WTF is it with hard drives failing?

SandManHI · 2003-09-02, 11:21 PM

I have been replacing a bunch of drives as of late too. Of course all the drives I have been replacing are from one big shipment of computers we picked up 4 years ago so I haven't been complaining about the failures as after time I expect them to fail.

But, I just had to replace 2 Seagate SCSI drives out of my raid array this past month, and they were only about 6 months old. First one dies, so I pick up a replacement Seagate drive and tried to replace the failed drive, yet the new drive only worked long enough to rebuild the array and then it failed. Note that I don't count this in the two failed drives as it was so new that it was probably a dud. Switched and bought a new Fujitsu 73 gig drive (it was less expensive and carries a 5 year warantee) and had that in for about a day when another of the orriginal Segate drives failed. Decided I would switch them all out for the Fujitsu drives and give them a try for a while.

I agree with the cheap parts theory, but we also have to realize that as these drives get larger capacity and smaller form factor, the parts are getting more and more complicated to manufacture too. Some of these parts are so small that if you used your bare fingers to pick them up, they might just enter your blood stream without you even knowing it.

Not that I want to give excuses for the manufacturers now... I just don't want to have to wait for the drives to get shipped out and back to me anymore.

2003-09-02, 11:21 PM	#1
SandManHI Internet! Is that thing still around? Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 4	I have been replacing a bunch of drives as of late too. Of course all the drives I have been replacing are from one big shipment of computers we picked up 4 years ago so I haven't been complaining about the failures as after time I expect them to fail. But, I just had to replace 2 Seagate SCSI drives out of my raid array this past month, and they were only about 6 months old. First one dies, so I pick up a replacement Seagate drive and tried to replace the failed drive, yet the new drive only worked long enough to rebuild the array and then it failed. Note that I don't count this in the two failed drives as it was so new that it was probably a dud. Switched and bought a new Fujitsu 73 gig drive (it was less expensive and carries a 5 year warantee) and had that in for about a day when another of the orriginal Segate drives failed. Decided I would switch them all out for the Fujitsu drives and give them a try for a while. I agree with the cheap parts theory, but we also have to realize that as these drives get larger capacity and smaller form factor, the parts are getting more and more complicated to manufacture too. Some of these parts are so small that if you used your bare fingers to pick them up, they might just enter your blood stream without you even knowing it. Not that I want to give excuses for the manufacturers now... I just don't want to have to wait for the drives to get shipped out and back to me anymore.