HCL-Seagate 3TB ST3000DM001: Is newer p/n:1CH166 included?

[AGTD]

According to the Netgear HCL, the 3TB Barracuda 7200.14 ST3000DM001 is compatible with the ReadyNAS Pro4. Caveat is that Firmware CC4H should be used.

It appears that the CC4H firmware update is only available for the ST3000DM001-9YN166 (9YN166 is the part number).

Seagate recently seem to have moved over to selling the 3TB drive with a new part number ST3000DM001-1CH166 and Firmware CC43. The CC4H firmware can not be applied to this drive using the standard upgrade utilities provided by Seagate - thy indicate that the drive is not compatible with the CC4H update.

This begs the question whether the newer ST3000DM001-1CH166 with Firmware CC43 is also "Compatible" / Certified by Netgear under the HCL entry for the 3TB Seagate ST3000DM001.
(4 of these drives do actually appear to work in a Pro4.)

[louisgee]

I purchased two of these HDDs, i.e. ST3000DM001-1CH166 with Firmware CC43 and installed them in a ReadNAS Duo v2 without any problem. Seagate told me in an email that Firmware CC43 is newer than CC4H.

[AGTD]

After moving a lot of TB around on my PRO4 and lots of data verification, I have not run into any trouble with my 4 ST3000DM001-1CH166 drives. Empirically they appear to be "compatible". It would be great if Netgear could confirm this after running their own tests and assuming that they are "really compatible" adding the drives to the HCL

[devilsrear]

I have 2 of these drives in my duo v2 - running firmware version CC43. Not had any issue with these at all.

Disk 1Seagate ST3000DM001-1CH166 2794 GB (29 °C, Write-cache On). Status: OK
Disk 2Seagate ST3000DM001-1CH166 2794 GB (29 °C, Write-cache On). Status: OK

Both been running for 2049 hours - 86 days

[grunnsat]

The same problem applies to the 2TB ST2000DM001. The old version has part# 9YN164 and needs firmware revision CC4H, the new version has part# 1CH164 and has firmware revision CC43. This drive is supported in the NV+, but so far I have bricked three brand new drives after just a few days. I would say that the two product lines are different products, and should be separately certified. Can we please have a statement by Netgear on this subject?

[PapaBear]

How did you "brick" a drive?

[grunnsat]

I have a Readynas NV+ with four 1.5TB Seagate disks. Two of them were already replaced under warranty. Some weeks ago I wanted to upgrade to the latest Radiator version, but when the Readynas tried to reboot I got a system hang. After some tests Netgear support sent me a new chassis. I put the disks in the new chassis, but still no boot. Then I tried pulling disk by disk to see if the system would start (it should with three disks), and when I pulled disk 2 it did. So disk 2 was preventing the system from booting. These 1.5TB disk are no longer available, and the disk could only be replaced by a 2TB version. New Seagate 2TB disks have 4kB sectors, so I decided to replace all disks by new 2TB versions and do a factory reset. That would initialize the disks for proper 4kB layout. However I first wanted to restore the raid configuration, and I put a new 2TB disk in slot 2. After a few days the SATA interface died, and it did so on all four new disks.....

I will return them to the supplier and get new ones, but this time the proper 9YN164 type for use with firmware CC4H.

When I explained the difference between the two ST2000DM001 versions to Netgear support, and also stated that it was not possible to load the recommended CC4H firmware in my disks, then they told me that the disks were not supported because the recommended firmware can not be loaded.

[StephenB]

When I explained the difference between the two ST2000DM001 versions to Netgear support, and also stated that it was not possible to load the recommended CC4H firmware in my disks, then they told me that the disks were not supported because the recommended firmware can not be loaded.

I think you could challenge that, perhaps Beisser could help. CC4H fixed a particular problem with particular drives, other variants that can't run this firmware shouldn't need that fix, and should be supported.

[grunnsat]

The point is that the other variant(s) have not been tested and certified. Seagate uses the same commercial names (STn000DM001) for two different lines of products. The two lines can be distinguished by their different part numbers. We don't know the differences between both product lines. IN my opinion only the drives with part numbers starting with 9YN have been certified.

[StephenB]

...In my opinion only the drives with part numbers starting with 9YN have been certified.

The HCL doesn't say that, it simply lists the drive models with no caveats at all.

The statement on the HCL is: WARNING: Be sure to use only drives recommended in the compatibility list, otherwise, NETGEAR Technical Support can and will deny support.

Your drive is listed, as far as I can see you are entitled to support.

[grunnsat]

...In my opinion only the drives with part numbers starting with 9YN have been certified.

The HCL doesn't say that, it simply lists the drive models with no caveats at all.

I get your point, but at the same time Netgear recommends to use firmware CC4H with these drives. That is not possible with the 1CH drives, because they are different drives. A have a reply by a Netgear support engineer that in his opinion the 1CH drives are not supported. With that I mean is that the drives may cause problems, because they have not been tested and certified.

The statement on the HCL is: WARNING: Be sure to use only drives recommended in the compatibility list, otherwise, NETGEAR Technical Support can and will deny support.

Your drive is listed, as far as I can see you are entitled to support.

You are right, as long as Netgear doesn't recognise the two different product lines and doesn't explicitly tell us which drives they support, you are entitled to their support. However that doesn't help you very much if the 1CH drives just don't function properly. This thread was started in August, Netgear had ample time to react.

[StephenB]

You are right, as long as Netgear doesn't recognise the two different product lines and doesn't explicitly tell us which drives they support, you are entitled to their support. However that doesn't help you very much if the 1CH drives just don't function properly. This thread was started in August, Netgear had ample time to react.

It would matter if you had purchased the NAS with the drives installed. You could also escalate within Netgear support by moving up supervisor chain.

Though if you purchased/added them yourself, and they just don't work, then your main recourse would have to be with Seagate. BTW, a complete SATA failure is an odd failure mode to see in an incompatible drive from a reputable manufacturer. Lockups, ATA errors would seem to be much more likely. But a SATA failure that bricked the drives is very strange.

I agree that this whole thing is a mess - one of the main benefits of the WD RED approach is that both WD and Netgear have certified them.

[grunnsat]

I got my 4 new ST2000DM001-9YN164 disks yesterday, and they already had the proper CC4H firmware. I put them in the ReadyNas, switched the power on, and after a short while I had a fresh ReadyNas with factory settings. All the partitions now have 4kB alignment, as they should have with these disks. At present I'm restoring the data, but that may take a while. So far the disks are behaving as they should.

Some observations:

1.The manual states that it is possible to switch on the write cache of the disk. The setting should be in System > Performance. However it is no there, very odd.

2. In the volumes window there used to be a SMART button behind every volume. Clicking on that button would give you information about the disk and the SMART counters. It has been replaced by a rather useless Locate button. However if you use the Download All Logs function you will find a log file (or several) with this information.

[AGTD]

See the status window/page for the smart buttons...

[mdgm]

1. I think this is automatically enabled if you have a UPS connected. Otherwise it would be disabled.

2. As AGTD said you'd go to Status > Health in Frontview.