[ale] [semi OT] encouraging and discouraging HDD and SSD observations

[Lightner, Jeff]

You’re implying the 8 GB drive in my Intel 486 / Windows 95 system is obsolete?





From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Michael B. Trausch
Sent: Friday, November 01, 2013 8:14 AM
To: ale at ale.org
Subject: Re: [ale] [semi OT] encouraging and discouraging HDD and SSD observations

On 10/31/2013 10:00 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:

So, discouraging observation: it is now almost impossible to find any HDD or SSD with a warranty of more than 2-3 years.  Are they KIDDING?

No, they're not.

You replace drives when they fail.

If an HDD manufacturer offered a 10 year warranty, they'd be out of business *very* quickly.  The fact that they no longer offer 5 year warranties is a good thing, reducing cost for us all.  In my experience, if a drive runs for one year, 24x7, without fault, then it is likely to continue to do so for the next 9.  OTOH, drives that power off and on a lot, will die much sooner.

Anyway, if you're rich enough to depend on warranties or only use things in-warranty, well, to each their own.  The only warranty I care about on a hard disk is 12 to 18 months.  Outside of that, I've probably had to retire it due to growth anyway, my current set of HDDs being the exception.

Most HDDs drive well outside of warranty if treated properly.  SSD is flash-based and has its downsides, too, including bitrot (albeit differently than on magnetic media).

This is entirely the wrong industry to want long warranties in.  You only need a warranty long enough to burn in the hardware and use it for a little while.  All other stability should come from your backups.  All.

    — Mike
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