[geeks] R720 NAS, continued

[Phil Stracchino]

On 1/18/22 13:04, Grant Taylor wrote:
> On 1/18/22 8:06 AM, Phil Stracchino wrote:
>> So I've discovered that there's a non-obvious drawback to the PowerEdge
>> R720 as a NAS.B  It's the 2.5" drive bays, combined with the fact that
>> ALL 2.5" spinning-rust drives of 2TB or larger are SMR.
> 
> We explicitly use the R720 w/ 3B=" drives specifically so that we can
> have higher capacity drives without being on the wrong side of the price
> or SMR curve.  (We started using them before SMR was really a commercial
> thing.)

Unfortunately at the time I bought the SFF R720, I didn't realize that 
*all* 2.5" mechanical drives over 1TB are SMR.  I also didn't realize 
that the write performance impact was so gigantic.  Having now 
experienced it firsthand, I think Seagate et al downplay the write 
performance deficit to such an extent that there are potential grounds 
for a class action suit against the entire storage industry for 
misrepresentation of the technology.  Because this is just terrible. 
It's not, say, 10% or 15% slower on writes than the CMR drives in the 
failed X4540.  It is 3 or 4 *TIMES* slower.



-- 
   Phil Stracchino
   Babylon Communications
   phils at caerllewys.net
   phil at co.ordinate.org
   Landline: +1.603.293.8485
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