Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Time Capsule Not Using Server-Grade Hard Drive As Advertised?
- Thread starter IntrinsicMac
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
That is false advertising, but is typical of Apple of late -- revisionist history.
Time Machine and Time Capsule have class action written all over them. This is TWICE in two months that Apple has stated one set of features, gotten early adopters to buy in, then switched to an inferrior offering when shipping. (Saying first that Time Machine would work with APE disks, then that Time Capsule would use server grade drives).
This is simply NOT ACCEPTABLE and is deceptive marketing practice that should result in the dismissal of some folks at Apple.
Lame.
Let's not forget when they took away the "add calendar events" from their website before the iPt's shipped.
The "server grade" thing is all marketing...I think it just means that they're not using some generic hard drive like you find in those real cheap external HDs.
I page 2'd this article, since I have a different opinion on the matter than Longofest, who wrote it.
To me "server grade" is a non-specific term. It's a descriptive term, not a technical one. It's like saying "really good hard drive". I don't think it is something that can be considered a precise term.
arn
To me "server grade" is a non-specific term. It's a descriptive term, not a technical one. It's like saying "really good hard drive". I don't think it is something that can be considered a precise term.
arn
People! Please read the other posts.
This is not a valid article any longer, there are already dozens of posts in this article and on blogs all over the net they show that the same drives are being used in current Xserves from Apple.
Also, the description of the drive from Hitachi details it is for use in: "Networked Storage Servers"
Enough whining... geesh.
I'd love to know where you can get a 15K 1TB SAS or SCSI drive for $60 more than a deskstar
Granted, I am not very knowledgable about hard drives, but that was my point. The only real reason I am tuned into this conversation is that I am still trying to figure out what I'm going to use as a backup. If it makes no difference, then fine. It was Apple that used the term, so they should explain what it means. If they have, then I missed it .
.You know, my English teacher always told us never to use the word "clearly" because is usually was in a sentence where the writer was making an unsupported assertion....
From Hitatchi's press info on the drive:
http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/67A68C59B27368FC862572570080FC70/$file/Deskstar7K1000_010307_final.pdf
While it says "Networked storage servers", typically one uses RAID in any kind of storage server
I don't mind there being Deskstars in the Xserve RAID because I can swap out a broken one without losing any data, but without RAID I can see why people are clamoring for the UltraStar - purpose built for reliability. I have mixed feelings about Hitachi. As I've said, the drives in the Xserve RAID have been fine, but I've had plenty of horrible Hitachi experiences with the 75GXP series, and more recently with Hitachi Travelstar 40GB 5400rpm HDD's failing on me. We have about ~20 Dell Latitude D600 laptops with these Hitachi Travelstars and the failure rate in the first year (2004) was nearing 50%. Finally, Dell preemptively sent us a tech with 20 new Fujitsu drives and a copy of Symantec Ghost to move everyone's data off of the crappy Travelstars and onto the new Fujitsu's - zero failures since.
I was under the impression that the server-grade drives were the same, except they are designed to withstand and pass a strict(er) specification.
Perhaps this is why the drives are marked with an Apple firmware sticker, as they're running custom settings like a PVR drive would.
Someone can chime in if I'm wrong though
I've been pondering this earlier in the week.
Just bought a Maxtor DiamondMax 22 500Gb drive with 3 years warranty for Time Machine duties. It's also available as a Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 with 5 years warranty and a the Barracude ES2 (as fitted to the 500Gb Time Capsule) with the same warranty but higher MTBF figures.
3 versions of the same basic drive at three price points. Maxtor is half the price of the ES2 and 30% cheaper than the 7200.11
I imagine Apple can't be pinned down on the term "server grade" which is probably meaningless in a legal sense. But this is definitely a customer satisfaction issue. People rightfully expect more than what they are actually delivering based on advertising. And sales will be lost because of it.
Meanwhile, the number of brown-nosing Apple apologists in here is amusing.
Meanwhile, the number of brown-nosing Apple apologists in here is amusing.
It's not like we were lied in to a war are anything.
huh? If you are going to talk crap, at least keep it relevant.
I am as big of an Apple fan as anyone here and this is very sad. They kind of have been having a bad run in deadlines and things like this lately. COME ON STEVE, straighten this crap out now!!!!!!!
Agree with the decision Arn, disagree with reasoning. Server grade implies something that would be used in a server. Not a standard hard drive. If it's a standard hard drive, they shouldn't have said anything or should have said "what's used in Xserve" etc.
It's not like we were lied in to a war are anything.
Classic. I'll be stealing this one.
Server grade does not mean server class. Sounds stupid, i know. The xserve, which is a bona fide server, uses desktop hard drives in it (or so someone else posted here). It's just like the term "organic". There is no regulation on what is and isn't organic. Essentially, any food maker can slap on an Organic label and charge more for their product when most people would not consider it organic. If it comes wrapped in plastic, it isn't organic.
Something like this would qualify as "server grade" to me:
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=335
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=335
I'd love to know where you can get a 15K 1TB SAS or SCSI drive for $60 more than a deskstar
I know you put a winky in there, but there is such a thing as Enterprise Class SATA drives and they are different from Desktop drives. The more important difference is firmware rather than hardware(See a number of WD Caviar drives showing up as failed in RAIDs, for example). It would not have been to much to expect an ES, RE2, or Ultrastar SATA drive in a Time Capsule. Not really sure how much of a practical difference it'd have made but it's not like it'd have been difficult to achieve.
so guys,
if i brought 500GB model TC, I can replace the HDD with my currently serving external 750GB HDD
if i brought 500GB model TC, I can replace the HDD with my currently serving external 750GB HDD
As someone who knows very little about the classification of hds, I took "server grade" to actually be a definition of the drives performance. In order for a product to be a specific grade, I assumed certain criteria have to be met.
Of course, this for me is coloured by the fact that I worked in a lab one summer, where part of my job was ordering chemicals, all which had precise strictly defined grades.
Well you still can't be certain it's a "Standard" Hard Drive. It may be a Hitachi Deskstar but it likely has different firmware than the Deskstar you'd buy from Newegg.
AppleMojo is the man!
Thanks for typing what I was thinking. I was getting annoyed trying to find a nice way to say it all. You saved me.
Thanks for typing what I was thinking. I was getting annoyed trying to find a nice way to say it all. You saved me.
There are firmware and instructional differences between the desktop and "server" class version of the disks. However, without any type of RAID controller, you aren't taking advantage of any of those special instructions anyhow. Especially things like , Time limited error recovery and other things that prevent performance loss from vibration in large raid cabinets.