Hard Drive Problems

[DarkCilx]

For the past 3 years I have had 4 HD failed on me regularly on one machine it doesn't move from the same spot or nor dose it get hit but I have the same machine for another family member and the HD haven't failed one is it possible for something in the computer to make it fail again and again even with different brands or am I just unlucky

 

[Indigo]

Bad power supplies can do that, power spikes & surges if the system is set up at a bad location, etc. You should have a minimum of an Uninterruptable Power Supply on a system that has been through that many hard drives, just in case. I'd also be sure that the drives are mounted properly, and to a lesser degree, that they're not in a very hot part of your case (Google has proved that heat doesn't destroy hard drives, even in extreme operating situations) but it never hurts to ensure that there is proper airflow anyway.

 

[cboucher]

Bad power supplies can do that, power spikes & surges if the system is set up at a bad location, etc. You should have a minimum of an Uninterruptable Power Supply on a system that has been through that many hard drives, just in case. I'd also be sure that the drives are mounted properly, and to a lesser degree, that they're not in a very hot part of your case (Google has proved that heat doesn't destroy hard drives, even in extreme operating situations) but it never hurts to ensure that there is proper airflow anyway.

So what reason does Google give for manufacturers of removable hard drive enclosures putting fans in hard drive racks? lol. I guess Google doesn't have the answer for everything...

 

[Chipeater]

[...]Google has proved that heat doesn't destroy hard drives, even in extreme operating situations[...]

Google has proven it?

The hotter electronic components operate, the shorter their useful lifetime. Excessive heat can seriously shorten the useful lifetime of electronic components, like those found on integrated hard drive controller boards.

 

[Celegorm]

I have seen bad controllers on the motherboard make drives go currupt. If you are running a SATA hard drive, have you tried plugging the drives into different ports on the motherboard?

 

[Indigo]

So what reason does Google give for manufacturers of removable hard drive enclosures putting fans in hard drive racks? lol. I guess Google doesn't have the answer for everything...

When you're dealing with server grade drive racks, the question becomes longevity, but due to higher stresses on disks than home users can even dream of putting on those drives. Not to mention, most drive racks are SCSI, which are rated for higher speeds, more IOs, etc.

Google has proven it?

The hotter electronic components operate, the shorter their useful lifetime. Excessive heat can seriously shorten the useful lifetime of electronic components, like those found on integrated hard drive controller boards.

Indeed they have. http://static.googleusercontent.com...abs.google.com/en/us/papers/disk_failures.pdf

3.4 deals with temperature, and you'll see what they've found. My results have always been the same - I've had drives fail when the ambient temps are low, and I've had drives in high heat environments work just fine for many years. You cannot attribute hard drive failure rates to high temperature environments for 100% of the cases. It just doesn't work that way. For other components in a computer system, I agree - heat is bad, but for hard drives, temperature is not as much of a primary concern as most people believe.

 

[cboucher]

When you're dealing with server grade drive racks, the question becomes longevity, but due to higher stresses on disks than home users can even dream of putting on those drives. Not to mention, most drive racks are SCSI, which are rated for higher speeds, more IOs, etc.

I wasn't talking about server grade stuff. I was talking about the little removable hard drive racks used in workstations, like the ones we have in our test systems at work. Definitely not heavy-duty by any stretch of the imagination, yet they still have fans...

 

[Chipeater]

3.4 deals with temperature, and you'll see what they've found. My results have always been the same - I've had drives fail when the ambient temps are low, and I've had drives in high heat environments work just fine for many years. You cannot attribute hard drive failure rates to high temperature environments for 100% of the cases. It just doesn't work that way. For other components in a computer system, I agree - heat is bad, but for hard drives, temperature is not as much of a primary concern as most people believe.

I see no proof that temperature is not a factor in the article that you linked. In fact it shows an increase in failures of three and four year old drives at higher temperatures.

What I'm trying to say is that the electronic components on the hard drive controller card are just as sensitive to damage from heat a the other electronic components in a computer.