HD death

[CubanCorona]

Is it just me, or do hard drives fail pretty regularly? It seems like every other rig I put together has some kind of hard drive problem after a year or two. I usually buy well known brands. What gives?

What?s the best way to diagnose a hard drive problem? Usually when I hear loud metallic noises coming from the box and performance is poor (when there is no apparent reason for it), I just assume it?s the HD.

 

[Bobthelost]

I haven't had a HD die on me yet. Bad luck, poor conditions, damage in shipping, more intensive useage all contribute to shorten lifespan.

By the way, if your well known brands include Maxtor then there's the reason there.

 

[rossi46]

alright the abreviation for hard drive is HDD not HD (high definition)

btw

 

[Nocturnal]

I've build roughly four computers within the past five years. I've had one Hitachi go bad after several years. Other than that, it may just be by luck/coincidence.

 

[maluckey]

I lost several HDDs due to sloppy PSU's a while back. Changed brands and no more issues.

 

[CubanCorona]

Originally posted by: maluckey
I lost several HDDs due to sloppy PSU's a while back. Changed brands and no more issues.

Hmmm, how did you determine it was the PSU?

 

[davecave]

You're scaring me, goes to backup all data on dvd. :-|

 

[JimPhelpsMI]

Hi, I get a lot of "BAD" HDs from different sources. About 9 out of 10 are not really bad. A reformat is usually all they need. Reformat is sometimes difficult depending on what is wrong with them. Jim

 

[DeathReborn]

I had 2 Maxtor HDD's revert o their Factory Settings (6E040L0 to N40P) on me in 2004 which has irrevocably tarnished my opinion of their products. I'm now strictly Seagate, Hitachi & Western Digital drives as they've all been reliable in my experiences.

 

[narcotic]

What you're describing is highly irregular. I mean sure, HDD do die sometimes but not all of them and not after 1-2 years.
You should also be aware of the type of environments those HDD you install work in. Is it too hot for them, too cold, too dirty, too much work load (busy server with many I/O operations).
As far as my experience goes, most popular brands (WD, Maxtor, Seagate etc.) all function about the same.

 

[orangat]

Originally posted by: CubanCorona
Is it just me, or do hard drives fail pretty regularly? It seems like every other rig I put together has some kind of hard drive problem after a year or two. I usually buy well known brands. What gives?

What?s the best way to diagnose a hard drive problem? Usually when I hear loud metallic noises coming from the box and performance is poor (when there is no apparent reason for it), I just assume it?s the HD.

The most important thing to do to keep harddrives running is to cool them. 7200rpm drives fail much earlier w/o some airflow compared to 5400rpm drives.

I had a seagate failing (reallocate sectors) because of heat. IMO samsungs are more robust to heat related issues because they don't run as hot. I could be wrong but my samsungs are still alright.