Manufacturers' MTTF Underestimates HDD Failure Rates

[Navin]

A study conducted by Carnegie Mellon University, concludes that hard disk drive failure rates are fifteen times higher than indicated by the MTTF information provided by manufacturers.

Get the lowdown by reading this HEXUS.headline.

[Steve]

I never expected a million hours out of my drive anyway.

[arthurleung]

I had first time experience that, when using under-powered PSU about 3 yrs ago I have a drive failure every 2 months (out of half a dozen), after replacing the PSU I get one drive failure a year (out of a dozen).

Operating temperature have no effect is quite interesting, does that mean I can run my harddrives at 55'C and they will not age faster than at 40'C?

[funnelhead]

Not suprising really. Working in a computer repair shop we regularly see drives failing after 3/4 years....sooner in laptops. But on the other hand we sell machines with 98 on still going strong...

BUT the best way to keep your drive alive IMO is to make sure you've got enough ram - drives die much much earlier if their constantly acting as your virtual mem. This can be shown with the equation :

256mb + xp + Norton = dead hard drive

There was a particular batch of emachines from 2002/3 that shipped with xp and 128mb !! Those poor suckers died after 18 months.

oh, and i would avoid maxtor those suckers drop like mayflies


f

[awm]

Something tells me the MTBF testing method involves testing in an airconditioned room with the drive powered on but only writing or reading once a day with a special casing to damped its vibrations. They are proabably also read bedtime stories and fed only the finest conditioned power.

[this_is_gav]

Operating temperature have no effect is quite interesting, does that mean I can run my harddrives at 55'C and they will not age faster than at 40'C?

No, no - operating temperature have a limited effect, but within reason.

And frankly, if you're even getting a hard drive failure a year, you've got some serious problems. Or you keep buying Maxtors.

Even all 3 of my Western Digitals from 2001 are still working now, and until around September, they were used almost daily (first at home, and now in a RAID0 [edit: well 2 of them of course] array in my machine at work, on 24/7 [edit: the other was all-but-retired in sometime 2005, but still use it externally sometimes for dumping temp files]).

BUT the best way to keep your drive alive IMO is to make sure you've got enough ram - drives die much much earlier if their constantly acting as your virtual mem. This can be shown with the equation :

256mb + xp + Norton = dead hard drive

You could even take out the "256mb" and "XP" and that would be an equally valid equation.

[funnelhead]

Or

Maxtor + oem = rma

XP + Norton / 256 > 1 (dead Hard Disk)

XP + ipod / itunes = 0 (optical drives, once their gear drivers b0rk ur optical drivers)

PC + Boy * [X] Mbps internet * [y] hours home alone = X^3 (Gb of pr0n) + Y (hours of tendonitis)

Sony Vaio * out-of-warranty-fault / your credit rating = -300 (pounds from your bank account)

Sony + lithium Ion = BANG

[Clunk]

oh, and i would avoid maxtor those suckers drop like mayflies


f

I'll second that, 3 in 3 months, one of which is a warranty replacement