Argh! Another dead HDD

[CKent]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. They seem to last me 12-18 months on average. In my old case (old Antec, forget the model) they idled at 25c and died in this time frame. In my new one, an Antec Sonata, they idle a bit higher - showing 37c right now. I rarely transfer huge files or do anything else that heavily loads them, so their load temps aren't an issue.

I live on a long, dead-end road which the power company doesn't seem to care much about. The power blips out frequently, just for a split second long enough to reboot my PC, and while I haven't tested it (wouldn't know how), I would assume that it's not exactly high quality when it's on.

My PC is on 24/7 as well. I have an Antec Earthwatts psu of sufficient wattage for my pc. I've had drives of all brands die.

Of these three factors - the idle temps, the power quality and the 24/7 usage - do any sound like the most likely culprit? Should I spring for a UPS, or would drive cooler fans be a better investment? And is keeping the PC on and thus the drives at operating temperature 24/7 worse for them than the cycle of turning the pc on & off, perhaps multiple times a day?

 

[MJinZ]

Probably your Antec Earthwatts. Time for something better.

 

[mfenn]

If your power sucks, get a UPS. General wisdom is that on/off cycles are harder on the drives than continuous operation.

 

[ElenaP]

The temperatures look fine. The idle temperature for the specific drive depends on the hard drive model, manufacturer, RPM and such. E.g. we have a rig with three drives, 2x Samsung at 35C and 1x Seagate at 45C at idle. 37C that you mention are certainly not a concern.

 

[elconejito]

+1 for a UPS. If your power quality is really bad you'll hear it buzzing fairly often. 24/7 is probably better for it than multiple power cycles per day.

 

[sandorski]

model #?

I hear things, and Seagate x.11 HDs seem to be good drives to avoid.

 

[Modular]

I have to agree about the UPS. My Antec Earthwatts (I have 3 models in operation: 380 watt, 430 watt and 500 watt) have all been flawless, so I'm hesitant to blame your issues on the PSU. If there are constant spikes/noise on the line voltage, there's not much a PSU can do, but a quality UPS will smooth them out.

 

[C1]

If your line power is that bad Im surprised that you havent lost a motherboard. Besides an UPS, if you havent already, I would set the HDDs to power down at a suitable interval. If they must be running 24/7 then replace them with enterprise versions issued for continuous operation.

Finally,concerning machines run with a lot of hours on them, if it is a home environment then my experience is that they need to be inspected & cleaned/vacuumed out about once per month (no longer than 3 month intervals). Use a vacuum cleaner & a suitable (1" wide) artist brush to clean fan blades, CPU Heat Sink Fins, dust (intake) filters, PCI cards, HDDs & their PCBs, exposed unused ports (USB, VGA or DVI, CAT5, etc.)

 

[lxskllr]

Besides an UPS, if you havent already, I would set the HDDs to power down at a suitable interval. If they must be running 24/7 then replace them with enterprise versions issued for continuous operation.

I've always taken the stance that it's better to leave drives spinning than power them up from a dead stop all the time. I've only lost 1 drive so far, and that one was iffy from the start.

 

[Blain]

* Use a good quality UPS with plenty of capacity for your usage.
* Buy a fresh power supply, again buy quality and plenty of capacity.
* Buy enterprise class HD's.

Face the facts that you're going to have to shell out some bucks for quality components.
Don't just buy new crap parts... It's called "false economy".

 

[CKent]

If your line power is that bad Im surprised that you havent lost a motherboard. Besides an UPS, if you havent already, I would set the HDDs to power down at a suitable interval. If they must be running 24/7 then replace them with enterprise versions issued for continuous operation.

Finally,concerning machines run with a lot of hours on them, if it is a home environment then my experience is that they need to be inspected & cleaned/vacuumed out about once per month (no longer than 3 month intervals). Use a vacuum cleaner & a suitable (1" wide) artist brush to clean fan blades, CPU Heat Sink Fins, dust (intake) filters, PCI cards, HDDs & their PCBs, exposed unused ports (USB, VGA or DVI, CAT5, etc.)

Now that you mention it, I did have to RMA my 2 y/o motherboard last summer. I put a new (supported) CPU in with the bios updated and it got all glitchy on me... some caps were bulging and I just figured the new processor had been the straw that broke the camel's back, now I'm not so sure.

I'm definitely going to invest in a UPS, if it does absolutely nothing else it will at least keep my machine on during those infuriating <1 second outages.

Thanks for the replies everyone.