Hard Drive Reliability, for preservation of data, what kind to buy?

[mr.wire]

I install a lot of HDs and OSs. I maintain a large amount of HDs just for myself. One particular computer setup I use has 24 HDs attached to it (4 internal and 5 RAID boxes).

My choice of HDs are WD and Samsung. I avoid Seagate external desktop HDs (had 3 desktop HDs that required 12 RMAs) and any Hitachi HD. The internal Seagates are OK.

Use a good HD monitoring software, my choice is Hard Disk Sentinel. It has an alarm function for high HD temperature or failure alert. With the volume setting at 'loud' it has even woken me up at 2 am and I was able to avoid data loss.

[DrWho]

If anyone heard me laughing, they would think I was reading the funny papers instead of an internet forum.

Every hard drive manufacturer still in business today, (and even more are NOT in business any more) has had
at least one model, over the years, that totally bit the dust. (failed)

Being in the repair business, I see all brands and all types and sizes of hard drives.
I started out with the MFM, RLL and SCSI drives, of many years ago.
I've also had experience with the 8" and 5.25" floppy disks. I still use the 3.5" FD's.
Another media that came and went is the ZIP disk, and the 2.88mb floppy disk.
Many people reading this won't even know what I'm talking about. Eh?

The Hitachi Desk Star got it's "Death Star" label when they were making drives for IBM.
At that time, they were truly Bad News.
They are no longer doing that, but the nic-name remains.

I've personally had a LOT of bad experiences with WD drives, so I wouldn't buy one on a bet.
I've gotten several WD drives out of defunct External USB backup systems.
I only use them for scratch drives, so if and when they fail, I've not really lost anything important.

Currently, I'm running both Seagate and Samsung drives and they are performing very well indeed.
But I have a two-fan cooler on each one and they always remain at room temperature. I also set
them to 'Spin Down' after five minutes of inactivity. A cool drive is a happy drive!

If you're going to use a Two-Fan drive cooler, space it off of the drive about 1/4", for greatly increased air flow.
Something like this: (I use the little brass, motherboard mounting spacers)


But, on the other side of the coin, hard drives, whether internal or external are somewhat expensive
and are destined to FAIL one day, usually when you least expect it.
So it behooves you all to have your important stuff on more reliable media. At this time DVD's are
about as good as it gets and the cheapest too.
And unlike a hard drive, a DVD can be written and then taken off premises for SAFE storage. Mine
go into a fireproof vault about 20 miles away.

In case of fire, theft or natural disaster, the backup sitting next to the computer will be the first thing to go,
regardless of what media it's on. A word to the wise...?

Cheers Mates!
The Doctor