Seagate Archive 8TB problems (?)

[Nasty Pirate]

Hello community.

 

I finally decided to buy the new Seagate Archive 8TB hard drive after seeing topics here and reading reviews on the internet. I had my doubts regarding Seagate's products but I decided to give them a chance to prove me wrong. I think I was right to have the doubts.

 

I noticed the following issues after only a few hours of meddling with the drive:

1) The POST delays, and it delays dramatically compared to previously installed HDDs. I even removed the Archive and the problem was solved.

2) When I log on Windows 7 the drive remains active. There is activity without any apparent reason from it. When I put my ear next to it, I noticed it was making a repetitive sound but without "clicking". 

3) I also noticed that the writing speed of the drive drops after X amount of data has been copied. I got sustained 150-170 MB/sec writes but after a while - 1,5GB or 4GB it's random - the speed drops to 20-30MB/sec. The files that were being copied were either large (over 1GB, or small 4-5MB) I know I was copying from a SATA2 drive but those speeds are way off.

4) Accessing files is also really slow. I tried opening an access database and it takes forever to load. It also delays on simple Excel files.

5) Checked the drive with CrystalDiskInfo and HDtune and the results were very acceptable (average 170MB/sec, burst of 309MB/s). Weird.

 

Now, in my experience all of the above point to a faulty drive. 

 

Can anyone that has this drive  help me sort this out?

 

PS: The drive is connected in a native SATA3 port, and is not used in RAID.

 

PS2: The drive does not have the OS on it! It's just a third storage in my rig.

[ThatOneRussian]

its 8tb im guessing its called an archive drive for long term storage im guessing

[XTankSlayerX]

They're supposed to be used for long term storage, its not made to be quick enough to run a OS or the like.

[Enderman]

1) is your OS on the 8TB drive or on another drive?

 

2) did you format it to GPT?

 

3) this will fix your long boot times: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/406980-windows-suddenly-taking-much-longer-to-boot-solution/

[mattonfire]

-snip-

I am sorry why are you running windows on a 8TB drive? Why aren't you running the OS on a SSD or something then all the long term storage or large file storage put on your HDD, I mean if you have enough money for a 8TB drive you must have atleast $90 for a 128GB SSD

[Nasty Pirate]

1) is your OS on the 8TB drive or on another drive?

 

2) did you format it to GPT?

 

3) this will fix your long boot times: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/406980-windows-suddenly-taking-much-longer-to-boot-solution/

 

Thanks all for the replies.

 

My OS is on an SSD (Samsung 840Pro 256GB). Hence not the case of OS on the archive kind of delays. This drive was purchased to move all my music/movies from 2x1,5TB drives to it.

 

Yes I formatted it to GPT as it's suitable for >2TB drives. I selected NTFS for its filesystem too. I don't think it requires a different FS right?

 

I will try the fix later when I return home. Thanks

[Blake]

Thanks all for the replies.

 

My OS is on an SSD (Samsung 840Pro 256GB). Hence not the case of OS on the archive kind of delays. This drive was purchased to move all my music/movies from 2x1,5TB drives to it.

 

Yes I formatted it to GPT as it's suitable for >2TB drives. I selected NTFS for its filesystem too. I don't think it requires a different FS right?

 

I will try the fix later when I return home. Thanks

this is a write once and forget about it device. you are using the drive wrong. go buy a 6TB green/red and you wont have these issues. this archive drive fundamentally writes data to the disk differently (look into Shingled magnetic recording).

[Nasty Pirate]

this is a write once and forget about it device. you are using the drive wrong. go buy a 6TB green/red and you wont have these issues. this archive drive fundamentally writes data to the disk differently (look into Shingled magnetic recording).

 

I know about SMR technology and the issues I face have nothing to with it. As I said, the drive writes data quite fast but has issues when accessing them later. According to its description it shouldn't have this issue. Also the POST screen delay is unjustified. Plus no more money for another 6TB drive

[Nasty Pirate]

I decide to close this thread as the drive failed completely today. Disappeared from disk management, not recognized in UEFI, stalled the Windows 7 loading. I returned it to the store in order to get another one. Thanks everyone for the answers.