What am I doing to shag hard drives?

[bobb]

So I got a new PC at the end of last year. After a few months, hard drive 1 b0rked. No worries I thought, just use the secondary one. A few months later that went tits up too.

After much swearing and general annoyance, the other night I dusted down and old PC, stuck a brand new drive in it and low and behold I get the message "Hard drive failure imminent! Back up now and replace!" Or something like that (never seen that before)

I didn't touch it 'guv!!

I've now resorted to pulling out an ancient drive which resided dusty in a draw and amazingly it works. The random error and update messages are quite amusing as it's so old, but apart from a few groans, it seems to be OK.

Why the feck can't I get stuff to work?! I haven't even killed any kittens lately. Surely it can't be the rather dreadful BT? That's the only consistent factor in all this. I'm running out of drives to try before complete shittyness happens....

[Greenbank]

Hard drives don't like heat.

Are the computer case fans blocked up with dust?
Is there sufficient airflow through the case?
Is there sufficient space around the case for the air to flow?
Is the computer next to something warm?

[Otto]

Dont you burn your old chap shagging a hard drive?

[Cyclops]

Also try fitting a bigger or extra fan, they're a hell of a lot cheaper than hard drives!

[bobb]

I have the biggest, blingyest fan you can imagine!  I don't think it's anything to do with cooling. I even got the hoover out last night!

[Phil]

What make are they?

[Valiant]

You didn't use a condom did you?

[bobb]

What make are they?

Good point! Three of them were Maxtor - the one that is currently working is of unkown origin. Are Maxtor shit or something?

[bobajobrob]

I have a couple of Maxtor drives and they have been fine. I've had a problem with a Seagate drive, had it fail after only a couple of months. I think it's mostly luck-of-the-draw with HDD failures, bad batches perhaps?

[Greenbank]

I have a couple of Maxtor drives and they have been fine. I've had a problem with a Seagate drive, had it fail after only a couple of months. I think it's mostly luck-of-the-draw with HDD failures, bad batches perhaps?

Indeed. There are no "bad brands" only possible bad batches or just random failures.

The IT bods here¹ buy a spread of the brands and keep track of MTBF figures and they tend to be roughly the same across all of the brands.

Ironically the old IBM Deathstar Deskstars were probably the worst.

1. Yes, we're definitely big enough to be statistically significant.

[hellymedic]

What make are they?

Good point! Three of them were Maxtor - the one that is currently working is of unkown origin. Are Maxtor shit or something?

Yes.

Even I know that!

[rae]

The IT bods here1 buy a spread of the brands and keep track of MTBF figures and they tend to be roughly the same across all of the brands. 

Or run thousands of the buggers in data centres and get a nice failure report every month.

Bad power
Bad temperature
Bad engineering (vibration)
Bad luck

3 failures is not statistically significant, especially for old drives.   If you are still using a drive that is more than 3 years old for real work, then get a new one. 

[Greenbank]

The IT bods here1 buy a spread of the brands and keep track of MTBF figures and they tend to be roughly the same across all of the brands. 

Or run thousands of the buggers in data centres and get a nice failure report every month.

Hundreds of thousands.

[alchemy]

If you are still using a drive that is more than 3 years old for real work, then get a new one. 

Is this because of the possibility that it could just up and die once it's over 3 years old??

[rae]

Is this because of the possibility that it could just up and die once it's over 3 years old?? 

Partly.  Reliability does decline after 3 years if a drive is not treated well (which is pretty much every domestic situation).   Also because capacities are increasing so fast, it is sensible to just buy a really big, modern one when you need more space, rather than bolting on a variety of old drives.

[alchemy]

Thanks rae, time for an upgrade I think. I've got too much client info on my PC for it to be at risk.

[rae]

I've got too much client info on my PC 

Really, that is a backup problem.  Drives can fail at any age without warning...

[alchemy]

I've got too much client info on my PC 

Really, that is a backup problem.  Drives can fail at any age without warning...

I should clarify this - I backup to four external hard drives and each is kept in a different place. For the very reason that you've mentioned.

But your advice about regularly changing a PC's hard drive is sound, and noted