Omega Owners Forum
Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Gaffers on 18 November 2014, 14:29:08
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Just had a call off an irate missus, the computer aint working and from what i can gather the HDD is buggered (it's only 18 months old >:( >:( >:( )
Obviously I need a good one and quality level between manufacturers are always changing, what are the current bests one / ones to avoid?
TIA :y
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Some are rebadge from the same maker, but in my experience, goods ones are Western Digital, Hitachi, Fujitsu, ones that have gone on me are IBM, Seagate, Teac, but I think its pot luck tbh and more about the environment they have to put up with.
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Check as most have three year warranties.
I have always found it hit and miss as reliability can often relate to where and how they are installed as well as the manufacturer.
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http://lifehacker.com/the-most-and-least-reliable-hard-drive-brands-1505797966 (http://lifehacker.com/the-most-and-least-reliable-hard-drive-brands-1505797966)
never seen a hitachi fail
fujitsu : rare..
western digital : long years ago was very reliable but not now..
seagate : high percent failure really
but of course it depends on the numbers they sell..
scsi models more reliable mostly :-\
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WD acquired Hitachi storage in 2012..
Having said that I still tend to go for HGST drives for laptops.
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Mounted correctly in a decent case, most known branded are quite robust.
Most have been bought up by Seagate or WD, so your choices are getting limited.
Retail drives tend to have 3yr warranties (for part only, it doesn't cover data loss/recovery), OEM (which is what most box shifters flog) tend to be 1yr.
I'd have no real concerns buying SG/WD/Samsung disks TBH. Obviously any can fail, so backups are still essential.
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I've been contemplating pushing the button on 8x 6TB WD REDs recently as the NAS keeps running out of space.. that's an eye watering price ;D
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Cheers :y
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just had a similar problem, pc wouldn't boot kept asking for correct boot device, I thought exactly the same hard drive failure, however changed the sata lead and all is now resolved. hope this is of use !
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just had a similar problem, pc wouldn't boot kept asking for correct boot device, I thought exactly the same hard drive failure, however changed the sata lead and all is now resolved. hope this is of use !
Yes, after a bit of research I am looking at BIOS settings and maybe even the MoBo battery. I can only go off what my wife can tell me and technology is not her strong point.
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we know that feeling well !!
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If you think the HD may be ok hang it off another machine via usb or something and see what you see.
If its there grab any stuff you need (may need to take ownership) before doing any repairs or ChkDsk etc.
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we know that feeling well !!
I'm being nice.....
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If space allows, in your hard drive location, I would recommend fitting a cooler to it; I have a twin-fan cooling base on mine - it piggy-backs onto an existing 12 volt plug, so no need for extra wiring.
As with most equipment, electronic or not, reliability declines as temperature increases.....
Ron.
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If you are needing dedicated fans for your (desktop) HDDs, the case is wrong poorly designed, and if the designers didn't consider that, I'd be concerned about what over thermal requirements they've overlooked.
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I accept that, but as a precautionary measure to extend reliable lifespan I am happy to add extra cooling; the fan units are readily available at computer fairs for that purpose and quite cheap, so why not?
In my defence may I point out that before retirement I was an Electronics/Radio Design Engineer with responsibility for military spec. equipment as well as commercial, and the case and operating temperature requirements of the MOD were very stringent because they wanted ultra-reliability...before it got blown up, anyway!
Ron.
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Ron - the fans you buy at said fairs will be the cheapest, shittiest fans known to man, and will probably be less reliable than the disks they protect :P.
TBH, unlike 10 years ago, drives can run much hotter without significant reduction in reliability, partly because they are more power efficient and generate less heat, but also they are designed that way to reduce cooling requirements. Gone are the days when data centres had to be at 20C, thank god ;D
I good case design should be able to get sufficient airflow over the components that need cooling in a most passive way, with one or 2 fans providing enough airflow over PSUs, CPUs, GPUs, RAM, Comms controllers and disks. This is the current design philosophy by the likes of Intel and AMD, and what they expect system designers to follow (which the premium brands do - its the self build/back street PC shops that don't). Its advantages are clear - reliability, lower noise, more energy efficient. Adding additional fans can disturb this airflow, rendering the whole system sub standard.
Hope that clarifies :y
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Tee hee - my drives ARE old! Ten years? Probably, as are the cooling fans, so they have lasted well too, for cheapies.
I'm not disagreeing with you, but I go with what works for me.
I cannot comment on your airflow argument because I'm running my PC without a side panel, as I do tend to play about with it, so that would be a major variation on the design spec!
Ron.
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In general, adding cooling fans to specific components is a bad idea. If the chassis doesn't have a decent throughput of air, you are simply blowing hot air around.
Back in 'the day' advanced desktop systems had a fan at the front of the chassis drawing air in and the PSU fan was the exhaust.
Nowadays with active heatsinks on everything, the airflow is a complete balls-up. Not to mention that everyone wants a tiny little machine with masses of power.
Go back to the Full ATX stuff with fans larger than the engines on a 747.
All server racks tend to be in Air Conditioned rooms not just for temperature reasons, but to keep moisture to a minimum also.
It's truly amazing how quickly technology moves on!
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Tee hee - my drives ARE old! Ten years? Probably, as are the cooling fans, so they have lasted well too, for cheapies.
I'm not disagreeing with you, but I go with what works for me.
I cannot comment on your airflow argument because I'm running my PC without a side panel, as I do tend to play about with it, so that would be a major variation on the design spec!
Ron.
Ah, yes, a modern PC running at full chat is liable to grumble if running with the side off ;D :y
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All server racks tend to be in Air Conditioned rooms not just for temperature reasons, but to keep moisture to a minimum also.
Something apparently nobody told Facebook: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/08/facebook_cloud_versus_cloud/
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All server racks tend to be in Air Conditioned rooms not just for temperature reasons, but to keep moisture to a minimum also.
Something apparently nobody told Facebook: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/08/facebook_cloud_versus_cloud/
Good job nothing important was hosted there. ;D
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Just to update. It seems that the cble was at fault. Replaced it along with a rebuild (it was time plus I want to play a little with Security Onion in a VM) and it's like having a new macine 8)
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never seen a hitachi fail
fujitsu : rare..
western digital : long years ago was very reliable but not now..
seagate : high percent failure really
Have seen all of those fail in the past.
Long and short of it is that ANY electro-mechanical device can fail at ANY point in it's lifespan.
Am currently running a Crucial C300 256 GB SSD which was fitted in April 2011 and continues to work without issue.
Cost £400 back then, but that was when SSD was new technology and can probably be obtained for less than half that price now.
If you want a drive that can be really worked, go for "enterprise" rated disks.
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never seen a hitachi fail
fujitsu : rare..
western digital : long years ago was very reliable but not now..
seagate : high percent failure really
Have seen all of those fail in the past.
Long and short of it is that ANY electro-mechanical device can fail at ANY point in it's lifespan.
Am currently running a Crucial C300 256 GB SSD which was fitted in April 2011 and continues to work without issue.
Cost £400 back then, but that was when SSD was new technology and can probably be obtained for less than half that price now.
If you want a drive that can be really worked, go for "enterprise" rated disks.
thats correct .. but ........... statistics says that some are more prone...
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Please don't mention statistics, Cem, my blood pressure won't stand it. I/you can make statistics say anything we want them to say.