BlackArmor NAS Network Storage Server

[teamasus]

I bought a Black Armour 420 unit a week ago to use on my home network to stream Videos, Music, Pictures and whatnot.  I bought 4 Seagate 1.5 TB drives to upgrade the unit after I ordered it thinking I won't have enough space with the two 1 TB drives.

I would have bought the 440 but it wasn't in stock at the time.  I found out an important VALUEABLE message to be aware of.  You have to only use a certain drive with the Black Armour NAS units!  You can't use just any Seagate drive.  I replaced the 1 TB drives (ST31000528AS) with (ST31500341AS) 1.5 TB drives, same family only size is different. 

I started to stream video and such from the NAS and it was incredibly slow.  I called tech support and they determined I didn't have the right drives?  Even though they are the same drive, except for size.  I didn't know there was a certain Model number and firmware version you need to have for them to be certified with these units.  This isn't printed anywhere and I can't find and is not in the manual.

Nonetheless, Seagate will not swap the "wrong" drives for the right drives, you must purchase them from Seagate as most vendors will not order a particular firmware version of a drive.

I post this info so no one gets in a situation like me with 4 brand new 1.5 TB Seagate drives that can't be used in a Seagate NAS unit.

[beeber]

Was the raid array in your Black Armor rebuilding when you tried streaming the video? That would cause the performance to be slow - until the array was done rebuilding, then it would be normal.

I bought the 420 with the hopes of upgrading the drives in the future as I need more capacity. What tech support said doesn't make any sense, but if they're right, that would not only suck, but it would be a poor design decision on Seagates part.

[hblatz]

Wow. I have a 420, and I was planning on adding drives.  If I understand correctly, you are saying that I would have to change something on the NAS when I add the drives?

[AskTheLeaf]

Here's a list of compatible drives for replacement in the BlackArmor NAS family:

Seagate BlackArmor NAS Servers: Compatible drives that can be used for replacement

If you'd like the information on the replacement process, you can find it here:

BlackArmor NAS 4X0 Enclosure Replacement Procedures