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Best replacement hard drive for Time Capsule
- Thread starter jowie
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And it spins down correctly? Interesting. I hope balamw tries one of his WD EARS drives in his Time Capsule, since it now appears not to be solely an Advanced Format issue.
I'll get to it eventually. I was going to do the PSU mod today, but as the kids are home due to a snow day it'll have wait until next week (I don't like soldering when they are about).
B
nice bump
It's sitting in my cart at NewEgg. Just need a bit more good news to pull the trigger
I gave up on my efforts with the Western Digital and put a Samsung in (SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB HD204UI) and it works great so far. It spins down like it's supposed to and isn't obnoxiously loud like the original Seagate when it spins up.
Edit: For those buying the HD204UI, there is a firmware update which has a fix to prevent data loss. Guess I'll be taking the TC back apart shortly.
Edit: For those buying the HD204UI, there is a firmware update which has a fix to prevent data loss. Guess I'll be taking the TC back apart shortly.
I am facing the same problem. I have done the upgrade to my TC 500 GB with WD20EARS. After first installation the drive spine down correctly and I was very happy not having the reported problems. After a while copying data to the drive it stopped spinning down.
I took the drive out an reformatted the drive in an external case and mounted it again in the TC. Everything was working fine again and the drive started to spin down correctly again. After coping only few data it still worked as it should. At one point it stopped spinning down with more data on the drive.
I have done twice the above procedure and the problem is repeatable.
Any idea what causes the phenomena?
I took the drive out an reformatted the drive in an external case and mounted it again in the TC. Everything was working fine again and the drive started to spin down correctly again. After coping only few data it still worked as it should. At one point it stopped spinning down with more data on the drive.
I have done twice the above procedure and the problem is repeatable.
Any idea what causes the phenomena?
Wow, that is strange. I have no idea what could be causing that.
BTW, my WD20EARS replacement is still working fine after 3 or 4 months -- no issues with spin-down or -up. It is approximately .75 TB written, 1.25 TB free at this point. Did I somehow just get lucky?
Could the firmware revision of the TC matter? My TC is currently using firmware version 7.5.2, although I think it was using 7.4.2 when I replaced the drive and that worked fine too.
I don't know much about hard drive firmware. Could that be the explanation of the different behaviors that are reported for the same drive? I don't know how to find out what my drive is in that regard...
Regards,
Brian33
I gave up as well with the WD20EARS. The problem was not caused by the amount of data transferred. Finally I detected that it was a thermal problem. When I copy more data to the disk the drive and the power unit of the Time Capsule heats up and the fan is nonstop on full speed while the drive never spins down. The power management seems totally out of control with the WD20EARS. If I put the seagate drive back everything works perfect. Just to let you know the firmware is 7.5.2 in my TC.
I am going to order a SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB HD204UI. I am not sure if the famous firmware update must be done for the use in the TC. In my understanding the problem is under Windows only.
Please let me know if I am not correct.
I am going to order a SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB HD204UI. I am not sure if the famous firmware update must be done for the use in the TC. In my understanding the problem is under Windows only.
Please let me know if I am not correct.
Same exact problem here with a WD10EARS 1TB drive... When I first put it in it spun down fine, but since then it just keeps going...
Going to have to take it back to the store now, wish I had found this thread before.
It is replacing a 500gb drive. The WD was manufactured in Nov 2010 if that adds to our little database here.
Going to have to take it back to the store now, wish I had found this thread before.
It is replacing a 500gb drive. The WD was manufactured in Nov 2010 if that adds to our little database here.
Okay,
I'm getting very close to the point of purchase now... The stock drive will be coming out and planted into an old Power Mac G5 Quad (it has no hard drive at present). So I need a nice 1TB replacement for the TC in about a week's time.
After people talking about the Samsung, I did consider 2TB, but I was wondering... Wouldn't Time Machine keep growing and eating up all the space on that drive, when I don't really need backups all the way back to over a year ago?
So unless I get more Macs, 2TB is a bit OTT for the Time Capsule. With that in mind, Samsung do the SpinPoint F3 1TB 32MB drive... Do you think this will work just as well?
Thanks
I'm getting very close to the point of purchase now... The stock drive will be coming out and planted into an old Power Mac G5 Quad (it has no hard drive at present). So I need a nice 1TB replacement for the TC in about a week's time.
After people talking about the Samsung, I did consider 2TB, but I was wondering... Wouldn't Time Machine keep growing and eating up all the space on that drive, when I don't really need backups all the way back to over a year ago?
So unless I get more Macs, 2TB is a bit OTT for the Time Capsule. With that in mind, Samsung do the SpinPoint F3 1TB 32MB drive... Do you think this will work just as well?
Thanks
Yes, you're right. However, I've read you can partition the new drive, say 1 TB for Time Machine and 1 TB for other use. Be aware, though, that the 1 TB for other use can NOT be backed up by TM like a directly-connected external drive could be.
As for the SpinPoint F3 1TB 32MB drive, I'd expect it to work but does anyone have any direct experience with it? I note that it is a 7200 rpm drive. How about the SAMSUNG EcoGreen F2 HD103SI 1TB 5400 RPM 32MB Cache? (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152173)
I think in general the "green" drives make sense for use in the Time Capsule -- less heat, less noise, less money, and performance just as good since (I've come to believe) the TC itself limits performance, not the drive.
Yeah, I'd thought about that. I've got enough storage space I think, and so it would be a bit of a waste. It does amaze me how many people say they use their Time Capsule as a NAS... The only place where files can't get backed up!
Sorry yes, that's the one I meant, the SpinPoint F3EG (EcoGreen)...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0031M9JC4/ref=asc_df_B0031M9JC42090658
Safe bet you think?
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
After following this thread I did the same and returned a WD green drive and picked up a Samsung DH204UI at MicroCenter. I installed it yesterday and after it did initial backups of my three Macs, it is sitting quietly in a spun down state.
Thanks to those of you who posted about this problem. The WD was fast and quiet but would never spin down.
To you guys putting in the Samsung F4 2TB drive (HD204UI), what are your drive's build dates?
Are you installing the updated firmware on them?
There was a problem with data loss back in December to which an update was produced, but I imagine any drive built after then should have the update built in.
The bug was based on data writing with a simultaneous SMART request, which would be a rare occurrence. But in order to update it, you need to boot from a Windows PC... which will be a royal pain for me not having one.
Just curious, as I want to get this drive when I take back the WD EARS, based off of your experiences.
Here is a big forum discussion outlining the problem:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1566067
Are you installing the updated firmware on them?
There was a problem with data loss back in December to which an update was produced, but I imagine any drive built after then should have the update built in.
The bug was based on data writing with a simultaneous SMART request, which would be a rare occurrence. But in order to update it, you need to boot from a Windows PC... which will be a royal pain for me not having one.
Just curious, as I want to get this drive when I take back the WD EARS, based off of your experiences.
Here is a big forum discussion outlining the problem:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1566067
I didn't see a build date, but was not looking for one. I did not do any update. There were no instructions about any update packed with the drive.
I am going on a week with the Samsung in the Time Capsule with no issues. Everything including spin down seems to be working fine.
I got my drive yesterday and have it installed now - the extra space is great.
To follow up on before, my build date was from Dec 2010, but I gave the firmware update a shot anyhow. Turns out it had not been updated from the factory. I recommend you do the same, it can be found here:
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/faqView.do?b2b_bbs_msg_id=386
Go for it when you're bored one afternoon. No sense having a backup drive with the risk of file corruption.
Other than that, this drive is great, definitely the way to go over the WD's for now.
To follow up on before, my build date was from Dec 2010, but I gave the firmware update a shot anyhow. Turns out it had not been updated from the factory. I recommend you do the same, it can be found here:
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/faqView.do?b2b_bbs_msg_id=386
Go for it when you're bored one afternoon. No sense having a backup drive with the risk of file corruption.
Other than that, this drive is great, definitely the way to go over the WD's for now.
Last edited:
Here are some detailed instructions for installing the update that I found helpful on the Hardforum site: (to be done on a Windows PC)
I suggest creating a USB flash drive boot "disk". Assuming you already downloaded the patch, download HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool and Windows 98 System Files. You can substitute FreeDos for the Win 98 files if you want as others have suggested using that.
1) Install and run the HP USB tool to create a "bootable USB" by selecting that option and target the Win 98 files (or FreeDos). Check the quick format option as well. NOTE: - you will lose any files already existing on the USB drive so back up your data before doing this! Optional - back up the data on your F4. I've patched several times and so far it has not affected the data on the hard drive, but you never know.
2) Unzip the patch and copy it to the USB drive (don't put it in a folder - just copy it to the drive).
3) Turn off the PC.
4) Make sure that the F4 is conected to the motherboard directly via a SATA cable (using a front bay hotswap rack is fine as long as it also connects directly to the motherboard via a SATA cable). I recommend disconnecting all your other hard disks from the motherboard just to be safe as well as patching one F4 at a time.
5) Power on your PC and enter the bios: (A) Set the bios to "IDE" or "SATA" if you have ACHI enabled or RAID, and (B) change the boot priority so that it boots from the USB drive (FYI, on my Asus board the USB flash drive shows as hard drive on the boot priority section, not a "removable device").
6) Save/Exit the bios & restart. You should now boot into DOS.
7) At the ">C:\" prompt type "F4EG". The patch should now run. After a minute or two you should get a message "download successfuly completed" followed by a serial number and then back to the C prompt. Alternatively, according to Samsung though I haven't seen it, you could get something like "poweroff system after patch sucessful..." instead.
8) Power off PC via the power button - do NOT restart!
**If you have more than one F4 and are patching one at a time, replace the patched F4 with the next one to patch, turn on the PC, and repeat steps 7 & 8. Repeat until all drives are patched.
9) Reconnect any previously disconnected hard drives and remove the USB flash drive.
10) Power on PC, change bios settings back to where they were, save, exit, and boot up as normal.
If you can't get it to boot into DOS (a) substitute FreeDos files for the Win 98 files (or vice versa), and/or (b) try another USB flash drive - especially if the one you used was older. That happened to me even though when I bought the drive it specifically stated it was "bootable."
I suggest creating a USB flash drive boot "disk". Assuming you already downloaded the patch, download HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool and Windows 98 System Files. You can substitute FreeDos for the Win 98 files if you want as others have suggested using that.
1) Install and run the HP USB tool to create a "bootable USB" by selecting that option and target the Win 98 files (or FreeDos). Check the quick format option as well. NOTE: - you will lose any files already existing on the USB drive so back up your data before doing this! Optional - back up the data on your F4. I've patched several times and so far it has not affected the data on the hard drive, but you never know.
2) Unzip the patch and copy it to the USB drive (don't put it in a folder - just copy it to the drive).
3) Turn off the PC.
4) Make sure that the F4 is conected to the motherboard directly via a SATA cable (using a front bay hotswap rack is fine as long as it also connects directly to the motherboard via a SATA cable). I recommend disconnecting all your other hard disks from the motherboard just to be safe as well as patching one F4 at a time.
5) Power on your PC and enter the bios: (A) Set the bios to "IDE" or "SATA" if you have ACHI enabled or RAID, and (B) change the boot priority so that it boots from the USB drive (FYI, on my Asus board the USB flash drive shows as hard drive on the boot priority section, not a "removable device").
6) Save/Exit the bios & restart. You should now boot into DOS.
7) At the ">C:\" prompt type "F4EG". The patch should now run. After a minute or two you should get a message "download successfuly completed" followed by a serial number and then back to the C prompt. Alternatively, according to Samsung though I haven't seen it, you could get something like "poweroff system after patch sucessful..." instead.
8) Power off PC via the power button - do NOT restart!
**If you have more than one F4 and are patching one at a time, replace the patched F4 with the next one to patch, turn on the PC, and repeat steps 7 & 8. Repeat until all drives are patched.
9) Reconnect any previously disconnected hard drives and remove the USB flash drive.
10) Power on PC, change bios settings back to where they were, save, exit, and boot up as normal.
If you can't get it to boot into DOS (a) substitute FreeDos files for the Win 98 files (or vice versa), and/or (b) try another USB flash drive - especially if the one you used was older. That happened to me even though when I bought the drive it specifically stated it was "bootable."
The really dumb thing about this update is that it may have been installed at the factory but you have no way to know because the firmware version doesn't change and you can reinstall the update over and over.