[WriteLog] Writelog file concerns

[Julian Cleak]

Hi Bill

In my limited experience of Computers the two most unreliable components in
the base unit are the PSU and the HDD, different makes have different common
faults.
Fuji for example have a nasty habit of not being recognised by the system
bios where as Seagate go into clunking mode, Maxtor drives seen to just spin
up and stay running with no access to them. These are just some of the
problems we get here in the uk. We have tried lots of different manufactures
from lots of different suppliers but seems to make no difference. 1 yr seems
to be the critical time of operation hear. I did a report to our buyers
when tenders were due for renewal and our records showed that 78% of HDD
failures happened within 2 months of being 1 yr old.
I think that the only answer to the HDD problem is to make regular backups
and, or fit a second HDD and keep duplicate files. I always tell our clients
that we can replace the programme files but the data files can cost up to
£1000 to retrieve, a CD-RW is about £30.

             Best of Luck

                     Julian
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Turner" <w7ti at dslextreme.com>
To: <kk9a at arrl.net>
Cc: "'WriteLog'" <writelog at contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 6:18 PM
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Writelog file concerns


> On Mon, 27 Jan 2003 16:07:25 -0000, <kk9a at arrl.net> wrote:
>
> >What happens if my hard drive fails?
>
> _________________________________________________________
>
> This isn't quite the answer to your question, but I believe the best
> solution is not to have a hard drive failure in the first place.
>
> HD's are so inexpensive anymore, I think the best medicine is to replace
> them every couple of years or so before they get to the point of
> failure.  Modern HD's are amazingly reliable - when they are new.  I
> have had a couple of HD crashes in my ten years of computing, and they
> were both on drives that had several years of use on them.  HD's seem to
> be good for around 3-5 years of ordinary use, so change them every two
> years or so and you should be ok.
>
> Incidentally, there are removable HD fixtures now that allow you to swap
> a HD in about ten seconds.  I just bought several of them on eBay for
> $6.99 each.  Put all your contesting software on a new HD and only use
> it for contests.  Something to think about.
>
> 73, Bill W7TI
>
>
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