Hitachi 2TB Harddrive Owner's Thread

Sgt_Strider said:
Why is prebuilt going to be faster than a custom hardware setup? If I go custom, I'll be getting a hardware RAID card.
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I think you misunderstood. It's not going to be faster. Hardware will definitely be faster and in turn is actually able to take advantage of the faster RPM drives which is why higher RPM drives are necessary for hardware RAID and not so much for the pre-builts.
 
Even then, the 2TB 5K3000 has faster sequential read/write then the 2TB 7K2000 and the 2TB 7K3000 is only about 5-10% faster in sequential transfers.

If you do only single-stream sequential I/O to the array, low RPM drives are fine.

If you're dealing with random I/O and multi-stream sequential I/O, that is where the higher RPM drives show their biggest advantage.

I believe odditory said he was going to test 2TB 7K2000 and 2TB 5K3000 mixed in the same array. The resulting performance should be interesting if it works.
 
larrymoencurly said:
... JKDL_SP.exe is for 2TB 7K2000.C drives. I didn't ask Hitachi about any of the flashing software because they didn't seem to know anything. It took over two months to get HiTest and the 3MA firmware from Hitachi because the only person authorized to release it is a screw-up.
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Does anyone have a link or source for the JKDL_SP firmware update tool? I first emailed Hitachi 6 weeks ago about a problem I have with my 7K2000 drives taking DAYS to defragment (when all other drives in my server defragment at normal speeds). After much back and forth with them, they determined I needed a firmware update, and finally sent me 3MA firmware and the HiTest software. But that software does not recognize my drives: neither the ones on my MB ports, nor the ones on my AOC-SASLP-MV8. In fact, it doesn't see ANY drives on my server, and sometimes just scanning for drives gives me a BSOD. I asked them if they had a DOS tool, and they said they would check. That was two weeks ago, and Adrian Cutler @ Hitachi has been ignoring my emails ever since. :(
 
dscline said:
I asked them if they had a DOS tool, and they said they would check. That was two weeks ago, and Adrian Cutler @ Hitachi has been ignoring my emails ever since. :(
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Yep, Adrian Cutler, who has to be nudged about 5 times before he responds. You need to phone Hitachi to get him to do anything.

Here's the link to the version 3MA firmware and Windows-based flash program he sent me for my 1TB 7K1000.C:

http://rapidshare.com/files/449207831/firmware_Hitachi_1TB_7K1000-C_JP0NB3MA.zip

Warning: the drive's seek noise goes way up after the flash and can't be adjusted.
 
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My request back in mid-2010 for the 3EA firmware was dealt with by 'Butch' and everything went quick and smooth.

Sent Email asking for Firmware.
Received Email asking for additional information within two business days.
Sent Email with additional information that same day.
Received Email with DOS Tool and .BDX firmware within two business days.

Total time from request to firmware received: 4 business days
 
For those wondering..

I have an Adaptec 5805 and have been running a 6x2tb 5k3000 array through some tests. These are going to be used for media streaming up to 4 different 10gb+ videos simultaneously as well as archiving and taking nightly PC snapshots.

In sequential reads, they can saturate my gigabit network no problem. When trying to stream 4 different files the handicap of a lower rpm and seek time becomes apparent.

I will be changing to 7k3000's, but other than that, they perform just fine on the 5805 with the HP SAS expander. No drops.
 
The 2TB 5K3000 just dropped to $69.99 at Amazon.com. The 3TB 7K3000 Retail Kit also dropped to $169.99.

I'm very tempted to pick up a few 5K3000, but the two PCB revisions floating around right now with different capacities and performance characteristics, somewhat makes me want to wait for Hitachi to resolve build consistency issues at their China factory... Has anybody who bought both green and blue PCB 5K3000s contacted Hitachi to find out what the story was?
 
I picked up 5 7k3000's from newegg about 5 days ago and they were all blue pcb's (if that helps).
 
Is one having problems? I also got blues from newegg but im tempted to pick up some more form amazon. (5K3000)
 
This was linked a few pages back about the 2TB 7K3000:
http://translate.google.com/transla...://8thway.blogspot.com/2011/01/blog-post.html

5342232709_217e08f196.jpg
5342232723_3136824baf.jpg

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5202/5347850716_85802fdc68_o.png

What that blog refers to as 2000a appears to be the blue pcb, and 2000b appears to be the green pcb (assuming he kept the same order throughout his images). More testing with HD Tune 4.60 would need to be done to see if the issue shown is a trend with the green pcb or just a fluke. It may or may not apply to the 2TB 5K3000, but both the 2TB 7K3000 and 5K3000 are made at the same factory in China and have the same blue and green pcbs.
 
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Thanks for the heads up Cyberbeing....I just ordered 3 from amazon and my friend ordered another 3 for me. I will let u know if it is the blue or green pcb.
 
So i heard Western Digital bought hitachi? we better get our drives before WD blocks out the raid on the desktop drives...
 
I just wanted to post I have been ordering 3 drives at a time each week now from amazon and so far they have all been blue PCB, Dec 2010 manufacture....not a green one yet
 
Looks like Hitachi finally got around to releasing the 5K3000 Retail Boxes.

2TB 5K3000 Retail Box is $69.99 at Frys (B&M & Frys.com - no purchase limit)

Elsewhere the 3TB 5K3000 Retail Box looks to now be listed and shipping to retailers. Going web price is currently $150-180, but nobody seems to have stock yet.
 
Good move because the way the drives are packed in the retail box is superior to what I've seen of the OEM boxes (if you bought from Amazon you get Hitachi's real OEM box and "shock absorption" duty is left to mere cardboard, if from Newegg you get a drive that they split off from a 20-pack and used their own "packing" for).

Pretty much all my 7K2000's (around 72 at last count) were sourced from Fry's retail boxes and I still haven't had to RMA a single one.
 
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odditory said:
Good move because the way the drives are packed in the retail box is superior to what I've seen of the OEM boxes (if you bought from Amazon you get Hitachi's real OEM box and "shock absorption" duty is left to mere cardboard, if from Newegg you get a drive that they split off from a 20-pack and used their own "packing" for).

Pretty much all my 7K2000's (around 72 at last count) were sourced from Fry's retail boxes and I still haven't had to RMA a single one.
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Same here, the one time I used new egg to get one of the 7k3000 drives, it was DOA, where as all the 7k2000 and 7k3000 from frys have been flawless.
 
I just picked up 2 5K3000 as spares for the current rig...lol...it was funny though...at the cashier, he kinda gawked at the price that came up..."wow thats a sweet deal"
 
I just ordered 5 5K3000s from Amazon and 5 from NewEgg. I'll report back regarding the packaging of each, and their DOA rate! (if any) Fortunately, NewEgg is pretty good about sending back bad drives - they'll even provide a prepaid label.. Hopefully Amazon is as easy to deal with if required..
 
Re: Amazon, in my experience, they're even better. All you have to do is select 'faulty/doesn't work' in their return options and you get the pre-paid label. I've never had them question something I sent back as broken.
 
I tried looking on their site to see what the stated warranty is....couldn't find it.

My 5K3000's show a 2 year warranty.
 
Neb said:
I tried looking on their site to see what the stated warranty is....couldn't find it.

My 5K3000's show a 2 year warranty.
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Yea mine from amazno are 2 years also, the ones I got from an Australian retailer it has them as 3 years. o.0
 
TypeRazor said:
I just wanted to post I have been ordering 3 drives at a time each week now from amazon and so far they have all been blue PCB, Dec 2010 manufacture....not a green one yet
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What's the difference?
 
I recently bought a few 5K3000s from both NewEgg and Amazon - I haven't looked up the serials yet, but looking at the Amazon.com product page (http://www.amazon.com/Hitachi-Desks...SGO0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301658247&sr=8-1) I can't actually find any mention a warranty, aside from within the customer comments (which might not hold up in resolution).

Even on the Hitachi product page (http://www.hitachigst.com/internal-drives/desktop/deskstar/deskstar-5k3000) I dont see any mention of warranty length.. Or am I blind?!

When I unbox the drives I'll lookup and post the results of warranty checks from both sources.
 
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So I unpacked the drives, and the ones from both NewEgg and Amazon both show a 3 year warranty. Unfortunately, the manufacture date is 12/10, so I'm already 4 months into it.

As far as packaging, NewEgg used their standard styrofoam multipack wrapped in bubblewrap, in a box with some paper padding. The ones from Amazon, however, each came in their own box, which fit the shipping box quite well with the air pillows for padding. I have a feeling the Amazon drives will have a lower DOA rate, but we'll find out! :) I'll report back with my results!
 
The one I got from newegg last week is a green PCB, 3 year warranty from 2/17/2011. Getting two more today, and I'll check those.
 
I ordered two from NewEgg earlier in the week, one was green and one was blue.

I still don't understand the implications of that graph...
 
So I've opened the 5 NewEgg drives - 3 had blue PCBs and 2 had green. 4 of them had firmware 580, one of them had firmware 180. (at least I'm assuming the "FW" code refers to its firmware version)

One of the blues were DOA, and one of the greens has a large area of bad sectors, as reported by the HD Tune Pro error scan. So that's 2 of the 5 I'll have to send back to NewEgg. Hopefully I'll have better luck with the ones from Amazon! <RME>
 
odditory said:
A Wiki & Firmware Update page has been created for the Hitachi 7K2000 2TB which includes the hard to get firmware update tools and update instructions. Latest firmware is still 3MA and I've updated over 60 of these drives without any issue.
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That wiki was quite helpful for my 2TB 7K2000 drives. Updated the firmware just fine.

However, for my 2TB 5K3000 drives, I'm not having any luck. The JKDL_SP.EXE from that update package isn't detecting them. I'd like to get them flashed from firmware 180 to 580. Has anyone else had any luck flashing their 5K3000's?
 
All of the drives I got from Amazon and 1 of 5 from newegg had firmware 180, so it would be nice to upgrade them too if possible. Perhaps if we contact Hitachi? I believe that's how I got the previous tool..
 
Awesome - thanks for the link! I'm going to update all of my drives before throwing them in the array.

As promised, the success rates of my recent NewEgg vs Amazon 5K3000 purchases:

NewEgg:
- 1 DOA
- 1 had a big strip of bad sectors with HD Tune Pro Read Test
- 3 OK

Amazon.com:
- All 5 OK

I'm not saying its due to Amazon.com's superior packaging, but.. :)
 
d00dz said:
http://forums.servethehome.com/showthread.php?147-Hitachi-Harddisks-Thread-(5K3000-7K3000-7K2000)

Has info on how to update it.

Does anyone know the difference between fw180 and fw580 ? Is it worth updating??

for the 5K3000 2TB's im taking about.
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The trouble is Hitachi doesn't really say what changes with each firmware rev, and likely the reason they aren't more forthcoming about posting firmware updates publicly is because for 99.9% of people whatever changed won't make a difference functionally and they rather avoid people assuming they need latest and creating unnecessary tech support traffic, so I'd say the difference will be mostly psychological and you won't see a functional diff.

However from the standpoint of a best practice, if for example you're running matched drives in a striped array configuration (hardware raid, zfs) then its not a bad idea to have everything as identical as possible including firmware rev. Also, updating to the version that Hitachi has seen fit to place on their newest shipping drives, it wouldn't seem like it could hurt to update based on that fact.

BTW I'm updating the update tool instructions on that ServeTheHome thread you linked since the DOS tool JKDL_SP.exe doesn't work on the newer drives.
 
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