All hard drives are sensitive to temperature.  In fact, that is 
the leading cause of failure.  Actually, the cause is more 
accurately poor choice of drive/housing/cooling/ventilation. 
Very few people think about matching a HDD to the environment 
(case) when designing a system; they just grab a HDD and bolt it 
into the rails.   Since it fits, it must be ok.

Here's an incomplete checklist:

1. Is the drive rated to 65C or 70C?  The extra 5C spindle 
temperature makes a huge difference.
2. Is the drive mounted in the best heat sinking position? 
(sorry, can't elaborate)
3. Is the drive mounted to take advantage of best convective 
cooling? (sorry, can't elaborate)
4. Is the drive used in a typical PC, or is it under heavy use 
for long periods (for example running multiple streaming videos) 
that cause huge amounts of seeking (head motor heating)?
5. Did you make sure you didn't exceed the temperature gradient 
for the HDD?  This is both temperature from one end of the device 
to the other and the time from cold "off" to final temperature.

The HDD failure rates mentioned earlier are way too high for a 
properly designed system. (again, sorry can't elaborate).

-Ken

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dr Skip" <drskip@gmail.com>
To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <piclist@mit.edu>
Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2008 10:05 AM
Subject: Re: [EE]:: Hard Drive failure rates


> IME, Maxtor drives are very sensitive to temperature. I've seen 
> 3+ drives of
> theirs go bad when case fans went bad over the last 10 yrs, but 
> the Seagate and
> WD drives were fine, as was everything else in all cases.
>
> Dario Greggio wrote:
>> Apptech wrote:
>>
>> I can confirm something like this: I had my biggest troubles 
>> with
>> Seagate drives (despite their "name" and "brand reputation") , 
>> followed
>> by Western Digital.
>>
>> Maxtor IMO are the best/most endurable - maybe not as 
>> performant...
>>
>>
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