Hi Moose,
Thanks for the thoughtful dissertation. I follow a somewhat similar backup
procedure, using external drives. What I need is to free up space on my C:
drive now occupied by recent photos. That is the main purpose of adding a
second drive to my PC. Since the computer was purchased in 2005, I figure
that most current drives will outlive the computer itself. I just hate to
get in the business of testing hard drives, and duplicating the bad choices
that others may have made.
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Moose" <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Olympus Camera Discussion" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, July 03, 2010 4:23 PM
Subject: Re: [OM] Seeking Hard Drive Advice
> On 7/3/2010 10:20 AM, Jim Nichols wrote:
>> I need to add an additional hard drive to my Dell Dimension 4700. I am
>> seeking advice on the reliability of available SATA drives in the range
>> of 250 to 640GB. I have used WD and Seagate Barracuda drives in the
>> past, but find disturbing comments on the web on the reliability of their
>> present products.
>
> I fretted about this the last few times I bought drives, reading way too
> many user reviews about problems they had. I
> finally came to a conclusion that may be summarized as follows:
>
> 1. There are millions and millions of these drives sold and in use,
> possibly billions.
> 2. The number of people making on-line complaints is in the hundreds, in
> my experience.
> 3. Even if they are the tip of an iceberg of problems, they amount to a
> tiny, tiny % of units sold.
> 4. The chances of an individual encountering them are very small.
> 5. There is no way, other than prayer, or the operation of the Tao or
> Karma to affect one's personal likelihood of
> getting a bad one.
> 6. Ergo, buy the cheapest name brand drive that meets your needs.
>
>> I'm not out for blazing speed or a giant size drive. But, reliability is
>> uppermost in my mind. Cool operation and low noise would follow.
>
> Second conclusion:
>
> 1. Drives fail. The % is very low, but it happens and there is no way to
> plan or buy in such a way as to be sure one
> won't be yours. For a hobbyist, I've bought a fair number of drives, over
> 10, in the last few years. I got one bad one,
> which was bad essentially out of the box. The chances of that happening
> were low, but it did.
>
> 2. The only sensible solution is not trying to try buy the drive least
> likely to fail, but to use back-up drives. It's
> also cheap, as drives are amazingly inexpensive. It's also a good way to
> protect against loss through theft, fire or
> natural disaster.
>
> Third conclusion:
>
> 1. A back-up drive in the same computer only protects against drive
> failure. It is still vulnerable to viruses, theft,
> fire and natural disaster.
>
> 2. The only sensible way to do back-up drives is externally, so the
> back-ups may be stored away from the computer and
> the chance of their being on when the virus strikes is minimal.
>
> 3. The securest solution is to by drives in threes, one in computer,
> second and third kept in a different part of the
> house and a remote location in rotation.
>
> 4. Good enough, for me, is buying in pairs and keeping the second in
> another part of the house in a small, cheap,
> fire-resistant safe.
>
> Corollary: As the back-up drives are only on when actually making
> back-ups, the chance of failure through age/wear/use
> is infinitesimal.
>
> Fourth conclusion, from experience:
>
> 1. Whatever size you choose is going to be too small sooner than
> anticipated.
> 2. The price difference between largish and the largest common size is
> small.
> 3. Ergo, buy larger than you think you need.
>
> If one accepts this train of logic, the question of how to implement comes
> up. The easiest may be drives in individual
> external enclosures. For someone like me, who has multiple BU drives, a
> drive docking station is cheaper and still very
> easy.
>
> Perhaps it's really true that you don't care about speed. Many people who
> say that, and then wait for the drive, find
> they do care. My advice is to make sure any external devices you buy have
> eSATA capability. That way, a cheap connector
> from mother board to back panel can make them just as fast as the internal
> drives.
>
> A. Conclusive Moose
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