Simple questions about new 2TB HD

[Muse]

Coming today is a new WD Red 2TB 5400RPM HD.

1. This will come pre-formatted in NTFS?

2. There's no benefit if doing a full format on this HD? IOW, if there are any bad sectors, I can assume they've already been mapped as such by the factory format?

 

[ronbo613]

It might come pre-formatted, I would at least do a Quick Format just to make sure it's working. You don't have to these days, but I usually do a full format and error check on new hard drives, especially the big ones, to check out the drive before use. Since computer components seem most likely to fail soon after being put into use, I use the crap out of the drive for the first few days to make sure that if it is going to fail, it dies within the refund/return/exchange window from the vendor to avoid warranty hassles.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

It might come pre-formatted, I would at least do a Quick Format just to make sure it's working. You don't have to these days, but I usually do a full format and error check on new hard drives, especially the big ones, to check out the drive before use. Since computer components seem most likely to fail soon after being put into use, I use the crap out of the drive for the first few days to make sure that if it is going to fail, it dies within the refund/return/exchange window from the vendor to avoid warranty hassles.

I scrutinized "the Reds" before buying 4x 2TB NAS drives two years ago. Despite the rumors and disparagement, I chose the Seagate NAS 2TB drives. Haven't had a problem with any of them. The Reds are also probably "up-to-snuff."

OEM-wrap bare drives should not arrive pre-formatted, although it's always possible while I've never seen it.

Here's what I'd do for staying within whatever 30-day RMA deadline you have for a new purchase.

1) Format the drive -- and uncheck "Quick Format." Yes -- you must be patient!
2) Download the WD Diagnostics program and install it. Run the "Quick" Test and then the "Extended" test.

There . . . you are, Bro.

You can use a NAS drive as a storage drive in a workstation, or as a media drive for workstation or HTPC. I wouldn't use them for a boot disk. And you could wring your hands about the "5,400 RPM," but for me, it doesn't matter. I've been all over various threads about my ongoing "experiment," and the basis of the experiment means I shouldn't care much as long as an HDD performs in the expected range -- maybe 140 MB/s sequential throughput and acceptable write speed.

I'm now using 2.5" "laptop" SATA spinners in my systems -- 2TB drives, 5,400 RPM. Those things are stellar so far as they've been put to use in household desktop systems . . .

But I still cannot find a 4-propeller "copter" drone that can lift my computer. YEt -- it IS lighter than with a pile of 3.5" spinners.

 

[Elixer]

I always do a full format, since, the majority of the time, HDs fail early or late, hence the bathtub curve that is usually shown for their lifespan.
It is also possible that the HD suffers more issues after shipping, that is why you need to test these things early.

 

[Muse]

I always do a full format, since, the majority of the time, HDs fail early or late, hence the bathtub curve that is usually shown for their lifespan.
It is also possible that the HD suffers more issues after shipping, that is why you need to test these things early.

Indeed. I actually have 3 new Reds, a 2TB that arrived today and a couple of 3TB (all are 5400RPM), that arrived Dec. 8, and I only opened the box today -- because I had to wait for a bunch of stuff to happen.

I'm not even sure I have a way to really test the 3TB drive. Reason is my desktops are only running XP (or worse!). I have a Rosewill RX-358 V2 BLK external USB 3.5" HD enclosure (bought in early 2013), and I only opened that box today. It says on the box that it supports 2TB HDs! I'm "dang, I was intending to put one of my 3TB Reds in it." Then I looked online, wondering if maybe it will work with a 3TB in it and found spec that it does but they footnote it saying that XP won't work with it if it has a 3TB HD in it. But then I realized that my XP desktop seems to read my Seagate 3TB USB externals and sees all 3TB, so I'm wondering if the WD 3TB Reds will work in the Rosewill enclosure. I figure I'll know when I try it, which I'm about to do and I get a phone call from a guy who was about my best friend in high school and I hadn't talked to in 50 years! We talk over an hour, just got off the phone with him...

Edit: If it's true the Rosewill enclosure will work with a 3TB HD (but not with an XP box), I can plug it into one of my Win10 laptops and format it there. Weird... on the box it says 2TB, but online at Rosewill's spec page for the enclosure it says 3TB/Bay (of course, there's only one bay, but hey).

 

[Muse]

I have a WD MyBook 3TB external USB HD that's MBR formatted in one volume, 3794000MB. I inserted my new WD 3TB Red 5400RPM drive in my Rosewill RX-358 V2 BLK external USB enclosure and my Win10 laptop won't allow me to create an MBR volume on it over 2TB. Why does the MyBooks's 3TB MBR formatted HD allow all 3TB?

 

[Elixer]

Windows won't allow you to boot from a MBR ~2.2GB+ partition, but, you can still have > ~2.2GB MBR partitions w/newer 4K sectors.
You can also convert that to GPT.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Why does the MyBooks's 3TB MBR formatted HD allow all 3TB?

Because the controller chipset fakes 4K sectors.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I always do a full format, since, the majority of the time, HDs fail early or late, hence the bathtub curve that is usually shown for their lifespan.
It is also possible that the HD suffers more issues after shipping, that is why you need to test these things early.

That's why it's good to get these things settled before placing an order, but it wouldn't be a problem with win 7 sp-1.

In a way, that's why I've yet to purchase > 2TB HDDs, because I was concerned about native creation of > 2TB partitions. As long as you can create a GPT partition or convert MBR to GPT, you can use it as a data drive.

It occurs to me these days that while people want all their OS and programs on a single disk, it doesn't even have to be that way if you can accommodate to backing up two volumes, or use a sensible redundancy and backup strategy for each of those disks.

 

[Charlie98]

The only bad drive I've ever had right out of the box was a WD Red 2TB... bad sectors. I check all my drives now. WD warranted it... they gave me a refurb 3TB in exchange for my brand new 2TB.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Just noticed this, and I'd have to back up and review to find who said it--lemmesee . . . . umm . .

OK. "You can't test them on Win XP systems." Find someone, a laptop, or someone with a laptop/desktop to download the appropriate WD Diagnostics version for that drive -- it should cover a whole list of models but I always assume different sw versions and start through the hardware website.

I am very sure there is a "bootable CD" option in the Win-installed WD Diagnostics program, or there is a separate "DOS" download. The objective is to give yourself the bootable-CD diagnostic, and then test the drives that way (assuming that the hardware is recent enough for at least the Red drive's backward compatibility to your hardware . . . . AHCI 1.0 or later, SATA 1? 2! or 3.