Jun 16, 2020 16:00:00

WD pointed out that the problem that occurred in the series 'WD Red' for NAS was caused by 'the corporate culture itself that continues to be silent'

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ServeTheHome ' which sends information for IT-related professionals about the problem that the recording method of the HDD series ' WD Red ' for NAS manufactured by major HDD vendor Western Digital (WD) was changed to SMR method without notation 'There is a problem with WD's corporate culture,' said Patrick Kennedy , a reporter at.

WD Red DM-SMR Update 3 Vendors Bail and WD Knew of ZFS Issues
https://www.servethehome.com/wd-red-dm-smr-update-3-vendors-bail-and-wd-knew-of-zfs-issues/

WD Red DM-SMR Update 3 Vendors Bail and WD Knew of ZFS Issues | Page 2 of 2
https://www.servethehome.com/wd-red-dm-smr-update-3-vendors-bail-and-wd-knew-of-zfs-issues/2/

WD is the latest model of the HDD series 'WD Red' for NAS, and employs the 'SMR method', which is not suitable for applications that frequently rewrite data, without notation. This caused problems such as RAID resync failure.

It turned out that the recording method of WD's HDD ``WD Red'' for NAS was secretly changed to a specification ``unsuitable for RAID''-GIGAZINE

ServeTheHome

research reveals that rebuilding RAID-Z can be over 10x slower in the latest WD Red. This issue was also mentioned on the iXsystems forum as of 2019.

According to the verification of Ars Technica , it was confirmed that the peak value of the delay when writing a 1MiB size file at random was considerably large. This verification result means that a momentary freeze can occur not only in RAID rebuilding but also in normal desktop work with only one HDD.

'Isn't WD aware of the potential for problems at least in 2015,' Kennedy said of the WD Red problem with ZFS.

In the OpenZFS lecture, HGST, which came under the umbrella of WD in 2012, takes a movie that explains SMR technology as a basis.

Manfred Berger-HGST SMR-OpenZFS European Conference 2015-YouTube


The slide displayed at around 13 minutes and 26 seconds in the movie states that 'unexpected behavior and poor performance may occur'. In other words, HGST under WD was aware of the problem of SMR method in ZFS at least in 2015.

Major NAS vendors such as iXsystems and Synology have already taken measures to remove the WD Red HDD that adopted the SMR method from the HDD NAS compatibility list. Regarding the reason why NAS vendors missed the problem WD Red is having, Kennedy said, ``A test that wrote a combination that'NAS vendors think that if they clear one item, they also clear other items''' I am testing according to the matrix' and 'WD did not tell the NAS vendor about some HDD recording method changes'. As a response to a series of problems, WD has listed WD Red's HDD that adopted the SMR method on its website, and in some cases it seems that it also responds to HDD replacement.

Kennedy also referred to WD's 'corporate culture' as the WD officials didn't contact him when an article was published that pointed out WD Red issues. According to Kennedy, it may not be possible to make internal adjustments in-house, or WD Red may not be the main product of WD in the first place and may not be focusing on the response. WD's continued silence not only hurt the WD Red brand, but also the NAS vendor's brand.

'The problem with WD Red only affects casual NAS users who don't know the SMR method. Please share your thoughts on the SMR method with your friends and family who own the NAS.' doing.