Old 4tb drives, but slightly different models, anything to be concerned over if using then in Raid 1 or Raid 0 desktop use?

[sastusbulbas]

I still use old mechanical drives, with the Hitachi HGST HDS724040ALE640 4tb having served me well since release, bought because it was the 1st desktop specific 4tb drive bought back in May 2013.

Recently I purchased one again, well it was advertised as the HDS variant, and to my disappointment, an HGST HUS724040ALE640 4tb arrives. This was from memory more of an enterprise/nas specific drive for storage and archiving as opposed to general desktop usage?

I had to format the drive, it was partitioned in RAW, and of course I don't see the different model number until I am in HD Tune, basic testing shows they are pretty close in performance, but basic HD Tune is rather limited.

I don't know if I an just being silly or OCD having wanted two identical drives, I shopped around and bought it specifically for the identical model number, plan was simply to run them in Raid 1 mirrored, and maybe later try then in Raid 1 in a home NAS.

Is there anything wrong with running two different models or any potential issues I should be aware of? Not really looked at HDD specifications since buying the last one in 2013, previously I did stick to identical Samsung F3's when they came out for Raid 0 and Raid 1 in the days before SSD, and seem to have it in my head that you wanted identical model numbers for this?

Not sure if I should contact the seller or being silly with this.

 

[sityeuropa]

You could argue having different drives is a positive, rules out bad batches etc.

You shouldn't really rely on raid hard drives, you should have backup solutions so you don't have to worry about it if a drive does go.

 

[sastusbulbas]

You could argue having different drives is a positive, rules out bad batches etc.

You shouldn't really rely on raid hard drives, you should have backup solutions so you don't have to worry about it if a drive does go.

Bad batches I understand, But batches were only really relevant when buying new drives.

Not a lot I can find online regarding HGST HDS vs HUS drives or if its OK to mix them in raid.

Both are 7200rpm with 64mb of cache, but there was meant to be recommended applications for both. All I think I am sure of is HDS being Deskstar with a 3 yr guarantee and HUS being Ultrastar with a 5yr guarantee, with the deskstar at the time being what was recommended for general desk top use, I paid £167 in 2013 for the HGST HDS which came in a retail box as it was a Desktop drive, I think back then in 2013 the HUS was non retail packaging and a little more expensive but advertised for Enterprise/Nas. Both designed for 24/7 use with five 800gb platters if I remember correctly.

Regarding the HDD, I have always used one HDD for main/general storage, current back up is desktop to OneDrive and an External drive, the mechanical drive in this system carries my keep files and is backed up to an external drive.

The plan was simply buying a second HGST HDS 4tb to give me options to try Raid 1/0 in this old PC, which is being replaced soon. having two identical 4tb would then give me the option if I wish to try a home server/nas on the cheap. I have a few external drives, a large 8tb Seagate and couple of portable 4tb, all single drives, one used to be attached to the Asus router I no longer use.

If I decide to keep using mechanicals in my main PC, Raid 1 is simply uptime and conveniece for £33, or simply a little more speed if I do Raid 0. But to be honest I am not all that enamoured with external drives for back up, feel I should not trust OneDrive, and often wonder if a NAS would be a more robust back up and storage solution.

 

[Snapshot]

The 'identical' bit was really about capacity and spin speed so your two very similar drives will be fine.

A NAS can be either data storage or backup but not both which is why I have two. Okay, I actually have three but one is a sandbox.