Seagate Backup Plus 4TB Drive - Cheap 2.5" 4TB drives

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cheezehead

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Sep 23, 2012
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brendantay

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Aug 12, 2015
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That $139 drive if you look at the feedback says it is only 16MB cache and not the drive listed in the title.
So here is something interesting. The official Seagate spec linked above says the model has 128MB cache. This drive says 16MB unless this is the wrong command.
Code:
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo hdparm -i /dev/sda

/dev/sda:

Model=ST4000LM016-1N2170, FwRev=0003
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs RotSpdTol>.5% }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=0
BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=16384kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=7814037168
IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes:  pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
DMA modes:  mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6
AdvancedPM=yes: unknown setting WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: Reserved:  ATA/ATAPI-4,5,6,7

* signifies the current active mode

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$
So, based on your findings of the cache size and the note on the $139 would you say these are infact mislabled (on the external device) and infact the same discs?

Wouldnt it then be worth paying the extra $15 for warranty?

Edit: obviously not now they are getting down to $100 range, haha.
 
Last edited:

Patrick

Administrator
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Dec 21, 2010
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So, based on your findings of the cache size and the note on the $139 would you say these are infact mislabled (on the external device) and infact the same discs?

Wouldnt it then be worth paying the extra $15 for warranty?

Edit: obviously not now they are getting down to $100 range, haha.
The $139.99 drives appear to be OEM drives. I actually got a few serial numbers to check. So either way no warranty from Seagate. $139.99 means you do not have to shuck the drives. $124 means you can test the drive in the USB 3.0 enclosure and return in warranty before shucking.
 

Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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Is ebay running any X off 100usd or more sales right now?
American Express card is running a promotion , spent $100 in Staples and received $25 statement credit. Check your AMEX online to see if you have the Staples offer. You must accept the Staples offer first before buying the Ebay gift card.
We have 4 AMEX cards, that allowed me to buy $400 Ebay gift cards for $300 at Staples.
In turn, I got 4 x Seagate drives.
 

brendantay

Member
Aug 12, 2015
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Australia
The $139.99 drives appear to be OEM drives. I actually got a few serial numbers to check. So either way no warranty from Seagate. $139.99 means you do not have to shuck the drives. $124 means you can test the drive in the USB 3.0 enclosure and return in warranty before shucking.
Oh okay aha, I didn't look too much into the other disks :)

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
 

Deslok

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Jul 15, 2015
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The $139.99 drives appear to be OEM drives. I actually got a few serial numbers to check. So either way no warranty from Seagate. $139.99 means you do not have to shuck the drives. $124 means you can test the drive in the USB 3.0 enclosure and return in warranty before shucking.
So if they're an OEM drive I wonder who is buying them from seagate as an OEM, perhaps one of the larger hybrid storage array vendors leveraging these plus ssd's?
 

ATS

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Mar 9, 2015
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So if they're an OEM drive I wonder who is buying them from seagate as an OEM, perhaps one of the larger hybrid storage array vendors leveraging these plus ssd's?
Could just as easily be any cloud vendor. It fits in pretty much any standard 2.5" drive enclosure which means it offers pretty nice GB/$ esp compared to any other option on the market. For most server installations these days, 10k/15k RPM drives are basically worthless, and the price for 4TB 2.5" is pretty close to the 3.5" 4TB pricing. I could see someone like say backblaze potentially looking at them to enable the same general capacity in 2-3U that they currently get in 4U.
 

Patrick

Administrator
Staff member
Dec 21, 2010
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Well I just got this today. Maybe that 2 years of 200GB OneDrive storage is not such a bad deal after all.
upload_2016-5-5_18-44-41.png
 

JSchuricht

Active Member
Apr 4, 2011
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Has anyone run these on a HW RAID controler yet? I had one drop off an array earlier for no apparent reason, the controller couldn't even see it till I reseated the drive. Hopefully just a fluke and not something normal with these.
 

EffrafaxOfWug

Radioactive Member
Feb 12, 2015
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Not a HW RAID controller, but the initial backups I did from an M1015 HBA (reflashed IT); no dropouts there or in the USB caddy (FWIW I bought two and transplanted them into these).

Mine were also kitted out with 16MB of cache, although my drives were Samsung-branded on the label.
Code:
effrafax@wug:~# hdparm -I /dev/sdi

/dev/sdi:

ATA device, with non-removable media
        Model Number:       ST4000LM016-1N2170
        Serial Number:      W800BNDA
        Firmware Revision:  0003
        Transport:          Serial, ATA8-AST, SATA 1.0a, SATA II Extensions, SATA Rev 2.5, SATA Rev 2.6, SATA Rev 3.0
Standards:
        Used: unknown (minor revision code 0x001f)
        Supported: 9 8 7 6 5
        Likely used: 9
Configuration:
        Logical         max     current
        cylinders       16383   16383
        heads           16      16
        sectors/track   63      63
        --
        CHS current addressable sectors:   16514064
        LBA    user addressable sectors:  268435455
        LBA48  user addressable sectors: 7814037168
        Logical  Sector size:                   512 bytes
        Physical Sector size:                  4096 bytes
        Logical Sector-0 offset:                  0 bytes
        device size with M = 1024*1024:     3815447 MBytes
        device size with M = 1000*1000:     4000787 MBytes (4000 GB)
        cache/buffer size  = 16384 KBytes
        Form Factor: 2.5 inch
        Nominal Media Rotation Rate: 5400
Capabilities:
        LBA, IORDY(can be disabled)
        Queue depth: 32
        Standby timer values: spec'd by Standard, no device specific minimum
        R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 16  Current = 16
        Advanced power management level: 254
        Recommended acoustic management value: 208, current value: 0
        DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5 *udma6
             Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns
        PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
             Cycle time: no flow control=120ns  IORDY flow control=120ns
Commands/features:
        Enabled Supported:
           *    SMART feature set
                Security Mode feature set
           *    Power Management feature set
           *    Write cache
           *    Look-ahead
           *    Host Protected Area feature set
           *    WRITE_BUFFER command
           *    READ_BUFFER command
           *    NOP cmd
           *    DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
           *    Advanced Power Management feature set
                Power-Up In Standby feature set
           *    SET_FEATURES required to spinup after power up
                SET_MAX security extension
           *    48-bit Address feature set
           *    Device Configuration Overlay feature set
           *    Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE
           *    FLUSH_CACHE_EXT
           *    SMART error logging
           *    SMART self-test
           *    General Purpose Logging feature set
           *    WRITE_{DMA|MULTIPLE}_FUA_EXT
           *    64-bit World wide name
           *    Write-Read-Verify feature set
           *    WRITE_UNCORRECTABLE_EXT command
           *    {READ,WRITE}_DMA_EXT_GPL commands
           *    Segmented DOWNLOAD_MICROCODE
           *    Gen1 signaling speed (1.5Gb/s)
           *    Gen2 signaling speed (3.0Gb/s)
           *    Gen3 signaling speed (6.0Gb/s)
           *    Native Command Queueing (NCQ)
           *    Host-initiated interface power management
           *    Phy event counters
           *    unknown 76[15]
           *    DMA Setup Auto-Activate optimization
                Device-initiated interface power management
           *    Software settings preservation
           *    SMART Command Transport (SCT) feature set
           *    SCT Write Same (AC2)
           *    SCT Features Control (AC4)
           *    SCT Data Tables (AC5)
                unknown 206[12] (vendor specific)
                unknown 206[13] (vendor specific)
           *    DOWNLOAD MICROCODE DMA command
           *    WRITE BUFFER DMA command
           *    READ BUFFER DMA command
Security:
        Master password revision code = 65534
                supported
        not     enabled
        not     locked
        not     frozen
        not     expired: security count
                supported: enhanced erase
Logical Unit WWN Device Identifier: 5000c5008bba2295
        NAA             : 5
        IEEE OUI        : 000c50
        Unique ID       : 08bba2295
Checksum: correct
 
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Deslok

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Just a heads up I tested the usb3 adapter with an ssd(850 evo) it appears limited to SATA2 speeds(which is fine i have piles of older 2.5 inch drives that i can use that with still)