[US] Hitachi Ultrastar A7K2000 HUA722020ALA331 2TB 32 MB $32.99

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Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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I would jump on this if it was a different seller. I had a bad experience with them and they are on my Sh*t list.
 

T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
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I saw this deal a few days ago and did the math... you can really add the TBs affordable with this if power isn't too bad.... but like @Fritz I'm just done/tired of dealing with used HDD and bad blocks, relocated, small # of errors, etc...
 

T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
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RaidZ2 or RaidZ3 and keep an eye on it with automatic monitoring and alerts :)

That's what I end up doing with drives that have a couple minor issues that are out of warranty. :D
 

Fritz

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Apr 6, 2015
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Thanks. Just bought 2. Probably be wishing I had bought 4, lol.
 

T_Minus

Build. Break. Fix. Repeat
Feb 15, 2015
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haha ya, I keep getting tempted to pickup 8 so I can add-on 2 systems with 4x each :) LOL!! BUTTTTT I don't even have my 2x 50TB systems even 1/4 full so I think I'm good on mass storage, unless I want to add another 50TB node for that hehe.
 
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Son of Homer

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May 9, 2016
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The 3TB Deskstar in addition to size has the benefits of 64MB cache, at least in the image is a 2011, being 1 year newer, and is 27% faster. It apparently is also 30% more power efficient than the 7K2000, but it still consumes a lot of power: 6.5 w at idle, 8.5 - 9.5 active.

Here is a review:
Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 3TB Review (HDS723030ALA640) | StorageReview.com - Storage Reviews

Does the Deskstar designation mean it is a consumer drive, whereas Ultrastar is enterprise?

Is it better to spend money on these, 2x3TB for $100, or $150 ($135 on periodic sale), for a new Toshiba 5TB? I am most concerned about reliability and longevity rather than performance.

TOSHIBA X300 HDWE150XZSTA 5TB 7200 RPM 128MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Desktop Internal Hard Drive Retail Packaging - Newegg.com
 

RobertFontaine

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Dec 17, 2015
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Winterpeg, Canuckistan
In my world, hard drives die of old age rather than of use. A bunch of cheap drives in zfs will serve me a lot better than a few expensive drives in almost every scenario I can think of. My machine is monitored and accessible daily so I'm very unlikely to have more than 2 dead drives concurrently. So if I go with 3 redundant drives I should be golden. Big pools of big drives are outside of my budget in a single buy.
The 2TB drives mean you can use a SAS backplane, 3TB means SAS2. Shucking 5TB externals is a darn good price for new drives and the 8TB drives really are outside of my wallet when I have to buy a short stack at a time. Actual usable space makes me want the 5TB drives. A SAS enclosure and 2TB drives makes me think I could actually get to a reasonable storage solution in a reasonable period of time at a reasonable price in the homelab/dungeon.
 
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Son of Homer

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My goal ultimately is all SSD, but until we get past the Nand shortage I can only afford SSD's for the most important data, and long term storage on HDs for the rest. I like the idea of larger drives like the 5TBs, which seems to be a sweet spot for value. However, budget constraints means a maximum of 2.
 

RobertFontaine

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Dec 17, 2015
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Winterpeg, Canuckistan
If you have an nvme for fast data, a short stack of ssd for big data and a bunch of disks for offload/archival it seems a lot more practical. Don't get me wrong I'd be very happy if someone filled up an enclosure of 24-2TB ssds for me but I doubt that I will ever have a use case that justifies it in the dungeon. I can serve up 3 or 4 desktop vm's on an ssd with no fancy tricks involved. I'm trying to collect 8 of the 600gb (4 so far) intel s3500's for a fast pool. I will probably stick an sm951 on an adapter card for nvme in the next couple of months and 15 - 2TB in raidz3 would likely meet my needs for the next 5+ years.
 
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Son of Homer

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Interesting. I have been thinking of a smaller SSD for the OS, and 4 800GB for vm's and active data, and some hard drives for archival and backup. I did not realize that nvme can be used with an adapter, and I do not have motherboard support. I am struggling to figure out if I am better to use a couple of new 5TB Toshibas or similar, or something like the 3TB drives posted above. I also have a couple of 2TB drives very under utilized with small amounts of data that can be added for additional storage, which I assume can be used if I flash my Intel RMS25KB080 into IT mode. As I am in an apartment, noise is an important consideration, and also power and heat.

Time will tell, but I imagine that over the next few years SSDs will continue to get bigger and cheaper very quickly.
 
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fractal

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Jun 7, 2016
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Here's the thing for me. At SCE's tier 3 prices, I pay $40/yr to run a drive. Pretty much any drive.

2T at 40 is 40/T for the first year and 20/T/yr thereafter.
3T at 50 is 30/T for the first year and 12/T/yr thereafter.
4T for 100 is 35/T for the first year and 10/T/yr thereafter.
5T for 150 is 38/T for the first year and 8/T/yr thereafter

I find my choice shifts a bit once I factor in the operating costs.
 
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Madhelp

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Feb 7, 2013
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The 7K3000 3TB posted above is sold out. There is another listing for 3TB Ultrastar for $51.99:

Hitachi Ultrastar 7K4000 HUS724030ALE641 3TB 64MB cache Internal Hard Drive | eBay

The spec sheet: https://www.hgst.com/sites/default/files/resources/US7K4000_ds.pdf

But the vendor is refurbforless, the same as the 2TB posted at the top, which Fritz was not fond of.
They have a coupon you can use "PSHOPTECH417" to drop the drives down to $47. I picked up four myself, thanks for the plug.
 
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Son of Homer

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May 9, 2016
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Here's the thing for me. At SCE's tier 3 prices, I pay $40/yr to run a drive. Pretty much any drive.

2T at 40 is 40/T for the first year and 20/T/yr thereafter.
3T at 50 is 30/T for the first year and 12/T/yr thereafter.
4T for 100 is 35/T for the first year and 10/T/yr thereafter.
5T for 150 is 38/T for the first year and 8/T/yr thereafter

I find my choice shifts a bit once I factor in the operating costs.
That is a very useful way to look at it.