[X4U] Lifespan of Harddrives?

[Zane H. Healy]

> I've just had 2 external drives puke in as many weeks.
> 
> Different brands, but both 7200RPM, FW drives. I had them for 2 and 3  
> years respectively. Started hearing that parking sound, followed by  
> wierd freezes of the OS.
> 
> I do some video, but not every day; it isn't the lion's share of what  
> I do. I have the feeling these drives ought to have lasted longer  
> than they did, but was interested what other people here have  
> experienced.

Something to take a serious look at is cooling.  Pretty much every hard
drive failure that I've had can be attributed to problems with cooling. 
There is one exception to this, but I'm firmly convinced it was bad when I
got it (as a result I recommend doing the slower format when adding a new
hard drive).

Many, if not most Firewire cases do not offer enough cooling for 7200RPM or
faster drives. Also certain drive models from various manufacturers have
proven to be more suceptable to heat related problems.

		Zane