[mythtv-users] OT: 3 week old HDD "Clicking" ??

[Gareth Glaccum]

Use smartctl to check how old the drive really is. (the value for POH, power 
on hours, is valid on the seagates I have)

I recently bought a seagate disk from a company, claiming it was new. I 
didn't trust the drive when I received it (wasn't packed correctly for a new 
drive), so I checked it. It turned out it had been on for 42 hours. May not 
sound like much, but there were errors reported in the test logs of the disk 
(BTW, these are valid on seagate disks too, a failure here is a valid return 
case).
After finding that out, I ran a recovery program. Turns out the company had 
tried to low-level the disk to remove the data and smart information, and it 
was indeed second hand.
I could tell the usernames from the system, and the software which had been 
installed. There are ways to get around low-level formats without opening 
the case.
The only true way of destroying data, for the partially paranoid, is the 
opening of the disk caddy.
For the not so paranoid, then physical destruction is the only way.

As to which brands are better. I worked for an OEM. We found that all 
manufacturers of all equipment (disks, motherboards, memory etc.) go through 
bad patches. However, some companies are less likely to stay in a bad patch, 
as they have better QA and after-sales support. I have found WD drives to be 
poor in this respect, with in general seagate being an order of magnitude 
better. Taking just two systems we delivered into account, 64 WD drives were 
replaced around 60% every 6 months, and a system of 128 seagate drives had 3 
replaced in 2 years.
If you are going to have your system on 24/7, it is really worthwhile 
investing in either Archive quality, or Nearline Storage drives. Although it 
might sound like hype to begin with, it does really make a large difference 
in lastability when run 24/7.
Personally, I run 12 seagate 320AS drives in a raid 5, and 3 seagate 1500AS 
drives in a raid 5. 2+1/2 years on, I have had 3 fail in the 12 bay raid. In 
the 8 months I have had the 1.5TB disks, none have failed.

One thing that I will say about seagate also in their favour, is that if you 
buy the drives from a real distributor, then you will get 5 years no-quible 
replacement of the drives. In my experience (and I only have 3 data points 
to go on here admittedly), my disks have been couriered back to me on the 
4th day. I have a spare disk to use in my array, but if you don't, then a 4 
day wait is probably bearable.
If the drive is clicking, then it would suggest a power issue either with 
the drive or the supply. Run a long self test on the drive. If it is an 
issue, I would expect a clicking drive to fail.
Gareth