Reliability of these drives?

[blastingcap]

Both of you please remain on topic. This is the internet, NEITHER of you win in the end.

Also, what is the MTBF of the WD drives? Newegg doesnt have it listed.

EDIT - Found it:
300,000 hours

How is that possible? Does power on hours mean MTBF or are they two different things? Because if they are the same im taking the WD's without a hesitation.

Do you have a link to the WD drive in question? WD makes a lot of drives....

http://www.wdc.com/global/products/specs/?driveID=1087&language=1 was the WD30EFRX I had previously referenced, but it says MTBF 1 Million hrs

I did find this: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/SpecSheet/ENG/2879-771438.pdf But 300,000 refers to load/unload cycles, not MTBF.

Whatever the rated MTBF, take such numbers with some skepticism, especially if you operate your hard drive outside of lab conditions with controlled temperature and pressure. Although.. if a HDD really only has 300,000 hrs MTBF, that is horrible compared to existing HDDs, and I would avoid that 300,000 hour MTBF HDD like the plague!

 

[ViRGE]

Blastingcap, Soulkeeper, this will be your only warning to keep this thread on topic. Please help the OP with his questions, anything else is unnecessary.

-ViRGE

 

[truckerCLOCK]

Look it basically comes down to personal preferance/experience. For instance if it were me I wouldn't use a Seagate drive if you gave it to me (had 4 fail)

 

[mikeymikec]

I've bought a heck of a lot of Seagate drives over the years and very few have failed, however since Seagate slashed their warranties I've stuck with WD.

Personally I think that if you buy higher capacity drives in the current range then you have to factor in that those drives are pushing what the industry is currently capable of and so therefore reliability has to take some sort of hit.

As usual if the data is valuable enough to you that losing it would be a PITA or worse, backups are good.

 

[Carson Dyle]

As usual if the data is valuable enough to you that losing it would be a PITA or worse, backups are good.

Not "good" - essential. Plan on all drives failing. Don't cross your fingers or believe for one minute that buying some seemingly "better" drive protects your data in any way whatsoever.