WD Red drive failure

fizzy

fizzy

fizzy

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Hi,

Just bought a WD 2TB "red" drive, which is faulty - spins up then immediately back down again. :(

Sorting out an RMA now but trying to decide whether to get a refund or replacement - has anybody else has problems with the WD reds? I've used samsung drives pretty much exclusively before they were bought by seagate and not had any problems with those.

2 TB is a lot to lose so failing from the off is not a good confidence booster. :(
 
Could you perhaps expand on what your research said?

Thanks.

Just for reference, I have 2 3tb Red's in my machine at the moment that are working fine (touch wood).
 
I have 6x 3TB WD Red's in a RAID6 and not had a single problem with any of them

Quieter than the Samsung Green's they replaced too
 
shahpor said:
Could you perhaps expand on what your research said?

Thanks.

Just for reference, I have 2 3tb Red's in my machine at the moment that are working fine (touch wood).
Click to expand...

Well, there have been a number of people reporting high failure rates - like buying 10, with 4 either dao or failing shortly after use. Another bought three and all failed within a few days.

Not sure if there is just a bad batch or something and if it effects 2TB drives more than 3TB ones but there were a lot of negative comments about failed drives on some other etailor sites.

Not sure I want to risk potentially loosing so much data, and/or needing to buy a couple more just in case for backups etc. Market is getting quite thin now though what with the various buy outs so options of large drives are limited... :confused:
 
I've done some research and found out every model of drive ever made has failed. :(

I'm gonna stick to pen and paper now. :)

On a more serious note, indivdual report of high failure rates with multiple drives could be down to other factors as well, including their hardware or damaged in transit (poor packaging or rough handling).
It could be a certain batch given to a certain retailer has been damaged.

I don't know how many OCUK have sold, but if there was a big problem I'd expect to see threads here.

You should never rely on 1 copy whatever drive you buy, none are foolproof.
 
I do appreciate that all drives have had issues at some point - I still recall the IBM "deathstars" and the like for example. :) Not had a DOA drive in a long time and considering that the reds and supposedly a bit more sturdy for constant NAS use and to run along with other drives it was a bit of a surprise that's all.

Yes, packaging was discussed in the same forums as well and while bad packaging was to blame for some cases, others were very well packaged but still had issues. Knowing how packages are often handled by couriers in sorting offices and the like I'm surprised that any hard disks survive. :) The red may just be more susceptible than most due to tolerances and disk density.. or as stated there is just a bad batch etc. That's why I asked on here if anybody else has had issues with them recently.

The main reason to buy this drive was to backup or mirror my existing storage in the first place so yes, I know 1 copy alone is not fool proof.

I've worked in IT support for years and have had experience of major data loss due to disk failure/poor backups - and even when you think you're "safe" with backing up to tape there are still loads of pitfalls there that can catch people out, and usually just at the wrong time. It's a fine art and always tricky to determine what is "enough" and not costing a fortune and overkill. :)

Can't afford a DLT drive and enough tapes for a four week backup cycle though - but then that is a bit overkill for home use. ;)

Ironically the WD drive I have been using in my skyhd box has also recently died - but then that drive was 5 years old and has been in pretty much constant use. :)
 
I have two 3tb RED'S and so far no problem at all. Owned them for about two months. Bought one from ocuk and another from the rainforest. The one from ocuk just came wrapped in bubble wrap in a posting bag so wasn't too thrilled about that but so far both working grand.
 
Ordered 2 of the 2TB model and one of them is DOA. Going to run a lifeguard check on the other one to make sure its ok.
 
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