Are large hard drives more prone to failure?

[Ray Gianelli]

I had a 500 GB external drive crash after owning it just over a year. It was probably left on more than it should have been, I reasoned at the time. Now the 500 GB internal SATA drive in my desktop just crashed after less than 10 months of use. This computer is powered off for most of the day. Anyone have any idea what's going on or have any similar experiences?

[3th3r]

There are many factors that contribute to early component failure. Among them are:

* the intended use of the component, e.g. a hard drive inteded for 24/7 server use will have a greater MTBF rating than one intended for home desktop use.

* the quality of the parts used in building the component, e.g. the lowest cost manufacturers to use cheaper, lesser quality components.

* the physical enviroment in which the component is used, e.g. heat is a BIG factor, and so is dust.

* the electrical conditions under which the component operates, e.g. a malfunctioning or badly regulated power supply can cause electrical spikes, which can contribute to damage.

Cheap, external drives are famous for dying early because buyers want the cheapest cost possible, so manufacturers use the least expensive drives, in the least expensive cases (poorly regulated and poorly ventilated).

Keep your drives cool, keep them electrically regulated, and keep them in one place, and they should last approximately the rated MTBF.

[cpike]

My personal experience leads me to this totally unscientific conclusion:

500GB is pretty safe with a good brand (I have had very bad luck with Western Digital).

750GB and up is still kinda sketchy for a single mechanism.

[Ray Gianelli]

Originally Posted by cpike

My personal experience leads me to this totally unscientific conclusion:

500GB is pretty safe with a good brand (I have had very bad luck with Western Digital).

750GB and up is still kinda sketchy for a single mechanism.

So what would you consider to be a good brand? I shied away from Western Digital after having other drives crash and the Seagate I put in was the one that lasted 10 months.

[Ray Gianelli]

Originally Posted by 3th3r

There are many factors that contribute to early component failure. Among them are:

* the intended use of the component, e.g. a hard drive inteded for 24/7 server use will have a greater MTBF rating than one intended for home desktop use.

* the quality of the parts used in building the component, e.g. the lowest cost manufacturers to use cheaper, lesser quality components.

* the physical enviroment in which the component is used, e.g. heat is a BIG factor, and so is dust.

* the electrical conditions under which the component operates, e.g. a malfunctioning or badly regulated power supply can cause electrical spikes, which can contribute to damage.

Cheap, external drives are famous for dying early because buyers want the cheapest cost possible, so manufacturers use the least expensive drives, in the least expensive cases (poorly regulated and poorly ventilated).

Keep your drives cool, keep them electrically regulated, and keep them in one place, and they should last approximately the rated MTBF.

Well, the one that died after 10 months was in a fan cooled tower and connected to a UPS. BTW, what's a good way to back up large drives like this?

[pokey]

Originally Posted by Ray Gianelli

So what would you consider to be a good brand? I shied away from Western Digital after having other drives crash and the Seagate I put in was the one that lasted 10 months.

WD is a good brand. I have a couple Raptors that are a couple years old and are chugging away(they have a 5yr warranty so no worrys) And the nearly silent 640gb AAKS link I have in another box is extremely fast for a 7200 drive.

[stratzrus]

Murphy's Law would dictate that the more important data that you have on a hard drive, the more likely it will crash.

[EricPeterson]

I have decided to back everything up on Burnable DVDs, I have had 3 HD's fail on me in the last 2 years. I am tired of it.

[aeolian]

You could always buy a server class drive (disclaimer, I used to work for the server drive division of Hitachi) but it won't cost you $150 at Walmart.

[xroads]

Originally Posted by Ray Gianelli

Well, the one that died after 10 months was in a fan cooled tower and connected to a UPS. BTW, what's a good way to back up large drives like this?

In most cases, another drive. You can also run a multi-disk system in RAID configuration.

[Scrutinizer]

Originally Posted by Ray Gianelli

I had a 500 GB external drive crash after owning it just over a year. It was probably left on more than it should have been, I reasoned at the time. Now the 500 GB internal SATA drive in my desktop just crashed after less than 10 months of use. This computer is powered off for most of the day. Anyone have any idea what's going on or have any similar experiences?

I had a Seagate Barracuda 500G sata drive fail a few weeks ago. There is a huge thread on Seagate's support forum about this issue, which apparently only affects the 500gig sata barracudas with a certain firmware rev.

I was able to bring my 500G barracuda back to life. I have some links that explain the procedure if you are interested. It requires a serial port, terminal program, and a special adapter to convert rs232 to 3V TTL levels. The fix is highly technical, and can easily ruin the drive because it requires the drive controller board be disconnected from the mechanism while accessing the test interface, and then hot-plugged to the drive mechanism. One slip of the screwdriver could easily fry the drive's electronics.

[Ray Gianelli]

Originally Posted by Scrutinizer

I had a Seagate Barracuda 500G sata drive fail a few weeks ago. There is a huge thread on Seagate's support forum about this issue, which apparently only affects the 500gig sata barracudas with a certain firmware rev.

I was able to bring my 500G barracuda back to life. I have some links that explain the procedure if you are interested. It requires a serial port, terminal program, and a special adapter to convert rs232 to 3V TTL levels. The fix is highly technical, and can easily ruin the drive because it requires the drive controller board be disconnected from the mechanism while accessing the test interface, and then hot-plugged to the drive mechanism. One slip of the screwdriver could easily fry the drive's electronics.

I'd be interested in the details, Dave. PM me if you don't mind. Thanks.

[themadcaplaughs]

Considering you drive is a seagate, you should see if your power supply is dead. This was the case for my 1tb free agent.

[Ray Gianelli]

The PS for the external drive is good, the other drive is an internal one. Good suggestion nonetheless!

[zekmoe]

A reliable drive system costs more than $89. My suggestion, if you're going to buy the cheapest thing in the world, is buy 2, then use one and turn the other on every few months, backup/clone to the standby, turn it off, and continue to use the main one. Chances will be that the often off standby one will have what you want when the main cheapie fails.