Mkruer 4 Report post Posted January 21, 2014 Tech reports has pushed a article from an online backup provider Backblazehas that is currently using over 25,000 units of various sizes and discusses their finding on the most reliable HDD. http://techreport.com/news/25940/hard-drive-reliability-study-names-name the original information comes form http://blog.backblaze.com/2014/01/21/what-hard-drive-should-i-buy/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MRFS 20 Report post Posted January 21, 2014 (edited) It's very interesting that "vibration" is mentioned as a key factor. I remember a video that Allyn Malventano cites in his review of WD's "Red" series: http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Storage/Western-Digital-Red-3TB-SATA-SOHO-NAS-Drive-Full-Review/Specs-Testing-Methodology-an WD's Reds have a spindle bearing mechanism that works somewhat like this Centramatic Automatic Wheel Balancer: The question that arises, then, is the amount of "damage" that can be attributed to excessive vibration, and how much "damage" can be obviated when any given HDD is NOT subject to excessive vibration. Nevertheless, the Hitachis in this next table certainly score very well on "Annual Failure Rate": http://blog.backblaze.com/2014/01/21/what-hard-drive-should-i-buy/ [begin quote] Hitachi Drives If the price were right, we would be buying nothing but Hitachi drives. They have been rock solid, and have had a remarkably low failure rate. Hitachi Drives Used by Backblaze Model Size Number Average Annual of Age in Failure Drives Years Rate Hitachi GST Deskstar 7K2000(HDS722020ALA330) 2.0TB 4716 2.9 1.1% Hitachi GST Deskstar 5K3000(HDS5C3030ALA630) 3.0TB 4592 1.7 0.9% Hitachi Deskstar 5K4000(HDS5C4040ALE630) 4.0TB 2587 0.8 1.5% Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000(HDS723030ALA640) 3.0TB 1027 2.1 0.9% Edited January 21, 2014 by MRFS Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MRFS 20 Report post Posted January 21, 2014 I wrote to the CEO as follows today: http://blog.backblaze.com/2014/01/21/what-hard-drive-should-i-buy/http://www.backblaze.com/contact.htmlGreetings Mr. Budman: We don't manage anything close to the number of HDDs you are purchasing and deploying. Nevertheless, because that article ends with the question -- "What has your experience been?" -- please permit me to repeat some commentsthat you may have already heard: ( 1 ) steady and reliable input power appear to be very important to keep HDDs happy; and, this impliesthat SHUTDOWNs should be scheduled and not sudden; ( 2 ) temperature appears to be a double-edged sword: clearly, excessive heat is known to accelerate failure,but one study by Google indicated that excessive coolingmay cause bearing lubrication to create more drag on moving parts because of increased viscosity; ask the manufacturers to recommend optimal operating temps; ( 3 ) cooling and cleaning also appear to interact:when dust accumulates on the larger upper andlower surfaces of 3.5" and 2.5" HDDs, that dust interferes with the effectiveness of cooler air as fans force cooler air to flow over those surfaces; ( 4 ) although this factor may not apply to your larger storage server farms, we always resortto short-stroked primary C: partitions on ourWindows workstations, and we defragmenton a regular basis; ( 5 ) along the same lines as short-stroked C: partitions,we also move the Windows swap file "pagefile.sys"to another short-stroked primary partition, andwe make sure that file is also perfectly contiguous,using the excellent CONTIG freeware program; ( 6 ) although the extra cost may be prohibitive for an operation as large as yours, we have foundthat WDC's 5-year warranties come out ahead in terms of price per warranty year; we havevery much appreciated the ability to replace a RAID Edition WDC drive if it has failedin years 4 or 5; clearly, with a 3-year warranty, we would be unable to get a factory replacement; ( 7 ) we just bought a 3TB Toshiba and we'revery happy with it, particularly its low price; although we haven't used it very long, Newegg also offers their own extended warranty planthat keeps the total cost below the comparable prices of WDC's RAID Edition 5-year warranties. Hope this helps: THANKS FOR PUBLISHING THAT STUDY! --Sincerely yours,/s/ Paul A. Mitchell, B.A., M.S., Instructor,Inventor and Systems Development ConsultantAll Rights Reserved without Prejudice Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lamb0 0 Report post Posted January 22, 2014 All excellent tips and information. I especially thank Backblaze for releasing the vendor specific information. Though the Egg rating methodology might be questionable, the Backblaze results statistically corroborate many of hearsay reliability grumbles I've heard the last couple years. Where are the best choices for HGST pricewise for small quantities stateside where you can trust the shipping? I do NOT trust NewEgg with spinning rust! ProVantage? Amazon? TigerDirect? It'll be awhile before I need the TB; but it appears I'll need the budget boosted a bit before I expand beyond the 74GB Z2 test (3 Raptors) siqnificantly. That's OK, I'd rather make a much larger proportion of my mistakes during the learning process with a much smaller collection of filesystems! A simple RAID1 OTOH... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MRFS 20 Report post Posted January 22, 2014 Toshiba must have been reading complaints about Newegg's OEM packing problems. One user recommended the retail boxed version, so we tried one and indeed the styrofoam insulation was very generous: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822149396&Tpk=N82E16822149396 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jtsn 5 Report post Posted February 9, 2014 Although my sample size is much smaller (about 30 drives from all four vendors), the report reflects my reliability experience quite well. Seems, that Seagate is the new IBM Deathstar. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cppguru 0 Report post Posted February 10, 2014 (edited) This is a can of worms to be honest. I have seagates with 0 failures for about last 9 years. I think it's all about the environment the drive is operating under. For instance, is there construction going on near your house? The problem really is shock While the drive is spinning. I have personally dropped hard disks multiple times (when not spinning) and it just seems to power back up as if nothing happened. I have tried this from about 5 feet height with multiple drives (Hitachi, Seagate, WD). Looking at the white sheet from Seagate does support this as well if you look at their max Gs for the two cases (parked, operating). If you are THAT concerned about your data, run two hard drives in Raid 1 and be done with it. Edited February 10, 2014 by cppguru Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jtsn 5 Report post Posted February 14, 2014 I think it's all about the environment the drive is operating under. For my own sample the environment is the same for all drives. The Seagates were the drives I had most issues with, while Hitachi are the most solid. And WD and Samsung in between with just being average. I just refrained from early conclusions, because I don't have enough empirical data. But I can confirm Backblaze's impressions. For instance, is there construction going on near your house? If a drive fails, because there is a construction site nearby, it's broken by design. Thankfully working HDDs don't do that. If you are THAT concerned about your data, run two hard drives in Raid 1 and be done with it. I have a working backup strategy preventing data loss (which isn't the purpose of RAID1). But failing drives are a hassle and don't deliver my money's worth. So I'm still interested in avoiding lemons. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites