I have been offered to RMA with WD Red Pro 4TB Model: WD4003FFBX
Even though an overkill for my NAS I think it is a great offer and think I should take it.
Just the 5 years warranty is so great !
SMR Disk performance - TS453D
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Re: SMR Disk performance - TS453D
Replacement HDD's have arrived from WD and array is rebuilding.
The part number for both is WD4003FFBX but the sticker is different as you can see. It doesn't write WD Pro. It also writes "Recertified May2020" and I hope they are not repaired drives.
Registered both with WD and I will check if the 5 year warranty is valid once I return the old disks.
At least now I have CMR disks. The old SMR is on the left while the right disks, with the thicker platter space, is the new CMR. When the array rebuild completes, I will test and post the HDD performance test.
The part number for both is WD4003FFBX but the sticker is different as you can see. It doesn't write WD Pro. It also writes "Recertified May2020" and I hope they are not repaired drives.
Registered both with WD and I will check if the 5 year warranty is valid once I return the old disks.
At least now I have CMR disks. The old SMR is on the left while the right disks, with the thicker platter space, is the new CMR. When the array rebuild completes, I will test and post the HDD performance test.
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Re: SMR Disk performance - TS453D
Test results follow, still trying to understand if the original SMR disks had a performance issue.
Array: RAID 1
SSH Tests
With 2x WD Red 4TB (SMR)
Throughput RAID_Throughput Disk Type
23.04 MB/s 245.35 MB/s WDC WD40EFAX-68JH4N0
23.11 MB/s 245.35 MB/s WDC WD40EFAX-68JH4N0
With 1x WD Red 4TB SMR & 1x WD RED Pro
237.81 MB/s 247.49 MB/s WDC WD4003FFBX-68MU3N0
20.42 MB/s 247.49 MB/s WDC WD40EFAX-68JH4N0
With 2x WD RED Pro
237.56 MB/s 296.25 MB/s WDC WD4003FFBX-68MU3N0
243.99 MB/s 296.25 MB/s WDC WD4003FFBX-68MU3N0
Both WD Red SMR disks had a very low (23 MB/s) throughput.
When the WD Red Pro were introduced in the array, the qcli test showed a tenfold throughput increase from the Pro disk.
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In parallel, together with the above SSH tests, I was using QNAP’s Disk Performance Test from the Storage & Snapshots application -> Disks/VJBOD
QNAP Application Disks/VJBOD Performance Test
With 2x WD Red 4TB (SMR)
Disk 1 - Sequential Read: 383,83 MB/s IOPS Read: 327
Disk 2 - Sequential Read: 158,87 MB/s IOPS Read: 106
With 1x WD Red 4TB SMR & 1x WD RED Pro
Disk 1 - Sequential Read: 241,41 MB/s IOPS Read: 187 - WD Red PRO
Disk 2 - Sequential Read: 173,20, MB/s IOPS Read: 116 - WD Red SMR
With 2x WD RED Pro
Disk 1 - Sequential Read: 214,68 MB/s IOPS Read: 189
Disk 2 - Sequential Read: 240,74 MB/s IOPS Read: 187
The first test numbers for Disk 1 were way off the realistic potential of the HDD and they surely do not correlate with its “exceptional” performance in the SSH test above !
Maybe the SMR controller and cache are the cause of this inaccuracy in the results.
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Finally, some observed differences between Red’s and Red Pro’s
Array Build Time (RAID 1)
9,5 hours - reading from Disk 1 (WD Red) and writing to Disk 2 (WD Red PRO) – Disk Throughput 88,1 MB/s
7 hours - reading from Disk 2 (WD Red PRO) and writing to Disk 2 (WD Red PRO) – Disk Throughput 154,9 MB/s
SMART reporting Temperature
WD Red 4TB (SMR): 39 - 44 0C
WD Red PRO: 44 -49 0C
Red Pro disks run significantly hotter!
Array: RAID 1
SSH Tests
With 2x WD Red 4TB (SMR)
Throughput RAID_Throughput Disk Type
23.04 MB/s 245.35 MB/s WDC WD40EFAX-68JH4N0
23.11 MB/s 245.35 MB/s WDC WD40EFAX-68JH4N0
With 1x WD Red 4TB SMR & 1x WD RED Pro
237.81 MB/s 247.49 MB/s WDC WD4003FFBX-68MU3N0
20.42 MB/s 247.49 MB/s WDC WD40EFAX-68JH4N0
With 2x WD RED Pro
237.56 MB/s 296.25 MB/s WDC WD4003FFBX-68MU3N0
243.99 MB/s 296.25 MB/s WDC WD4003FFBX-68MU3N0
Both WD Red SMR disks had a very low (23 MB/s) throughput.
When the WD Red Pro were introduced in the array, the qcli test showed a tenfold throughput increase from the Pro disk.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In parallel, together with the above SSH tests, I was using QNAP’s Disk Performance Test from the Storage & Snapshots application -> Disks/VJBOD
QNAP Application Disks/VJBOD Performance Test
With 2x WD Red 4TB (SMR)
Disk 1 - Sequential Read: 383,83 MB/s IOPS Read: 327
Disk 2 - Sequential Read: 158,87 MB/s IOPS Read: 106
With 1x WD Red 4TB SMR & 1x WD RED Pro
Disk 1 - Sequential Read: 241,41 MB/s IOPS Read: 187 - WD Red PRO
Disk 2 - Sequential Read: 173,20, MB/s IOPS Read: 116 - WD Red SMR
With 2x WD RED Pro
Disk 1 - Sequential Read: 214,68 MB/s IOPS Read: 189
Disk 2 - Sequential Read: 240,74 MB/s IOPS Read: 187
The first test numbers for Disk 1 were way off the realistic potential of the HDD and they surely do not correlate with its “exceptional” performance in the SSH test above !
Maybe the SMR controller and cache are the cause of this inaccuracy in the results.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Finally, some observed differences between Red’s and Red Pro’s
Array Build Time (RAID 1)
9,5 hours - reading from Disk 1 (WD Red) and writing to Disk 2 (WD Red PRO) – Disk Throughput 88,1 MB/s
7 hours - reading from Disk 2 (WD Red PRO) and writing to Disk 2 (WD Red PRO) – Disk Throughput 154,9 MB/s
SMART reporting Temperature
WD Red 4TB (SMR): 39 - 44 0C
WD Red PRO: 44 -49 0C
Red Pro disks run significantly hotter!
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Re: SMR Disk performance - TS453D
Finally, I safely erased the two red SMR disks, preparing them for return to WD.
I thought why not do a final test?
These disks are 3 & 4 and are not in a RAID array anymore.
At last, the WD Red's SMR now seem to show more reasonable results: approximately 180MB/s and 120 IOPS compared to the wrong values of my OP at 383MB/s and 187 IOPS [~] # qcli_storage -T force=1
Enclosure Port Sys_Name Throughput RAID RAID_Type RAID_Throughput Pool
NAS_HOST 1 /dev/sdc 239.37 MB/s /dev/md1 RAID 1 299.36 MB/s 1
NAS_HOST 2 /dev/sda 242.33 MB/s /dev/md1 RAID 1 299.36 MB/s 1
NAS_HOST 3 /dev/sdb 144.82 MB/s -- -- -- --
NAS_HOST 4 /dev/sdd 143.37 MB/s -- -- -- --
Also, in the SSH test, the throughput now shows a more reasonable value of 140MB/s compared to 22MB/s of my OP tests.
So, not being in RAID or erasing the drives, or changing their position seems to have corrected the problem and tests now output normal values.
I am curious if the SMR cache and device managed driver are responsible for the results or if it were my disks actually under-performing?
I thought why not do a final test?
These disks are 3 & 4 and are not in a RAID array anymore.
At last, the WD Red's SMR now seem to show more reasonable results: approximately 180MB/s and 120 IOPS compared to the wrong values of my OP at 383MB/s and 187 IOPS [~] # qcli_storage -T force=1
Enclosure Port Sys_Name Throughput RAID RAID_Type RAID_Throughput Pool
NAS_HOST 1 /dev/sdc 239.37 MB/s /dev/md1 RAID 1 299.36 MB/s 1
NAS_HOST 2 /dev/sda 242.33 MB/s /dev/md1 RAID 1 299.36 MB/s 1
NAS_HOST 3 /dev/sdb 144.82 MB/s -- -- -- --
NAS_HOST 4 /dev/sdd 143.37 MB/s -- -- -- --
Also, in the SSH test, the throughput now shows a more reasonable value of 140MB/s compared to 22MB/s of my OP tests.
So, not being in RAID or erasing the drives, or changing their position seems to have corrected the problem and tests now output normal values.
I am curious if the SMR cache and device managed driver are responsible for the results or if it were my disks actually under-performing?
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