Does hard drive quality vary within same model?

[hackmole]

Sometimes I see people complaining about a certain model of hard drive while at the same time I see other people praising the same model. Their descriptions seem to be different yet they have the same model. Could it be that some hard drives within the same model are not as good as other hard drives within the same model.

Also, could a model that comes out at a certain time period have a different level of quality than a model that might come out a later time period. Sometimes the same model that comes out in January doesn't get as much praise as the same model that comes out in September. Could it be that a hard drive might be improved upon as time goes by yet still be the same model.

 

[Sylvanas]

Like all electronics, no two models are identical on a nanoscale. There will be slight imperfections, slightly different tolerances and outcomes given the same environmental variables. Manufacturers aim to limit this with extensive burn in tests and performance tests to determine what percentage of a batch of hardware that comes out of the factory (one of Anand's recent articles hinted at 50% yields at TSMC for Nvidia's GF100) is operational at the desired speed/voltage/temperature envelopes and the ones that are not are either discarded or sold a lesser parts- this is known as 'binning'.

Now with that said, to address your question. Sometimes there are slight differences between batches as the manufacturer tries to improve yields adjusting their tooling in the fab or other minute changes that may lead to a better product. Thus, no two products are the same and as a consumer, the best way to determine if something is a good product is to try to read widely and take in information from many sources to build up a large sample size so you can determine what the average of the two extremes may be which may be indicative of what you'd buy.

Hard drives (mechanical) are particularly susceptible to this as they still make use of moving parts but are fast becoming a dying breed with the rise of SSDs.

 

[Ben90]

All hard drives will fail. Its not a question of if, but when. Everything whether its a CPU, spaceship, HDD, or condom will not be manufactured perfectly and will have flaws. Objects based on mechanical properties will be more prone to failures as the movement amplifies the flaws.

Some people just have luck with some things and misfortune with others. For example I've never lost a Western Digital drive, yet every single laptop failure I have had died from video card problems.

If you really value your data, you need some sort of backup.

 

[Emulex]

they are binned. ie

WD RE4,RE3 then WD BLACK then WD BLUE then WD EXTERNAL

in that order - the externals are the biggest risk and the RE3/RE4 (taking WD in case point) are the best of the best.

black and blue are more parallel since oem's expect high yield quality - but they pick the quality and are stuck with bad drives.

 

[corkyg]

To answer the basic question - yes. Reasons are all stated above. Add to that big variances in user treatment and use, and slight variances in end system quality and compatibility, i.e., controllers, power, and temperature.

 

[Computers_Plus]

exactly like other posters have mentioned there is more to take into account then just the drive itself I mean take the best drive available and pair it with a board with crappy controllers or junk SATA cables and you will see poorer performance everything is not always apples vs apples

 

[RebateMonger]

they are binned. ie

WD RE4,RE3 then WD BLACK then WD BLUE then WD EXTERNAL

I don't know why they would bin hard drives, nor what you would bin them for. Performance of a hard drive is determined by the design. RE disks aren't sold for their improved performance, they are sold for improved reliabilility. Disks with known mechanical flaws wouldn't be rebadged and shipped as Blacks because it costs to much to replace them when they fail.

RE3 and Black disks have different physical designs than Blue disks. There's differences in the bearing systems, the cache, and the head movement systems. Additionally, RE3 disks have additional sensors. And the RE3 disks are offered in lower capacities than the Blacks.