[plug] Raid 0 software? hardware?

[Brad Campbell]

Cameron Patrick wrote:

> It's worth noting that you should keep backups even if you are using
> one of the "reliable" RAID levels.  However losing 1 in 4 drives in a
> year sounds a lot worse than my luck with cheapo ATA drives.  Perhaps
> Brad Campbell could comment on how often his drives die, he seems to
> have a lot more of them than most people? :)

<Enters stage left>

29 at the moment (27 Maxtor Maxline-II and 2 WD).
I had less than favorable results with 7 WD WD2000JD drives with 3 failing in a 12 month period. 
Having said that they were not as well cooled as the Maxtors are. (Live and learn). I actually 
dumped the WD's as they had the dreaded drop out of the RAID bug and I replaced them before I 
learned about the firmware upgrade.

As for the Maxtors...
Have had one DOA and one at 5500 Hours.

Have not had them running for a year just yet, but two from 29 in less than 12 months is not that 
flash. The DOA unit was in original bulk factory packing direct from the wholesaler. The unit that 
died at about ~5500 was air freighted from Canada along with two of its brothers by Fedex in less 
than ideal packing. Who knows what damage that might have caused.

12 Maxline-II and a pair of WD drives in the old box.

# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      7624         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      7588         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      7599         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      7586         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      7586         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      7582         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      7582         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      7322         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      7322         -

This one is the replacement for the ~5500 hour failure

# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      1940         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      4834         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%      4829         -

These two are WD Drives (Note neither keep a proper hour counter and they wrap pretty frequently)

# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%        90         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       878         -


15 Maxline-II in the new server

# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       916         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       916         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       916         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       916         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       916         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       916         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       916         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       916         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       916         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       916         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       916         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       916         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       916         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       916         -
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       814         -


They are in reasonably favorable conditions however and all sit around 38-40 Degrees C (Which I was 
informed by a senior Maxtor tech is pretty close to ideal. Internal drive temp as measured by SMART, 
that is).

Regards,
Brad (HD collector and libata torture tester. Certified or Certifiable, pick one)
-- 
"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability
to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable
for their apparent disinclination to do so." -- Douglas Adams