 6
183 Runtime_Bad_Block 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 5
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0022 116 112 000 Old_age Always - 36
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0032 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0030 100 253 000 Old_age Offline - 0
200 Multi_Zone_Error_Rate 0x0008 200 200 000 Old_age Offline - 0


Of my 12 drives, all the faster drives have similar performance graphs as da3, same firmware as da3, same SMART attributes as da3, and even a higher temperature. All the slower drives mimic the firmware, SMART attributes, and temperature of da4.

I'm contemplating contacting Go Hard Drive to swap out the slower drives, but I wanted to hear with this community had to say first.
 

The Gecko

Active Member
Jan 4, 2015
116
81
28
45
I just sent a message to the seller:
I received my order of 12 drives. The packaging was excellent. I asked for the same firmware on all the drives. I received three different firmwares at three different performance levels. Eight of the drives are not even reporting to be 7200 RPM. The three firmwares are "01.01C02" (slow), "01.01A01" (medium), "WE01" (fast). I was shipped two of the fast drives, two of the medium drives, and eight of the slow drives. What I wanted was a full set of 12 WE01 drives. How can we resolve this issue?
 

The Gecko

Active Member
Jan 4, 2015
116
81
28
45
Hi Greg

Have tested about 100pcs of the drives that we have in stock , most of them are 01.01A01 firmware.

Unfortunately, most of them are 01.01C02, I can't fine 12pcs of WE01" Firmware. Can you use 01.01A01 (Medium)? I should be able to get you 10pcs of 01.01A01 (Medium) replacement.

If yes, I can issue you return label to return the 8pcs 01.01C02, and 2pcs WE01 and get you replacement for 10pcs of 01.01A01 ?

Please advise. Thanks!

- goharddrive
What do you guys think? Take the "01.01A01" firmware drives?
 

Rigel

New Member
Feb 22, 2015
4
0
1
The drives I got have seemingly random firmware; though I did buy a bunch over a period of time instead of at once. I have two or three really fast drives with firmware like HP** or some other four letter combination, while the rest are 01.01XXX firmwares with slightly lower performance in both random access speed and throughput - 12.7ms vs 14.6ms random read benchmark for example (using HD Tune Pro in Windows; default settings). I'm personally fine with my "medium" drives - these are cheap drives anyway so I figured I shouldn't be too picky so long as they still suit my needs.

I did have one that was pretty lousy (>16ms random read; firmware 01.01A01) and GoHarddrive had no problem exchanging it (I got a fast drive in return).
 

Hank C

Active Member
Jun 16, 2014
644
66
28
because according to Patrick, some of these drives were refurb...hence why some firmware are different than the others...
 

smccloud

Member
Jun 4, 2013
325
12
18
Or they are custom build for the likes of Dell, HP, etc and not used so they are bought from them cheap.
 

The Gecko

Active Member
Jan 4, 2015
116
81
28
45
I did find some physical differences between the drives:

Fast. Firmware "WE01"
Tag Details: AH, XCEZ05 0WF6, 300022904, 771822-D02


Medium. Firmware "01.01A01"
Tag Details: AC, XCEZ04 216K, 300062904, 771822-H02


Slow. Firmware "01.01C02"
Tag Details: 04P, XCD261 0Y1C, G00011503, 771822-D02
 

Patriot

Moderator
Apr 18, 2011
1,450
789
113
because according to Patrick, some of these drives were refurb...hence why some firmware are different than the others...
iirc they are all refurbs... misc WD enterprise drives, RE3, RE4, SE drives... hence the performance variation.
They have been wiped of smart info. So, they are all used, but to what extent.... no one knows.
Still probably more reliable than seagate desktop drives that would be closest in price.
 
  • Like
Reactions: T_Minus

wak

New Member
Apr 19, 2015
2
1
3
32
I ordered 16 drives and this is the list of different firmware that I got and some guesswork as to what the drive might actually be. I wonder if there is a way to cross flash the firmware on some of these drives, the HP* firmware seems to be rocking and I would like more disks that support PM2.

White Label 4TB - Google Sheets
 
  • Like
Reactions: T_Minus

RyC

Active Member
Oct 17, 2013
359
88
28
Interesting. I have a 00.0D2K3 which seems close to your 00.0D1K2 firmware and I'm getting a link negotiation speed of 6 Gb/s. I also have a 01.01K01 drive that as far as I can tell is equivalent to 00.0D2K3 feature wise. If PM2 is "power up in standby", HD Tune is showing 01.01K01 has it. I haven't really run any speed tests yet though.
 

wak

New Member
Apr 19, 2015
2
1
3
32
Yes, PM2 is power up in standby, however all tests were performed by attempting to set the jumpers on pins 3/4, not set through software.