Here's the third and final part.

C) Power

We will look at electrical power as a factor in determining how long hard drives could last.

Power surge can be caused by lightning strikes, interference with power lines/mains, failure of PSUs, or by any event which causes the flow of electricity to be interrupted and then restarted. Power surges can result in data loss when the read/write heads fail to function properly, and in the worst case, a complete computer crash. Investing in an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) helps to mitigate the quality of the AC power coming into your PC. Even the minimal investment of a surge protector can help filter out the noise, ripples, spikes and power surges from the mains. However getting UPS and surge protector would mean nothing if the PC's power supply unit (PSU) is problematic and unable to regulate steady power to the various components in your PC.

The PSU is the single point of failure for PCs as it is connected to all components in the PC. Its main function is to convert AC power to usable 5VDC and 12VDC power. Usable in the sense of clean and stable supply. Most PSU available in the market convert VDC power with some fluctuations and/or ripples. To see this, you just have to login to the BIOS/UEFI to monitor the power utilised by the PC components. While it is not as accurate as using the oscilloscope, you will still be able to see the fluctuation of the VDC supplied to the processor. This is the same with the 5VDC which supplies power to your hard drives. While the hard drives have some tolerance to voltage fluctuation, high and/or frequent fluctuation can cut short the lifespan of any connected hard drive.

Look at the design of the PSU and quality of the components used in manufacturing the PSU as it can greatly determine the quality of the power you can get out of it. Good quality components like Japanese-made capacitors will go a long way ensuring they will last (typically 5 - 7 years) hopefully until you replace your PC.



You should also look up the efficiency curve of the PSU and use it to plan your PC build. The higher the efficiency rate means less power is lost as heat during conversion.

Consider also the power consumption of the PC components as an indirect way of generating unwanted heat in the chassis. You can read the following 2 articles that shows a co-relation between power consumption and heat dissipation (W) of hard drives.

http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/storage/hddpower.html
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/storage/hddpower-pro.html

So choosing "green" hard drives can often lead to less heat generated in your PC chassis. The less heat that is generated, the less you would have to worry about to get rid off.

So what can you do about this?
1) Visit sites like Silentpcreview, Hardocp, Kitguru etc that looks at the PSU's design, build quality, voltage regulation quality and even the heat exhaust reading. Know more about the characteristics of the PSU before you commit to put it into your PC.

2) Add up the power consumption of your PC components so that you can use it to pick the best PSU that would generate the least amount of heat and still fit your requirement. Plan to reduce all the risks and loop holes which can cause problems later on. Remember that risks can be managed so that incidents don't have to happen.

3) Invest in SATA power connectors that have built-in capacitors which will provide an additional layer of protection from VDC ripples/fluctuations.

This post has been edited by mrbob: Aug 16 2014, 04:29 PM

mrbob
Hi bro, do you know about the WD Caviar Black noise problem? I Google-ed found some user complaining about the noise spinning on Tomshardware. But those are old review (late 2013) was like saying have noise spinning sound even newly purchased of WD Caviar Black.

So I'm not sure current 2014 model have the same things or not OR it was supposed to be have such spinning sound that designed for.

Noise on WD Black? Other than the usual writing and reading sound I haven't noticed anything weird about mine. WD Black is the fastest 7k consumer HDD you can get your hands on. And I guess the noise just comes with the speed. What I do know is that they have tweaked the FW and the current model is blazing fast! Head over to Storagereview for the detailed writeup.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtpMr8wrGRQ

Here's a YouTube video showing the noise. Notice that it is sitting on a HDD toaster and should explain why it is loud. My WD Black is in Silverstone GD05 about 3 feet from my ears and the r/w noise is barely audible.

I would recommend WD or Buffalo.

My 2TB WD My Book Essential 3.5" external drive, model no. WDBACW0020HBK-01 suddenly failed to power up, it just sit at a corner and i rarely move it

i check the adapter and usb cable, both working fine

my warranty finished d, called wd support to try my luck, they say need to send in for RMA and the files inside need data recovery, ridiculous

Google a lot and apparently the control board is the culprit, the hdd is still ok 1, i pry open the casing and found the control board part number 4061-705094-001 Rev 13R

the data in the hdd is encrypted by the controller board, thus putting the hdd into a generic casing to access the data wouldn't work

the solution is to replace the controller board, found a seller online but just buying the controller board would cost over 200 whereas a new 2tb drive is just 350++



anyone here experience the same problem and manage to fix it? or if you know where to get the controller board locally?

any help is very much appreciated, thanks.



This post has been edited by nasiayam: Aug 18 2014, 11:44 AM

hey guy , want to ask how to format WD 1TB external HDD ? Model is WD10TPVT-00U4RT1 .
Before this i hv try using window to format using low farmat and quick format also not working.
pls advise.thanks !

[edited]

This post has been edited by mrbob: Aug 19 2014, 11:02 AM

Use HDTune to see the SMART status and bad sectors layout.

Alternatively if the HDD is still under warranty, you can download the WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows software and run a full diagnostics. Use the screenshot results to RMA your HDD.

thanks for help !

sony ext usb one is also not bad

Seagate Ships World’s First 8TB Hard Drives

You heard it right. The 8TB drives are shipping now for Q4 availability! No technical details available yet in Seagate's anouncement however it is rumoured to be one of the first Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) product being rolled out. If this 8TB giant is based out of 800GB platters (current standard), I can't imagine how much more capacity Seagate would be able to squeeze out of 1.2TB platters when they become more widespread next year.

http://www.networkworld.com/article/259841...hard-drive.html

http://www.seagate.com/about/newsroom/pres...ives-pr-master/

Wow... 10 platters, talk about helium, now wait for review to do the talking.
Wonder how the price will affect current HDD.

please drop

im planning to buy a 4TB WD Red for my NAS soon

Not 10 plats, still using only 5 plats. SMR technology promises to squeeze more bytes by stacking the data tracks closely together. Read the NetworkWorld article on my post. With the data tracks packed so closely together, really should wait and see how it performs in real life. This should be similar to upgrading from DVD to BR!

Now why can't WD come up with some simple ideas like SG and give us bigger drives without the fancy gas?


Rumours have it that SG is getting ready for a price war. Come Q2-3 next year, when SG get their act together and start using 1.2TB platters, there will be blood.

This post has been edited by mrbob: Aug 27 2014, 07:56 PM

May i know if there any reviews or discussions about the performance difference between SSHD (Seagate etc. ) and Western Digital Caviar Black. I know how SSHD works, but for comparison sake lets say both device have been used multiple times, not first time boot.

SSHD would still be faster than Caviar Black afaik

the SSD caching in SSHD helps to speed alot

not to mention the Caviar Black, like all HDDs, gets bottlenecked by the mechanical parts as usual

Have you experience both the WD Black and SSHD? Because i want to buy another drive just for gaming (Steam, Origin Games etc). I do have in my system now WD Blue(OS) and Green (Data/Backup).

none, but i have a friend who uses WD Black. according to him, there is no performance improvement unless you go RAID 0 (which my friend did)

if youre looking for gaming drive, best use HDDs. reviews have proved that only several games benefit from the faster loading times of a SSD/SSHD. ive tested on Skyrim, its marginally faster. but not very noticeable IMO

storage space>speed for gaming files, unless youre willing to spend a tonne for 1TB SSD

Yes, i do prefer storage than speed for gaming files. The price difference is only RM50 between Seagate SSHD 1TB and WD Black (price from Viewnet)

the only perk of WD Black has compared to the SSHD is the 5 year warranty period

otherwise, the SSHD have better speed