[X4U] External HD Reliability?

[Dave B]

On 27-Feb-08, at 13:48, Zane H. Healy wrote:
> I'm curious if anyone has any comments about the reliability of  
> external HD's, especially the Lacie, and Western Digital models.  I  
> really need a couple external drives for photo vaults, and am trying  
> to decide if I should buy something, or build something.
>
> Zane


 From what I've seen of pre-assembled drives, the enclosures/power  
supplies/interfaces rarely have issues. The drives on the other hand  
are prone to failure, especially if used hard. They are not 'top  
shelf' drives.

I've taken to buying bare drives (good ones!) and empty enclosures  
from a local wholesaler. It costs me a bit less than buying a pre- 
assembled drive from Costco, and a lot less than going to the local  
Apple reseller. After assembly I always use disk utility to erase the  
disk, also choosing the security option of 'zeroing out data' and  
leaving it over night to complete.

Every once in a while I'll have a drive that has issues with being  
zero'd. TechTool will usually find bad blocks, and the TT report is  
good enough for the wholesaler to do an 'over the counter exchange'.

If the data is valuable enough to keep, it is worth the minor  
inconvenience. Especially when I get a drive that has issues from new.

HTH,
Dave

---
Why do I use a Mac vs. a Wintel box ... it's simple, I get more done  
in less time.