> Install smartmontools (free opens source from Sourceforge). It will warn
> you early about HDD failures.

.... in somewhat less than 50% of all cases, according to a Google(tm)
study of their own drives.

>From memory

-  less than but ~=3D  50% of drives gave a SMART message before failure.
- More than 50% of drives that gave a SMART error failed totally within 30 =
days.

YMMV.

I tell people "All hard drives fail - typically between 10 years and
half an hour after installation".

I used to use this analogy.

"There is a large hall in a castle.
On one side of the hall there is a massive roaring open fire from
which sparks sometimes leap or drift.
On the other large of the hall there is a vast sheet of fine tissue paper.
Scribes inscribe (as they do) crucial information on the tissue paper.
One day ..."

I have seen new PCs die the morning of delevery with 'motherboard faults'.
I have seen then leading-edge drives in top brand  (whatever) PCs fail in w=
eeks.
My small business experience with less illustrious gear has generally
been perhaps slighly better.


     Russell

  Russell
--=20
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