"I actually use them. And we all know that HDD's have a 100% failure rate."
Most of my experience is with multitrack audio recording - where I've always used faster, higher quality drives. I've gone through dozens of them (probably around 50-60, actually), running them at full speed for several hours at a time in very hot computer cases, and never had single failure.
The only failure I've had was on the OEM (read: cheap) system drive in my computer at work. It was used heavily every day for four years before it decided it was tired of spinning up. (Because of good back-up practices though, I didn't lose any important data.)
I've also had a near failure, where S.M.A.R.T. (hard disk monitoring) told me that the syntem drive was misbehaving. I copied (ghosted) my software and OS onto a new drive without a problem, and haven't had a problem since.
Of course I'm not saying that hard disk failures don't happen. I've witnessed it on other's computers and heard horror stories. I'm just saying that my experience tells me that newer drives are more reliable than older drives, that more expensive "enterprise-class" drives are more reliable than cheap OEM drives, and that you shouldn't expect the system drive you use all day to last forever. So I use separate, high-quality drives for archive purposes that sit around un-powered most of the time, and make a Ghost image of my system hard disk in case it fails.
In any case, we're talking about the back-up media, not practices. If someone is really interested in protecting their data, they're gonna have to implement a good strategy involving regular back ups, a safe place to store back-up media, etc. The real point is that hard drives - used as an archive medium - are much more robust than CDs, DVDs or tape, and are nearly as cheap.
Hard disks are the best archive format for personal use. (Magnetic tape is still king for most professional use - regular back ups of huge databases.) Hard drives are cheap (and getting cheaper. They are almost at parity with DVD-Rs MB/$) and much more convenient to back up to than CD-Rs or DVD-Rs. They are faster and have higher capacity, and back-ups can be easily automated.
They are also much more robust. Sitting on a shelf, the data on a hard disk will basically stay there forever - even under extreme temperature and humidity variations that would ruin a DVD or magnetic tape. As long as it isn't subjected to a strong impart or a very strong magnetic field, your data will be there when you need it.
Add to that the fact that hard disks have much better error correction than CDs or DVDs. Modern HDs also support hardware monitoring that can warn you if the drive starts to fail, and can correct for physical errors on the disk.
Note that you do not want to keep your back up drives connected and spinning all the time. This lowers the life expectancy increases the risk of failure. Get an external USB 2.0 or Firewire enclosure. Pop a HD into it when it's time to back up, then remove the drive and stick it somewhere safe.
"I actually use them. And we all know that HDD's have a 100% failure rate." Most of my experience is with multitrack audio recording - where I've always used faster, higher quality drives. I've gone through dozens of them (probably around 50-60, actually), running them at full speed for several hours at a time in very hot computer cases, and never had single failure. The only failure I've had was on the OEM (read: cheap) system drive in my computer at work. It was used heavily every day for four years before it decided it was tired of spinning up. (Because of good back-up practices though, I didn't lose any important data.) I've also had a near failure, where S.M.A.R.T. (hard disk monitoring) told me that the syntem drive was misbehaving. I copied (ghosted) my software and OS onto a new drive without a problem, and haven't had a problem since. Of course I'm not saying that hard disk failures don't happen. I've witnessed it on other's computers and heard horror stories. I'm just saying that my experience tells me that newer drives are more reliable than older drives, that more expensive "enterprise-class" drives are more reliable than cheap OEM drives, and that you shouldn't expect the system drive you use all day to last forever. So I use separate, high-quality drives for archive purposes that sit around un-powered most of the time, and make a Ghost image of my system hard disk in case it fails. In any case, we're talking about the back-up media, not practices. If someone is really interested in protecting their data, they're gonna have to implement a good strategy involving regular back ups, a safe place to store back-up media, etc. The real point is that hard drives - used as an archive medium - are much more robust than CDs, DVDs or tape, and are nearly as cheap.
posted by bumschwatz 19 years ago
Hard disks are the best archive format for personal use. (Magnetic tape is still king for most professional use - regular back ups of huge databases.) Hard drives are cheap (and getting cheaper. They are almost at parity with DVD-Rs MB/$) and much more convenient to back up to than CD-Rs or DVD-Rs. They are faster and have higher capacity, and back-ups can be easily automated. They are also much more robust. Sitting on a shelf, the data on a hard disk will basically stay there forever - even under extreme temperature and humidity variations that would ruin a DVD or magnetic tape. As long as it isn't subjected to a strong impart or a very strong magnetic field, your data will be there when you need it. Add to that the fact that hard disks have much better error correction than CDs or DVDs. Modern HDs also support hardware monitoring that can warn you if the drive starts to fail, and can correct for physical errors on the disk. Note that you do not want to keep your back up drives connected and spinning all the time. This lowers the life expectancy increases the risk of failure. Get an external USB 2.0 or Firewire enclosure. Pop a HD into it when it's time to back up, then remove the drive and stick it somewhere safe.
posted by bumschwatz 19 years ago
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