Why is harddisks nowadays so unreliable? I have 8 harddisk in my desktop computer, 2 which is making funny crackling noises, and they are brand new (less than 1-2 months).

My laptop harddisk just croaked and the laptop is just about 1 year old (IBM T30)

If there's ever a class action suit against hd makers, I am signing up!


*end of rant*

Heh, why do you need so many harddisks anyway? ( if you dont mind me asking ).. and what brand :D

I store a lot of data. All in all, I have about 1TB on my desktop. The one making funny noises are IBM... figures...

Brand names would be good. I've always had good experiences with SeaGate.

But as a theory I would suppose it's just mass production. Very few things are hand made with care and attention these days - hence the need for good warranties.

My friend has this huge collection of harddisk because he just use it to store his digital images from his huge collection of digital camera.. and the collection is massive. He stores them to CD but decide to keep a local copy.. So he is always in need of harddisk. His problem came with the new series of 200++ gb type harddisk. He got like 8 of those and seems like they are failing one at a time.

It seems like they build them fast and big but those seems pretty fragile. For my notebook, I am just using 40gb harddisks and they seems fine..

I just had a laptop HDD fail - an IBM HDD a bit over a year old.

It wasn't very nice. Fortunately it didn't have anything critical on it. It was mainly an archive of old emails and file downloads.

But I wonder why modern HDDs are so unreliable. Some of the old ones in one of my file servers have been running almost 24/7 for the past 5 years without skipping a beat. I do expect them to fail any day, but they keep on going and going :)

-Shaun

Yes. I used to have a 20MB (yes you read right) that purrs for 3 years without skipping a beat. Now my harddisks are just failing left and right. It's bad enough that most manufacturers don't dare to give 3 years warranty anymore (most giving 1 year).

Just last month, my brother got a 80gb maxtor. It fail 3 days in a roll, 3 different new harddisks (he got it exchanged each time). Must be a faulty batch.

My laptop has a lot of info. All my work is done on it. Backups aren't exactly today's information. So. I may lose a couple of weeks of data and mails.

I am forcing a chkdsk now, and I may recover it after all. Once I get it up, going to backup and just get IBM to change me a new Hd (I got a 3 years on site warranty, paid a couple hundred more for it)

Sadly, I guess that's why IBM sold off their Harddisk Facilities to Hitachi.. They cannot take the heat..

I just got a 40gb Notebook Harddisk from Hitachi for my portable storage media for my digital camera.. I do hope it last.. It survived a month of hardship with me already..

Looks like chkdsk is doing badly.. just suddenly reset from 66% complete to 50%.... and just now it was stuck at 50% for about an hour or so.... :(

I've always had issues with Maxtor. I got one for this desktop and the computer wouldn't even recognize it. Tried every trick in the book to get it in then gave up. Got a SeaGate, connected it and 'blam' there it was.

I have an old SeaGate as a dual HD (soon to be replaced) that's dying after three years. Even now it'll still hold data though it grinds and screams everytime I access it - not something I'd currently keep important information on of course. :D

Yeap, same here, i've been having good experiences with my seagate.

Originally posted by eddy2099
Sadly, I guess that's why IBM sold off their Harddisk Facilities to Hitachi.. They cannot take the heat..

I just got a 40gb Notebook Harddisk from Hitachi for my portable storage media for my digital camera.. I do hope it last.. It survived a month of hardship with me already..

I got another notebook hd and put it in a USB casing... but unfortunately. I just can't be backing up daily...

:bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling:
Chkdsk completes but still can't boot. Operating system not found
:bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling: :bawling:

I have a seagate and maxtor HD.. they've lasted me for some years now. :)

The data is there. I think I need to fix in a new harddisk, set up the harddisk, use my usb casing to mount the old drive and backup info that way.

I've seen this trend lately and its really beginning to bug me. I've always used to use Maxtor, but now I'm starting to loose faith as my newest HD (120GB) is going belly up. Every WD I've ever owned, just killed off without warning usually within a few months (different drives sizes, and batches).

Perhaps, its time for me to use Seagate. I have a 10MB seagate sitting around here somewhere and the last I checked it, it still purred.

My next HD will be Seagate since I've heard lots of good about them.

It's hampering our work (mine at least!) for sure. If anyone starts a class action suit, I am joining!

Why is harddisks nowadays so unreliable?

To answer your original question, they are so unreliable because of the demand for ultra cheap computers and accessories.
Memory is becoming so cheap that it is almost a disposible commodity.
I for one would rather pay the money up front and get a quality product.

I think Vito had in his sig once "I am not rich enough to buy cheap things" or words to that extent.
You get the idea.

My other SeaGate died out of nowhere...

the 40GB i got now is running great! :D

I paid for quality.... IBM laptops aren't cheap. One of the most expensive in fact.

I've got a Quantum drive from 1992 which is still running as well as ever, as well as another quantum from 1998 and another quantum from 2001 :D

I like quantums... never had one fail on me yet

phision, you are the luckiest man alive. I have had nothing but heart ache from Quantum drives.

Originally posted by blue27
To answer your original question, they are so unreliable because of the demand for ultra cheap computers and accessories.
Memory is becoming so cheap that it is almost a disposible commodity.

I think we're seeing the backlash of that nowdays though with 'designer' brands apprearing that specify that they're selling expensive products that are expensively built and tested - a few RAM companies come to mind.

It just gets to a point where people get so fed up with hardware that they *know* will break they go ahead and look for a premium product.

I brought my IBM Netvista in 2000,havent had one single problem with the computer or the HDD.It's been brilliant only money ive spent on it was to upgrade the RAM and Graphics Card.

So just pointing out IBM have there good hard drives and there bad hard drives just like EVERY OTHER company out there.

I hope when i build my own in a few weeks it will be as good as this one :)