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Google recently released a research paper on the patterns in disk failure that they've observed on their IDE/SATA drives: http://storagemojo.com/?p=378
Interesting reading, but unfortunately they don't give up the dirt on which manufacturers and models had the highest failure rates.
Bet ya Maxtor's not their favorite...
The problem as I see it today is that these drives are no longer made by the company whose name is on them.
They are all churned out by a variety of nameless plants in China, and have the vendor's badge stuck on them............ quality will vary from batch to batch?
For the home user, I think that you need to consider ventilation. A server case generally has space and ventilation........... home machines might not?
The real killer of a home HDD though, is vibration............. keep that sub-woofer well away ;)
You can get some decent cases for home use. I'm using an Antec Sonata case. It was around $130 retail but I've seen them cheaper. They have room for 4 hard drives (with rubber grommets to reduce vibration), three cdrom slots and two floppy slots. I converted one of the cd rom slots for hard drive use.
It came with one 120mm fan in the back and I put another one in the front. I also put in a pci slot fan for good measure. It's surprisingly quiet given all that is in it. You can add more fans for video card and etc. if needed. I'm not using a newer video card. Just a simple 128mb graphics card as I use this as my file/print server.
2x120mm case fans, 1xpci slot fan 5 hard drives, 2xdvd burners and it locks on both the side and front. The bright blue LED's light up the room at night so it also doubles as a night light. (nobody sleeps in there, but its kind of nice to have the dull light shining over to the bathroom. nothing I hate worse than turning on the light in the middle of the night)
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=15139
I know ALL about hard drive failure. I have had at least 4 die on me at home in the past 2 years. Some brand new and died after only a couple months use (maxtor sucks), some that ran for years and finally crapped out.
Interesting...so the hdd outfits are subbing all their mfg'ing?Quote:
Originally Posted by nihil
Yes, they are:(
They're outsourcing the manufacturing, but they still design the drives and set the specs and quality control requirements on that manufacturing. It's not as though they're taking just anybodies drive made to any specifications and putting their name on them.
Hmmmm,
You have obviously never dealt with communists.............. if the obscure Chinese plant manager is faced with unacceptable QA results he will still release the product to meet his quotas;)
The product is dirt cheap and the people who get it badged with their name accept the warranty replacement costs as they are lower than proper QA/QC measures.
I am afraid that is the way of the World these days :(
That almost sounds like capitalism. I guess capitalists only do thatQuote:
Originally Posted by nihil
with their books, like Enron did. :)
It's odd I hear this a lot lately that Maxtor is horrible. God knows the torture I put on my drives from formatting up to 7 times in one day to try out new OSs or new distros, and generally my HP machine is formatted at least twice a month until I find something I like, then it's on, with uptimes up past 200 days which I did this past year.Quote:
Originally Posted by phishphreek80
The HD hasn't ever been replaced. It was the first computer I ever bought, and it's still going.
Maybe I found one of the few with a good life but I seriously haven't ever had a HD die on me. I bought an extra one for my main box and I have an extra on hold for in vase another goes, but all these are in Michigan still and, well, I'm in Canada now.
I'll have to test them out when I get them here but for now, is this fairly un-common that a drive lasts that long with major abuse?
Also note that I not only have speakers for 5 computers on the desk with all the machines, but that I play bass and have an amp maybe 10 feet away that you can hear from blocks away easy.
From reading this post I'm shocked that the drives work at all considering there is nothing to stop vibration, and I've moved that box around while it's plugged in running.
I am usually careful but as I said it was my first box so I learned a lot from it.