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#91
Tech Chat / Re: CMR vs SMR for NAS
Last post by Lazybones - November 28, 2023, 01:48:59 PM
SMR are the fine and less expensive for any application that you don't have heavy write workloads. SMR is terrible in ANY RAID / striping config.

CRM (older tech) is the preferred option for NAS, and if you buy drives "branded" as NAS drives they will normally be CRM.

Note that Western Digital got in trouble for quietly introducing SMR into drive models and lines that previously didn't have them and that caused lots of issues for NAS users a few years ago.

Sucks.. SMR drives are not BAD, just not good for NAS setups with RAID.
#92
Tech Chat / CMR vs SMR for NAS
Last post by Thorin - November 28, 2023, 01:36:43 PM
So I'd kinda stopped paying attention to hardware news in the last five years or so. I totally missed the "WD sold SMR drives that people thought were CMR" debacle, and I also missed learning what the actual difference between CMR and SMR is and why it matters for a NAS.

So, had a short accidentally-self-inflicted power outage at my house (too many electric heaters on the same breaker) that also interrupted power to my main Drobo. When I powered the Drobo back up, one of the drives was marked bad and rejected, a 6TB WD Red Plus.

I went looking for a replacement and decided I should get two 8TB drives so I could increase my storage in both the main Drobo and the secondary Drobo a bit (add 2x8TB to the main to replace 2x6TB - adds 4TB; move 1x6TB to the secondary to replace 1x1TB - adds 5TB). Looking around on Black Friday I found 8TB WD Red Plus drives for $240 a piece. Then I found 8TB Seagate Barracuda drives for $150 a piece, huge savings!

They're both 5,400rpm drives, they're both 8TB, they're both 128MB cache, the Seagate is 2 year warranty while the WD is 3 year. That's all I need to know, right?

NO! I also had to know what CMR vs SMR is, and that the Seagate is SMR (which seriously, seriously hampers performance in a Drobo NAS) while the WD Red Plus is CMR (as opposed to the cheaper WD Red that is SMR).

.. sometimes I hate technology and technology companies ..

Anyway, I'm off to MemEx tonight to buy a couple of WD Red Plus 6TB that I have confirmed are CMR. I'm going with 6TB because it will still give me plenty of storage and they're $195 a piece instead of $240.

I'm hoping to be able to return those Seagates back to Amazon for a refund.

Oh, in case you care to know how it affects performance - after putting the Seagates with their SMR technology into the Drobo, now when I try to copy files to it the copying randomly pauses for seconds to minutes at a time, and it locks up the computer and I can't use Windows Explorer while it's locked up (but can still use a browser to visit web page to angrily google about potential causes for Windows Explorer locking up). This did not happen before I replaced the drives.
#93
Lobby / Re: Oilers 2023-24
Last post by Melbosa - November 27, 2023, 11:43:46 AM
So frustrating to watch, even with the latest blowout for the Oilers.
#94
Lobby / Re: Oilers 2023-24
Last post by Mr. Analog - November 22, 2023, 10:23:01 PM
Quote from: Thorin on November 22, 2023, 09:00:12 PMWTF

I'd say it was a bad game but only one team showed up 🙄
#95
Lobby / Oilers 2023-24
Last post by Thorin - November 22, 2023, 09:00:12 PM
WTF
#96
Game Chat / Re: KeeperFX 1.0.0 has been r...
Last post by Mr. Analog - November 19, 2023, 05:43:36 AM
Quote from: Mr. Analog on November 12, 2023, 09:43:53 PMI know what I'm checking out tomorrow!

I got distracted with other stuff but I really should check this out
#97
Game Chat / Re: KeeperFX 1.0.0 has been r...
Last post by Melbosa - November 19, 2023, 03:34:39 AM
I find the Dungeons series (although # 1 of the series is by far the worst, here is a link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/200550/Dungeons__The_Dark_Lord/) to be an updated and good successor to the Dungeon Keeper games. The first game is from 2011 but Dungeons 4 just got released, so they have a good history and people like the games cause they keep making more :D. I played 3 for almost 60hs.

The recently released Naheulbeuk's Dungeon Master, while more challenging is also very good and carries the Naheulbeuk humour with it: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2005160/Naheulbeuks_Dungeon_Master/

War for the Overworld (https://store.steampowered.com/app/230190/War_for_the_Overworld/) I have been told is very good, but I find it very hard myself. Its also very dated now, being a 2015 release.
#98
Game Chat / Re: Retro Game Stuff
Last post by Mr. Analog - November 17, 2023, 06:33:37 PM
I got my Atari 2600+ today! Can't wait to check it out
#99
Game Chat / Re: Escapist is done (!)
Last post by Mr. Analog - November 17, 2023, 06:32:00 PM
Yeah I'm going to say that if you have to use racism to sell your article MAYBE it's not worth reading in the first place

Honestly you shouldn't give sources like this your time.
#100
Game Chat / Re: Escapist is done (!)
Last post by Darren Dirt - November 17, 2023, 02:51:48 PM
Quote from: Mr. Analog on November 16, 2023, 07:13:30 AMOh gross. I knew it was a dodgy site but I didn't realize it was actually evil

I heard the news about the Escapist from one of the show editors who has been a guest on Red Letter Media via Twitter (Jack Packard)

https://twitter.com/Harlack/status/1721906693620273233?t=rBaaqa9c71uW6EHuyhkWuw&s=19

Oh no, Jack!?

I hope the wallet hit doesn't drive him back to the bottle. :-(