I have a RAID 1+0 setup (4 drives, 600Gb, redundant) as my main storage, then a RAID 0 (2 drives, 640Gb, non redundant) for backups and expendable data like browser caches and swap files. All 6 drives are internal.

I did have some initial problems with Seagate SATA drives. One was DOA and the other was reporting a S.M.A.R.T. error within 24 hours. Both were exchanged without fuss and the 4 I have now have not skipped a beat.

In the RAID 1+0 array, I'm using Seagate drives, manufactured in 3 different countries/batches (to avoid the chances of a bad batch resulting in near simultaneous failure of more than one drive). In the RAID 0 array I'm using Western Digital as further redundancy against any nasty bugs the Seagate SATA firmware may have.

Anyway, before considering redundancy you should also look at environment. Are your drives sufficiently cooled? My case has a large fan at the front of each stack of 3-4 drives which keeps them "metal cool" rather than warm or even hot.

I am a thread killer

i've had 2 failed drives in the last 11 years. Let's just hope that trend continues!

And why is that?
Raid 5 is what is recommended by Terrastation as it is a compromise between efficiency and security.

Only 1 hard drive fail on me in pry 10 years that I've been using computers.

Always do back ups

Very. I've had more than that in the past 6 months.

First off, Google/Wiki are your friends, or do you want us to go get the info for you then cut and paste? Secondly, if you don't look after the HD (like defrag, maintain it well, etc) it will become a pile of shit in no time, if you look after it it will be good for a few years. Back up onto dvd or onto another hd, it's not complex, we are all in the same boat.

Baahahhaha..
I lost a 500GB hitachi deskstar, a backup of that on the same day, also a hitachi deskstar...and a week after that the warranty replacement hitachi deskstar took a dump. I will NEVER touch a hitachi again.. I lost like a months worth of rendered videos, and some originals and had to hunt down content producers to re-issue my content.. massive fucking head-ache.

thats what I do, find it works better for me.
sometimes I do it more often if needed.

As mentioned above? a RAID 1 or 5 set up is a good idea for your critical stuff.

Also Consistent Power is Critical!!!


Check this out? I was losing a hard drive about every two weeks(regardless of brand) and I was really getting pissed.

Finally I realized how bad the power situation was in my new area. Hard drives are very sensitive to voltage and you should definitely invest in a Voltage Regulator. Older hard drives are not as sensitive it seems.

Most stuff in an office or house does not care what the voltage is like. Voltage can go up and down all day and you will never notice anything except for the occasional light flicker. What you can't see is thousands of micro-changes in voltage.

The worst is when the power goes off or a brownout (even for just a few seconds).

When that happens? everything on the line turns off (until it is turned back on by a human). But, if you have a battery backup on your machines they will stay on? and when the power comes back on? the line spikes (but not hard enough to throw your surge protector). Over time this kills a hard drive

Get an APC http://www.apc.com/

There are consumer level ones that cost between 150 and $300 for individual machines.

And business level units costing 300 and up

I opted for a 3000VA to cover 3 machines at my home office and everything hooked up to them http://70.85.180.209/home_office_rack.jpg

It was like $1500? a little bit of overkill? But I have not lost a hard drive in 2 years and I have not had the stress or downtime caused by a hard drive failure.

Forget hard drives, let's all go back to those punch card things.

Thats cause you are always dripping Uno Jizz into your computer...... :winkwink:

I have that same cable box... Did you hook up extra SATA hds to it?

You promised you wouldn't tell!

Nice setup, and this might be why my drives last a long time. :winkwink:

And use a backup freeware like Cobian Backup to automate it. The software will automatically backup all/any files/folders you want on your pc or server at any interval you want and will even zip/compress and encrypt the data if you want to.... and much more.

Nah I didn't bother... I rent that cable box from my local provider (BrightHouse) for like $10 a month. Its a pretty nice unit actually... Scientific Atlanta 8300HD.

I don't want to put any money into it since it's not mine.

like someone said on page1, MTBFs are like a decade now.. if you're killing hard disks left and right, check your power supply

That made my day :1orglaugh

Never get Fujitsu's!

A bad powersuply will deliver inconsistant power, and its just hard on the drives.

I use Seagates and only seagates for myself and the office, a total of 30ish drives, and there is usually one that goes down every year.
Usually the oldest one, some are 5-6 years old. All the maxtors and others have long died off, I havent had a maxtor last more then a year.

You could opt for a solid state drive, although the ones of any size thats usefull are expensive as hell.