[mythtv-users] Hard Drives that Actually Work?
Yan-Fa Li
yanfali at best.com
Tue Dec 14 17:52:29 UTC 2004
Paul.Buchanan at thomson.com wrote:
> I just had my second Western Digital Special Edition 200 GB drive die on me. Since I'm using an ASUS Pundit, I figured heat was the culprit, so the second drive had a dual-fan cooler on it. No such luck. After about three months of use, performance suddenly degrades, and the journals begin to corrupt. A few days later, I/O errors crop up, and the drive is pretty much useless.
>
> Are these drives just not up to the stress of a PVR? I'm interested in hearing what kind of drives people have had good luck with, as I've about had it with these. I'll get my third on warranty, but It won't be going back into a myth box.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul
Aside from manufacturing problems, heat seems to be the biggest issue.
One of the reasons I really like the Myth design. Split
backend/frontend architecture. My backend has a 120mm fan sitting
infront of the drive cage with four drives. My front end has a 5400RPM
drive inside a noise insulator. One day I intend to convert it to net boot.
Preference: Seagate (5 yr), Hitachi (3 yr), Maxtor/WD (1 yr)
I did manage to get a pair of Maxtor quickview (5400RPM) drives recently
and so far so evil, but it's early days. I have a stack of failed
drives from 2001/2002 and they are from all manufacturers. Ironically
my Tivo has two maxtors in it and has been mucho reliable.
One thing you can do, once you have your new drive installed is monitor
it's heat. Smartmontools are your friend. Most new drives have a temp
sensor. I like to try and keep my drives below 40C if I can. Only
during the summer is this a difficult goal.
Yan
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