Drive Failures

Parsec · 31 Jan 2006 at 09:19

A "workstation" PC I built for a friend about 4-5 years ago (dual P3 1Ghz) keeps killing hard drives - they are PATA. I think he hammers the machine a bit, he runs 3d rendering software and uses it 8am-5pm.

Two striped 40gb drives died so were replaced with a single 80gb Maxtor and that now looks about to die too.

Is this lifetime normal for these drives or would you folks recommend I look into whether they're running too hot?

semi-pro waster · 31 Jan 2006 at 11:24

How old are the drives? If the original drives lasted 4 years of being used constantly between 8-5 then it probably isn't that bad but I would check how hot the drives get anyway and possibly look at getting Raid editions of the drives as they should have undergone more stringent testing.

Parsec · 1 Feb 2006 at 09:35

Both drives only lasted about two years each.

I didn't realise there were RAID editions of drives, I thought only SCSI drives were more reliable. Will look into that, thanks

. Are they hard to get hold of, can't see any on the overclockers website?

semi-pro waster · 1 Feb 2006 at 10:22

Sorry I hadn't realised OcUK had stopped selling them so I guess the answer is yes Raid editions are difficult to get hold of. There is still one in the clearance section I think but that is about it. 2 years doesn't seem like a huge amount of time but then your friend is probably stressing them more than normal usage would.