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[GregGP1]

I just purchased a DNS-323, and need to confirm if I can install Western Digital SATA 6 Gb/s drives into the DNS.  The supported drives page on Dlink website doesn't include any SATA 6 Gb/s drives, it only shows maximum SATA 3 Gb/s drives. Does the DNS-323 support a drive running in 6 Gb/s data transfer speed, or does it need to be jumpered down to 3.0 Gb/s?  Or does it need to be jumpered down to 1.5 Gb/s?  I plan to run in Raid Mirrored Disks configuration.  Thanks in advance for any help offered.

[jhtopping]

It would be helpful if you stated the drive model you are considering.

Most new drives need to be formatted using the latest firmware that is still in beta test mode.  I think there are still performance issues with drives like the WD20EARS drives utilizing RAID 1.  Since I do not use RAID 1, I have not stayed current on the issue.

Using the search feature of this list may help.

[GregGP1]

I am considering Western Digital Blue Drives such as WD10EALX or Black Drives such as WD1502FAEX.
If these drives which utilize the 6 Gb/s transfer rate won't work, I would be looking at one with 3 Gb/s transfer rate such as WD1501FASS.

[jhtopping]

Before you make any decisions based on what I say, wait for confirmation from others.

It looks like both of the WD150x drives use 64 MB cache, and I believe these drives must be formatted using the beta firmware 1.10b7.  After the drives are formatted they can be used with firmware 1.08 or 1.09.  Based on the number of posts about slow transfer speeds, I doubt that the 6 Gb/s will make a significant difference in your file transfers.

It looks like the WD10EALS drives have a 32 MB cache, and I believe these should format properly with firmware 1.08 or 1.09.  Again this has the faster interface that I think is of questionable value.

I base these comments after doing a Google search for the disk model "+ spec" and reading the small type font.  There could be an error.

Since you have not purchased your disks yet, I would also search this list to see if you really need RAID 1 .  Also search for ways to backup the data that is on your new 323 and what you need to do if you need to install larger disks.  It is best to think of these things before you start.  I did not.

[fordem]

I'm not aware of any issues relating to the size of the drive's cache memory - there is one that relates to the "sector" size - older drives used 512 byte sectors, newer ones with AFT (Advanced Format Technology) use a 4K sector size - and these require the 1.10 firmware to format properly.

AFT was implemented to resolves space/addressing issue - with 512 byte sectors, it takes a larger allocation bitmap (or file allocation table) to handle a given storage capacity, using a 4K sector size reduces the size of the required bitmap by a factor of eight.

Assuming that the 6Gb/s drives are backward compatible, I see no reason why they should not work, but, what you can be assured of is that there will be no throughput advantage to their use.

[jhtopping]

fordem, thank you for the correction. 

[GregGP1]

Thank you for your replies.  I will be staying away from the 4K sector sizes for now, as I don't want to be a beta testor for the 1.10 firmware.

A little more background about my concerns:  An earlier H/W version DNS-323 that I have been running for a number of years now required the SATA drive to be jumpered down to 1.5 Gb/s.  But there doesn't seem to be any mention in the documentation for the new 323 about Maximum transfer speed.

The WD 6 Gb/s drives I have researched do provide the ability to set jumpers for specifying 3 Gb/s, however, they don't provide ability to drop down to 1.5 Gb/s.

If I can confirm that folks are successfully installing 3 Gb/s WD drives into their 323's, and they are not having to set the jumpers in the drives down to 1.5 Gb/s, that would be great.

[dosborne]

I have WD Green, Blue and Black drives running in 3 DNS323s and have no issues and did not set any jumpers or do anything special.

For the WD20EARS (w/AFT) I did install FW 1.10B07 for the formatting process but then backed it off to FW 1.09.

[GregGP1]

I received the following in an email from DLink support in response to my original questions:

"The DNS-323 will not support the SATA III drives. The NAS will only support SATA and SATA II drives."