New HDD slow write

[Ymac]

Hello there!

 

About a week ago, my mass storage drive (Seagate ST3000DM001) stopped being recognized in Windows. I booted to linux, and sure enough, there were many error in the kernel log regarding the ATA device. Oof.

So I went ahead and ran to my local computer shop to get the most OK looking drive that would be able to fit the contents of my old 3TB, so I got a ST4000DM004 (I thought it to be a 7200RPM model, I was wrong)

I started copying from the GUI (Thunar) but quickly realized that the `rsync` command is superior (with `-ah --info=progress2` args).

And for a few tedious days, it seemed to work "fine" - ranging from 60 to 10MBps.

but then it got worse. copying my phone backups was at about 1MBps avarage, and that a 200GB folder! I thought to myself its because its small files, and blamed the almost-dead HDD and its slow read speeds.

But then I noticed that also big files transfer horribly slow (1-5MBps, I'm better off downloading from the cloud!) and I noticed that while GUI file explorer is snappy on my "dead" drive, on the new drive its painfully slow.

So perhaps the new drive is also being "weird"? - well, no kernel errors on the interface, so, maybe not(?)

However, I though, just for the heck of it, let's try copying to my SSD (960 EVO 500GB), just for the lolz, so I mounted the partition (everything is NTFS btw, frigging windows) and BOOM - steady 120MBps

WTF?!

 

So I don't know what to do with new new drive:

If it's defective - I should RMA it.

if its behaviour is expected - I should return it(?), but then how do I choose a new drive? what should I look for?

 

I hope somebody here will have insight about this situation

Thanks!

 

edit:

This is how copying 100GB from my SSD looks like:

and that's how task manager looks like:

[Ymac]

So I did some research, and discovered the new drive is an "SMR" drive, which can explain the poor write performance.

Are SMR drives this bad? or is this a faulty one?

I think I may just try to return in to the store.

Any reccomendation for another 4TB'ish drive? not 5400RPM, not SMR which is somewhat reliable...

[LunaP0n3]

The ST3000DM001 has a notable history of high failure rates, there's even a Wikipedia article about the drive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ST3000DM001

So to be clear, you're looking for a 4TB drive with a rotation speed of 7200RPM?

I would suggest the WD Black, which has 4TB and 6TB models. https://www.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/wd-black-hdd

With regards to Shingled Drives, they overlay the data tracks like shingles on the roof of a house to increase capacity. When the drive has to overwrite the data, it has to read the data, copy it to another part of the drive, then rewrite the data, hence the write speed penalty.

 

[Ymac]

I know all the bad things about the ST3000DM001, but as you can see, he's not the problem maker, the new drive is.

I don't want to buy another drive that will act like the ST4000DM004, I don't know if mine's faulty, or just 5400RPM is slower then I'm used to, or its SMR - but I want a drive that will perform just like my old  ST3000DM001 did. (And it survived more then 4 years in rough conditions, so he's a win for me)