# Are 4TB Bolts recommended?



## TivoRocks193 (Aug 10, 2005)

I've been reading a lot of posts and it seems to suggest 4TB Bolts using Seagate drives (STDR4000100/ST4000LM016) are risky and unrealiable, especially depending on which firmware you get.

1) Are they still unreliable or are the ones shipping today have new enough firmware as to not be a problem? In other words, is the drive worth using or will be a headache I'll regret months/years from now?

2) Are there any other Bolt recommended drivers for 4TB or higher? I saw the 5TB BarraCuda (ST5000LM000) could work but discussions on this forum suggest they would be terrible inside a DVR.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

With Comcast going to H.264 your going to get over 2x the storage space that you now have, except for network shows. A 1 hour show, not on one of the main networks, has gone from about 5.5 Gb to about 1.7 Gb in storage space.


----------



## BigJimOutlaw (Mar 21, 2004)

Lots of folks are settling on the Toshiba 3TB MQ03ABB300 as a safe option.

Pretty much all ultra-high capacity 2.5" drives use SMR, which is toxic to DVRs. If you're ever wondering, you can google a model number and "SMR" to see what the web is saying about the drive.


----------



## TivoRocks193 (Aug 10, 2005)

I thought STDR4000100 used PMR instead of SMR, no?


----------



## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

TivoRocks193 said:


> I thought STDR4000100 used PMR instead of SMR, no?


Storage Review and Anandtech reports it as an SMR.

Seagate 4TB Backup Plus Portable Drive Review | StorageReview.com - Storage Reviews

Seagate Introduces Backup Plus Portable 5 TB: The Largest Portable HDD to Date

Scott


----------



## indiekiduk (Mar 19, 2016)

HerronScott said:


> Storage Review and Anandtech reports it as an SMR.
> 
> Seagate 4TB Backup Plus Portable Drive Review | StorageReview.com - Storage Reviews
> 
> ...


Storage review were wrong on that. The 4TB ST4000LM016 was a rebranded Samsung Spinpoint drive so no SMR involved at all (Seagate acquired their 2.5" hdd factory). It isn't clear yet if the new Seagate Barracuda 2.5" drives e.g. the 5TB, use SMR yet, it seems even Seagate's own marketing dept don't know.


----------



## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

indiekiduk said:


> Storage review were wrong on that. The 4TB ST4000LM016 was a rebranded Samsung Spinpoint drive so no SMR involved at all (Seagate acquired their 2.5" hdd factory). It isn't clear yet if the new Seagate Barracuda 2.5" drives e.g. the 5TB, use SMR yet, it seems even Seagate's own marketing dept don't know.


Declaring you know more than major reviews sites and then providing no supporting data is well


----------



## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

indiekiduk said:


> Storage review were wrong on that. The 4TB ST4000LM016 was a rebranded Samsung Spinpoint drive so no SMR involved at all (Seagate acquired their 2.5" hdd factory).





atmuscarella said:


> Declaring you know more than major reviews sites and then providing no supporting data is well


The Samsung acquisition was back in 2011 and this is a new drive from 2015? You have a prior Samsung Spinpoint 4TB drive to reference? I only found a new one released in 2015 by Samsung/Seagate after the aqusition (an external portable) in my quick search which is probably the same new drive. Oh and Storage Review also reports it as SMR. 

Samsung P3 Portable (4TB) Review | StorageReview.com - Storage Reviews

Scott


----------



## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

indiekiduk said:


> Storage review were wrong on that. The 4TB ST4000LM016 was a rebranded Samsung Spinpoint drive so no SMR involved at all (Seagate acquired their 2.5" hdd factory). It isn't clear yet if the new Seagate Barracuda 2.5" drives e.g. the 5TB, use SMR yet, it seems even Seagate's own marketing dept don't know.


??? How was it rebranded when that was the first 4TB, 2.5" drive available.

The Seagate 4TB and 5TB drives are basically the same. They are both five platter designs. Only the 4TB version uses 800GB platters and the 5TB uses 1TB platters.

I'm just glad my two 4TB drives with firmware 0001 continue to work without issues. I will be closing in on two years of use, in Bolts, this October.


----------



## Kremlar (Jan 22, 2009)

Mine is still working great, and I was the first person to install a 4TB! (that I know of anyway)

But I have seen discussions of lots of failures since. It seems a firmware change may be responsible for the issues. Not sure what the current state is.


----------



## Paulson (Jul 22, 2004)

I’ve used my 5 tb seagate drive out of an external enclosure (was $149 on eBay almost a year ago) and I have it almost full (charter, still mpeg2) without issue. Records 4 shows while watching on multiple TiVo mini’s without issue. No issues with software updates either.


----------

