Hard drive Query

[Celegorm]

Backblaze's stats are pretty not scientific. they used a flawed system to rate the drives and the enviornment in which they did run those tests, the Seagate 3TB drives were in the worst enviornment:

Selecting a Disk Drive: How Not to Do Research - EnterpriseStorageForum.com
Dispelling Backblaze's HDD Reliability Myth - The Real Story Covered

I use nothing but seagate drives after having nothing but bad experiences with the rest. Yes, I've had a seagate drive, but 1 out of 20 dying over the course of 12 years is good enough for me.

 

[Technician1]

They are not testing anything, they just run a server farm and collect data on when drives are put in and when they are replaced.

 

[cb600fshornet]

Backblaze's stats are pretty not scientific. they used a flawed system to rate the drives and the enviornment in which they did run those tests, the Seagate 3TB drives were in the worst enviornment:

Selecting a Disk Drive: How Not to Do Research - EnterpriseStorageForum.com
Dispelling Backblaze's HDD Reliability Myth - The Real Story Covered

I use nothing but seagate drives after having nothing but bad experiences with the rest. Yes, I've had a seagate drive, but 1 out of 20 dying over the course of 12 years is good enough for me.

Interesting reads, thanks for posting!

I myself have had my 1TB Seagate 3.5 inch drive (fitted in my desktop) for about 5 years and it hasn't skipped a beat yet.

 

[Celegorm]

They are not testing anything, they just run a server farm and collect data on when drives are put in and when they are replaced.

That may be true, but if you're going to use their data to recommend against a brand as you did, then it'd be a good idea to learn of any issues with their data, like what my links pointed to.

 

[Trotter]

If it isn't a SSD then I prefer WD Black drives. They are pretty much the only mechanical drives that still have a five year warranty, plus they are fast for a HDD.

 

[bluenose1940]

Going back to the subject of my original post, i.e. that I had dropped my external HDD on the carpet. My new Seagate Backup Slim drive turned up yesterday, it didn't come by courier, the postman (lady) brought it and pushed it through the letter box! There's no carpet in my porch! I know from experience that parcels get chucked about in the sorting offices and so I am wondering "What is the difference" between me dropping the drive and the post office abusing my parcel. I suppose it's the end of the story if I drop it, whereas if it doesn't work when I initially plug it in from new I do have comeback on the warranty.
I wonder how many get damaged on delivery? Just a thought!!

 

[cb600fshornet]

Good question actually. Whether or not you've bought it from a shop or online, you do certainly have to consider how the drive has been treated. You may well find that items you buy in a store have been treated better because they normally have many hard drives delivered at a time, and delivery drivers tend to treat larger packages with more care.

Generally hard drive companies are quite good at issuing refunds, presumably for that reason, as it may well have been damaged on delivery. I would guess that if you inform them within 30 days you should have no problems if you notice any abnormal performance or noises.

Provided the drive is well packaged then it is *probably* okay, a bit of bubble wrap does go a long way! If the drive is simply in a box with no padding then it might be worth getting in contact with the delivery company.

 

[strollin]

Non-running drives with the heads parked can withstand quite a few G's without getting damaged.

 

[bluenose1940]

Non-running drives with the heads parked can withstand quite a few G's without getting damaged.

Not having much by way of technical know-how, do the heads on a hard drive park themselves automatically when the drive stops being used or is there some little operation to be done that I'm not aware of.

If they do park automatically, perhaps it might be worth me looking again at my 'dropped' drive.

 

[Celegorm]

They do park automatically. Every time they are shut off they should park themselves away from the platters. In theory, when the drive is running, the heads should be parked when not actively reading, writing or doing internal maintenance (SMART checking, sector scan/repair etc).