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

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.

[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.

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/

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

Currently there are only 2 hybrid SSHD in the Malaysian market - Seagate SSHD which comes in 2.5" and 3.5" form factor, and WD's Black2 in 2.5". Toshiba 2.5" SSHD MQ01ABD100H is the other model that has not come to Malaysian market.

SG and WD have employed different approach on their SSHDs. SG is essentially a normal HDD with an 8GB flash cache to enable faster read/write performance while WD employs a dual HDD and 120GB SSD in the same unit. There are no one-to-one benchmark available currently since they are wired differently. However SG 3.5" SSHD tops WD 3.5" Black in terms of real-world performance (see the review on Storagereview). WD Black2 is really a great deal for upgrading notebooks with only 1x 2.5" HDD slot and is currently in short supply.



Viewnet's price list seems to indicate that. For best (cheapest) per TB per warranty year go for Black 4TB.

Awesome.

Lucky to be living in Malaysia. Users in US are having a hard time getting their hands on one.

FYI, WD Purple has been internally tuned for a loading of 95% write and 5% read. It would be a good fit if you intend to use it mainly for writing most of the time, otherwise WD Red is better tuned for reading.

This post has been edited by mrbob: Sep 11 2014, 10:36 AM

Western Digital's HGST releases 10TB Helium-filled HDD



As expected the newest Ultrastar He10 employs shingled magnetic recording (SMR) the same technology which SG used in the recent 8TB HDD release.

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/18981...ngled-recording

That's a very cheap ext HDD even when it's not PC/IT fair price. For the innerts it houses Toshiba HDD and Via VL701-T4 controller. Review at Tweaktown shows fast performance. Can't comment on warranty experience though.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/5714/adat...view/index.html

Note that SG and WD 2.5" 1TB ext HDDs could sell < RM200 during PC/IT fairs although for now I would be avoiding WD 2.5" ext due to intregated USB3 controller to the HDD PCB which limits tinkering with the int HDD should the USB controller fail.


Yeah HDDs are generally hit or miss, but you can do alot to care for your HDDs better. Take a wholistic view on how to best maintain the PC components health. You will be surprise on how long your HDDs last once it gets pass the crucial 1st 6 months usage.

Googling WD Passport issues brings up a fair bit of reports on loose USB port. When disassembled, users found custom USB-controller-integrated HDD PCBs that cannot be installed into any SATA ports. The integrated PCBs seems to be on most 2.5" Passports even on the good old Passport Essential. You can also find plenty of pictures on the net. Here are some.

WD Passport Essential



WD Passport Edge


WD Passport Ultra


Problems with USB connector could be fairly easily fixed by resoldering. However if USB controller fails then you better have a backup otherwise there's just a slim chance of recovering the data by replacing the integrated PCBs sourced through 3rd-party spare part stores.

This post has been edited by mrbob: Oct 3 2014, 07:47 AM

I know how you feel, I also got a WD Passport in my collection. Jumped at a really good offer before I did a proper checking with Uncle Google. Sigh...


There's already a YouTube video showing how to extract the 2TB Samsung M9T HDD from a SG Backup Plus Slim. The USB controller is clearly shown as a separate adapter. We should get the same innerts here in SEA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6eV3pEXKgo

From another SG 2.5" Backup Plus disassembly video, also shows that the USB controller is separate from the HDD PCB. So I think it's pretty safe to conclude that the current batch of SG's 2.5" ext HDDs can be extracted and redeployed to normal SATA port.

SG 2.5" Backup Plus disassembly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e67098dYZ_0

This post has been edited by mrbob: Oct 3 2014, 06:51 PM

You can get SG Backup Plus Slim from most Lowyat stores. Viewnet was selling it at RM369 last month. It will take a few more months for the 2.5" Expansion 2TB to come in. There seems to be more demand overseas than in Malaysia but stock should be coming in as the demand picks up.

Most consumers in Malaysia still think that WG Passports' 2.5" portable HDDs has a SATA port on the HDDs' PCB that allows them to be extracted and reused if the USB part of the portable HDD fails. I guess as long as there is no issue with the USB connector or the controller, users don't really need to worry about this design issue. My own Passport is still running well after 3 years, though now I'm just using it as a secondary backup HDD. Praying that it won't suffer any USB related problems like other users.

There shouldn't be any issues with the HDD firmware as they have been tested on native chipsets and popular OSes.
What motherboard did you install the 6TB on? I would check the SATA controller chip.





This post has been edited by mrbob: Oct 21 2014, 04:01 PM

Hmmm, Viewnet retailing at 369.

Yep, I mentioned this to you a couple weeks ago. It should be on a downward trend before GST and further inflation hits.


You can find the discussion on this issue in previous posts. Just as a recap - if just use for storage, go for WD Green. Warranty 2 yrs.

WD Red and Purple are best suited for RAID arrays since they have TLER feature to help stay online in the array. Warranty 3 yrs.

WD AV Green, SG SV35 and Surveillance could be better suited for 24/7 video streaming or heavy write applications. Warranty 3 yrs.







This post has been edited by mrbob: Oct 21 2014, 03:57 PM

Have you tried booting Linux on the Microserver to see if you can format them? The main cold-swap bays should be able to support the 6TB HDDs.

If planning to buy anything from PC/IT Fairs, be careful to buy from reputable shops and don't get con.


https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2309310/

That is why we have backups. CDs and DVDs are cheap but storage size abit limited. Waiting for BR-RW to come down