Read this before you buy a new hard drive.

[Ethan]

These guys have ~40,000 hard drives running constantly.
I thought drives were all pretty much the same these days.
Apparently not.
Full article here: https://www.backblaze.com/hard-drive.html

 

[JohnRoberts]

Computers still suck....

I recall a friend who worked for NCR and they used magnetic drum memories back in 60s.

JR

 

[mattiasNYC]

Thanks for posting that Ethan.

I've used their findings when buying for the last few years. I got a batch of bad Seagates actually which cost me a lot - though to be fair it was my own fault for not properly backing up some data.

John,

I agree, computers still suck. However, they're pretty awesome too though, I'm sure you agree. I think what we need to do as consumers is educate ourselves to the point it becomes intuitive and second-nature to back up information. I think that's the key really. It's very scary to rely on cloud services for backups, partly because we're sharing personal data with a corporation, and partly because we also don't know if that company has a legit solution for security and redundant storage.

But either way, I don't think there's any turning back now. The volume of personal data we now store on computers is just waaay larger than before, and it's probably going to get a lot worse. I remember when I ripped all my CDs to HDD (full-res), and it felt like a ton of data, but it was a 'one time thing' really. Rip and be done. Then I began taking pictures with a digital camera, and all of a sudden there was this steady stream of data that ended up being stored and therefore needed backing up as well. Not a huge amount, but a stead increase.

So, yeah, I agree, computers still suck in a lot of ways, but I think it's also that we maybe need to accept that if we live a certain way they're just going to become an ever increasing part of our lives and we need to be responsible users.

I actually spoke to my friend about it recently, and we both agreed that there should probably be a mandatory class in school about both data retention and security, and also "IT-ethics".

 

[dmp]

I wonder how much of this is planned obsolescence?  They need to keep selling hard drives.
You used to be able to buy stuff that lasted more than few years.

 

[Brian Roth]

I wonder how much of this is planned obsolescence?  They need to keep selling hard drives.
You used to be able to buy stuff that lasted more than few years.

As one who has worked in pro audio for more than a few decades <g>, I can verify " stuff that lasted more than few years" was always the norm.  In my waning years, I'm now one of the few that keeps the old war-horses running (analog tape machines, large format desks, vacuum tube gear, etc).

Not bragging, but once my generation passes, everyone will be stuck with crapola that dies on the 91st day of the 90 day warranty.  I call it "Chinete tech"...not as in "made in China", but throw-away like paper plates after a BBQ dinner.

Bri

 

[SIXTYNINER]

... the 91st day of the 90 day warranty.  I call it "Chinete tech"...not as in "made in China", ----

...it is the chinese "revenge"... ?  :-[
(something like the "underground warfare ".....)

 

[dmp]

Nah, blaming China is just misdirection.
China manufactures this stuff.
American / Japanese Corporations have engineered this to deliver higher returns.

 

[[silent:arts]]

I wonder how much of this is planned obsolescence?  They need to keep selling hard drives.
You used to be able to buy stuff that lasted more than few years.

The Seagate Drives in my Raid Systems have a warranty of 5 years, and the do replacements just because of a few bad blocks and not only for a total drive failure.

I have no experience with other brands.

 

[dmp]

Any advice on computer power supplies?  I bought a few in the past few years and have had problems.  Now I have a machine that will only power on by repeated tries and needs a replacement.

 

[Ethan]

Any advice on computer power supplies?  I bought a few in the past few years and have had problems.  Now I have a machine that will only power on by repeated tries and needs a replacement.

I'm not sure it's a recommendation, but I bought one of these a while back for my home media server: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=899124&Sku=8832707

I haven't had any problems with it, so I haven't had to think about it since. Fairly quiet.
Every time I go to that site, I end up wasting a bunch of time configuring a monster machine that the wife would never approve of.
[add to wishlist]  :-[

 

[JohnRoberts]

Computer users have been conditioned to accept horrible performance.

If cars performed like most computers the customers would demand their money back, but somehow computer makers get away with it.

JR

 

[Matador]

The data from the first site in the first post could be misleading, because the failure rate isn't normalized into MTBF.  Or did they specify somewhere that that number of hours on each drive is the same?  They also don't specify what is meant by 'failure': the first bad block remapping?  The last one?  It makes a huge difference.

 

[gltech]

As an owner of a small software development company with over 100 PCs (Windows), I can vouch for the hard drive stats in that I've had far more failures with Seagate than WD. I won't buy Seagate.  Never tried the Hatachis but have heard they're the best, but they don't seem to be as readily available as WDs.

Computer users have been conditioned to accept horrible performance.

If cars performed like most computers the customers would demand their money back, but somehow computer makers get away with it.

JR

It's similar to how cars would be if they redesigned them every 6 months.  Too much time is spent coming up with a "new" version all the time that mostly only looks different and has to be re-learned instead of getting the bugs out of what they already have. This keeps us users perpetually at the novice level and occurrence of bugs near constant. Like a car if they redesigned the body and rearranged the pedals/steering/gearshift every 6 months and kept the same crappy drive-train.

Any advice on computer power supplies?  I bought a few in the past few years and have had problems.  Now I have a machine that will only power on by repeated tries and needs a replacement.

Corsair and Seasonic PSs are rock solid, and some of the former's units are made by the latter.

 

[gltech]

I think what we need to do as consumers is educate ourselves to the point it becomes intuitive and second-nature to back up information.

Exactly right. I was forced to become that way for my business' sake. Used to be much more of a chore using tape drives etc. Now all anybody needs to do is plop a second drive in and use mirroring that's included in newer Windows versions (have zero knowledge of macs). That, and also keep a copy of crucial data in the cloud somewhere. I also keep copies of crucial data on 3 or 4 128GB flash drives and keep the drives in a 2" pipe nipple with end caps for protection against an EMP attack.

 

[ln76d]

Still Amiga 500 win!
In my there was no hard drive at all!

 

[gltech]

Computer users have been conditioned to accept horrible performance.

If cars performed like most computers the customers would demand their money back, but somehow computer makers get away with it.

JR

On a humorous note, your post reminded me of seeing this years ago:
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/j_helmig/gatesgm.htm

 

[mattiasNYC]

Now all anybody needs to do is plop a second drive in and use mirroring that's included in newer Windows versions (have zero knowledge of macs). That, and also keep a copy of crucial data in the cloud somewhere. I also keep copies of crucial data on 3 or 4 128GB flash drives and keep the drives in a 2" pipe nipple with end caps for protection against an EMP attack.

LOL!!! I wish I had the energy to be as diligent as you are. Good on you!

At the risk of digressing: Any large-scale deployment experience of Win 10?

 

[mattiasNYC]

Still Amiga 500 win!
In my there was no hard drive at all!

Sweet! I had one as well. I eventually bought an external drive for it. Can't even remember the size of it.

 

[gltech]

LOL!!! I wish I had the energy to be as diligent as you are. Good on you!

At the risk of digressing: Any large-scale deployment experience of Win 10?

No large scale but one non-critical Win7 computer kept prompting me to "upgrade" to 10 (don't know why just that one did that) so I let it. Later, I played around on it and it was just like what I said earlier -- same functionality that just looks different and has different ways to do the same things.

In my business, it's proven wise to be hesitant buying anything software-related until it's a year or two old. See "Windows 8."

 

[gltech]

Sweet! I had one as well. I eventually bought an external drive for it. Can't even remember the size of it.

I started with an Atari 800 . My parents gave it to me after getting it as a door prize while attending one of those crazy real-estate rallies, back when they first started. They came home saying "what a bunch of BS." But they gave the computer to me like it was a silly toy. That eventually turned into a software business for lucky me. At that point, the Amiga and Atari ST were dream machines I could never afford!