Seagate 16TB External drives from Amazon

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mokoshakalaka

23 posts

Geek

#277142 28-Sep-2020 16:48

Hi,

I just wanted to share my experience of buying these 16TB drives from Amazon. I bought these Seagate 16TB external drives at the beginning of the month (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088S9PWNM/ currently 21% off).

It took about 2 weeks to deliver via DHL and the price per drive came to NZD $565 per external disk including shipping, customs duty, gst etc... which is much cheaper than what i could see on Pricespy.

The packaging looked a little rough on the outside:

but the retail packaging inside the box were fine. (The main reason i bought these instead of the the EXOS 16TB internal drives which were even cheaper than these ones):

I used CrystalDiskInfo and checked inside and they were Seagate EXOS 16 TB drives

Warranty wise i think it is 1 year since i bought it from US but personally i am shucking these so less relevant to me (since i think the warranty is void if i open the case?) though I have spent the past week running badblocks and fio to check the drives before shucking and all of them are fine (which was a relief).

But yeah, just wanted to share this potential option for people to consider!

Cheers

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4875 posts

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#2575527 28-Sep-2020 18:22

Actually, it is a pretty good deal -- $308 for a 16TB drive is not too far off the price of 2 8tb drives.

Best deal that comes up from time to time, is the WD 12TB drive that sells for $179USD on occassion. The drive I got was not shingled, but does need the pin trick if you want to shuck.

gbwelly

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#2575528 28-Sep-2020 18:22

What is the plan for them?

mokoshakalaka

23 posts

Geek

#2575631 29-Sep-2020 02:02

gbwelly:

What is the plan for them?

My current NAS was built 6-7 years ago with 5 x 4TB WD Reds in RaidZ and now i'm running out of room (mostly media). I'm hoping these will last me another 6 or so years. Been contemplating whether to got 8 drive Raid2Z and keeping 1 external offside backup for the important things or 6 drive Raid2Z + 2 drive Mirror + 1 external offsite backup.

mokoshakalaka

23 posts

Geek

#2575632 29-Sep-2020 02:03

surfisup1000:

Actually, it is a pretty good deal -- $308 for a 16TB drive is not too far off the price of 2 8tb drives.

Best deal that comes up from time to time, is the WD 12TB drive that sells for $179USD on occassion. The drive I got was not shingled, but does need the pin trick if you want to shuck.

I guess the good thing with these drives is that you don't have to modify anything and slot them in and they're good to go

rb99

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#2577361 1-Oct-2020 15:48

I think one of my hdds just expired. Windows completely ignores its existence. If I buy a replacement does anyone know if these Seagate disks are SMR or CMR ? do they swap over as you get to the bigger ones ? I found a table but it doesn't actually mention Exos.

Also, does CrystalDiskInfo do anything with faulty hdds ? will it find a drive that Windows doesn't in your (possible) experience ?

rb99

richms

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#2577380 1-Oct-2020 17:22

IME a dead drive will often show for a short time before going offline and not responding, so putting in an external enclosure will let you powercycle it and then get the smart stats before it throws a wobbly and doesnt respond. Other times they lock up when probed so the boot of the PC takes forever with them connected, again a powercycle of the drive may provoke it into giving up some information before freezing again.

Richard rich.ms

rb99

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#2577388 1-Oct-2020 17:50

richms:

IME a dead drive will often show for a short time before going offline and not responding, so putting in an external enclosure will let you powercycle it and then get the smart stats before it throws a wobbly and doesnt respond. Other times they lock up when probed so the boot of the PC takes forever with them connected, again a powercycle of the drive may provoke it into giving up some information before freezing again.

I think I've reached the post wobbly situation already. Just playing with Seatools it fails the 'Perform a sequential Short Read' test and says Power On Hours 0, Drive Temp 0. Unless playing with its connectors does something or just shutting down and restarting (as opposed to just rebooting) I'll probably be doing some shopping...

rb99

Journeyman

749 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2577407 1-Oct-2020 18:37

surfisup1000:

Actually, it is a pretty good deal -- $308 for a 16TB drive is not too far off the price of 2 8tb drives.

Best deal that comes up from time to time, is the WD 12TB drive that sells for $179USD on occassion. The drive I got was not shingled, but does need the pin trick if you want to shuck.

What's the pin trick?

rb99

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#2577416 1-Oct-2020 19:02

Was just watching videos about that. Apparently you need to (possibly) cover one of the power supply pins of the hdd with tape to stop it making contact.

Its in stuff like this -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_0LNxL9V58

rb99

richms

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#2577441 1-Oct-2020 20:09

Or rip the whole orange wire pin out of the sata harness on the power supply. Its optional and never been used so not sure why PSU makers put it in on them when nothing needs it and it causes this issue on some drives.

Richard rich.ms

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#2577500 1-Oct-2020 21:27

every time i buy the biggest expansion drive, within a few months a bigger one comes up. so my hdd collection goes like this

3tb 4tb 6tb 8tb 12tb now i need the 16tb!

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

mokoshakalaka

23 posts

Geek

#2590749 23-Oct-2020 13:29

rb99:

I think one of my hdds just expired. Windows completely ignores its existence. If I buy a replacement does anyone know if these Seagate disks are SMR or CMR ? do they swap over as you get to the bigger ones ? I found a table but it doesn't actually mention Exos.

Also, does CrystalDiskInfo do anything with faulty hdds ? will it find a drive that Windows doesn't in your (possible) experience ?

These 16TB ones are PMR/CMR. The Exos are enterprise grade drives so won't be SMR

Page 5 of the Exos manual says the recording method is Perpendicular, i.e PMR

https://www.seagate.com/www-content/product-content/enterprise-hdd-fam/exos-x-16/en-us/docs/100845789h.pdf

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/hard-drive-buying-guide/#:~:text=This%20is%20the%20technology%20inside,SMR%3A%20Shingled%20Magnetic%20Recording&text=These%20drives%20are%20great%20for,regularity%2C%20stick%20with%20PMR%20drives.

allio

678 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2590875 23-Oct-2020 16:06

Is there a lottery involved in buying these? Can you end up with anything other than Exos @ 16TB?

The $/GB is so much better than buying locally but the lottery factor and lack of warranty on a very expensive purchase has always put me off.

hio77

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#2590908 23-Oct-2020 17:26

richms:

Or rip the whole orange wire pin out of the sata harness on the power supply. Its optional and never been used so not sure why PSU makers put it in on them when nothing needs it and it causes this issue on some drives.

damn, that's easier than taping it.

I've gotten lazy with my last few batches and used molex to sata converters. no 3.3v rail to latch...

#include <std_disclaimer>

Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

mokoshakalaka

23 posts

Geek

#2590926 23-Oct-2020 18:18

allio:

Is there a lottery involved in buying these? Can you end up with anything other than Exos @ 16TB?

The $/GB is so much better than buying locally but the lottery factor and lack of warranty on a very expensive purchase has always put me off.

Seagate don't offer any other 16TB drives apart from the IronWolf series, all my drives were Exos ones. Theres a few posts on reddit that also confirm the drives as Exos

Yeah the warranty period had me hesitating but the price per tb eventually won me over

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