Topic: What is your favorite hard drive

[rjp]

Solaris is a very nice option. You are right that its a little more effort to pull in and install all the packages for a general purpose work station but for the scaled down application server environment we run it's been awesome.  Are you using software RAID or a controller card?

The ZFS RAID-Z system is software RAID - and thus works best with simple controllers. That being said, there's a performance bottleneck that I think is a result of my mix'n'match SATA controllers, and I want to get an 8-port Intel HBA (SASUC8I) to run the big array. This card can operate in JBOD mode, which is perfect for a ZFS setup.

I prefer software RAID - I've used Linux MD-RAID for years. With modern CPUs, the extra processing for RAID is no big issue, and you don't have to worry about finding an exact replacement for a blown controller. Hardware RAID controllers tend to use proprietary data formats - you lose the controller, you lose the array.

As I was setting up my ZFS array, I witnessed how silent data corruption can occur in a hard drive, and also witnessed ZFS recovering from it. One of the array's drives (used in a previous Linux RAID array) was a bit elderly, and would happily write data onto previously-unknown bad sectors. After I had restored my backup onto the ZFS array, I ran a "scrub" operation, which verifies all written disk blocks against their checksums. The scrub wound up finding a slew of bad blocks on the old drive, so many that the drive in question got kicked out of the array. I installed a replacement, added it to the array, and let it resilver - problem solved. If I had tried to read a file that included those corrupted blocks, the data would have been transparently recovered from the redundant drives, with the errors logged.

On big arrays, it's good to have two redundant drives, so in the unlikely-but-possible event that a second drive fails while rebuilding the array, you're still covered. If you're extra paranoid, RAID-Z can run with triple redundancy.

[Buzzy]

To date I have never had an issue with internal Western Digital hard drives. I've had a couple of Seagates drives fail before. I a bit leary of external hard drives at this point and have not found a perfect solution to backing up data other than dvd discs. Keeping your drives defragmented on a regular basis is simple but important especially if you write and delete large (in my case video) files.

[RobertNC]

I am a little perplexed as to why people that seem to at least have the technical ability to understand RAID hardware and software elements and procedures would even consider it as a solution suitable to home and music file backup?

I mean if I have a SQL Server or Oracle database that needs to be striped over 5 drives to meet my performance demands, the yes, absolutely, I need a RAID backup architecture as well. 

I don't understand what advantage there is to using RAID at all much less as a "backup" methodology when I do not need a stack of drives - some or all of which at any given time may in fact have to come from a primary stack and others or all may in fact have to come from a backup stack - in order to run my application.

I would avoid Seagate drives like the plague.  Larger drives with more density are more prone to failure anyway, but Seagate has gone from being the industry leader in technology to making a lot of crap.

These external drives that come with enclosures - ditto.  No fans, not enough shock protection. 

If you have a laptop, or just for greater convenience, external drives are still the way to go.  Just get a decent external enclosure bay that has good solid mounting rails and fan.  Then load your own.  Right now I am using Western Digital Black Caviar 1TB drives and I am very happy with them.

It may sound crude but often simpler is more reliable.  What I do is I have one drive that is for music only.  I copy the files manually and then verify the checksums and that is all I use that drive for.  No auto backups, no defrag needed, no reindexing etc.  That is my high reliability backup. 

Then I have a second drive that is also used for example my regular laptop auto backups etc.  It gets a lot more grind, but if it fails it is pretty unlikely my other drive will also fail at the same time.

As far as offsite goes, I am content to be selective for now.  Sure I don't really want to lose anything, but many if not most shows, if I had to recover only my 16bit tracks from say LMA, I am OK with that.  Some really pristine recordings and all the ones that I cannot easily recover from a sharing system, I backup my masters only along with the workflow text and cues that I would need to reproduce everything I have done.

[rjp]

I am a little perplexed as to why people that seem to at least have the technical ability to understand RAID hardware and software elements and procedures would even consider it as a solution suitable to home and music file backup?

Defense in depth. As you point out, extra-high-density drives mean extra-high-density headaches. I'd much rather build a 2 TB RAID array than use a single 2 TB drive for main storage, no matter who made the drive. If you use a single drive, when it fails it's time to break out the backups. With a double-parity RAID array, you'd only have to restore from backups if you lost three drives at once.

First line of defense: the RAID itself, and ZFS data integrity features
Second line of defense: ZFS snapshots and clones
Third line of defense: external drives (which could also be ZFS)

Maybe it's overkill, but I've had RAID (even classic Linux MD-RAID) save me from lots of aggravation more than once.

In addition, a large storage system gives you lots of flexibility when you have multiple machines.

I have a fan-cooled USB enclosure with a 1.5 TB drive (and room for one more drive), to provide an extra measure of backup - but it isn't a 24x7 drive.

Regarding manufacturers, all of them have good and bad drives out there. At work, I have a stack of dead 40 GB WD drives that lasted less than a year before going "click, click, click" - and I've had Seagate and Samsung drives that failed prematurely as well. I've also had drives from all three companies that chugged along year after year without trouble. Seagate does seem to have entered a "down" period lately though... and I've replaced failed Seagates with WDs (and expanded my array with WD drives as well).

[Fried Chicken Boy]

These external drives that come with enclosures - ditto.  No fans, not enough shock protection. 

If you have a laptop, or just for greater convenience, external drives are still the way to go.  Just get a decent external enclosure bay that has good solid mounting rails and fan.  Then load your own.  Right now I am using Western Digital Black Caviar 1TB drives and I am very happy with them.

Agreed.  I'm guessing that folks have low opinions of external drives due to them being in crappy enclosures that are prone to overheating and drive failure.  Put together your own with a good enclosure and drive (quite easy to do, actually) and you'll be much better off.

To add my 2 cents, I've had every brand of drive fail on me at least once but the WD's seem to be the most reliable and run the coolest and quietest.  I've had decent luck with Seagate, too, but they make a lot more racket.  I've used a few Toshiba notebook drives that were fine.  I stay away from Hitachi and Maxtor but strangely enough, I've had a Maxtor running for over 10 years that hasn't given me a lick of trouble.  Only a matter of time, I suppose, since every other one of their drives I've used has catastrophically died.

[Scooter123]

RAID is not a back up feature.  It is a storage feature.  I have over 2tb of music.  So I'll take 3 WD Drives, each a tb, and then RAID them as my back up.  Not a primary drive, mind you, but a 2nd SATA Array, right?  I'll use RAID 5 so if one of those drives craps out, the other two have the data striped, and my back up survives.  Go RAID 1 and you have mirrored drives,  Go RAID 6 and you have a two drive redunancy.

Most Firewire-USB Back Up Boxes have a built in RAID controller for either RAID 0 or Raid 1.  RAID 5 or 6 typically requires a separate controller card on the PCIe slot. 

[it-goes-to-eleven]

I'll use RAID 5 so if one of those drives craps out, the other two have the data striped, and my back up survives.

I think concatenation is a much more reliable choice than striping in that case.  Each drive should be an individually mountable file system (not all raid allows that).  That way each drive has actual files on it, not just useless pieces.  It *greatly* increases the chances of recovery when things go very wrong.

[DigiGal]

For complete backups I've outgrown my old LaCie D2 Quadra drive, which will be used for other file storage now.  This LaCie drive blew a TVS zener protection diode since my last post but it was easy enough to replace the diode and bring it back to life again. 

Primarily looking at G-Technology G|Drive for full backup needs for 2011 and well beyond.   Alternatively, considering a comparable OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro.

Anyone have experience; pros and cons with these drives?

[Fried Chicken Boy]

I don't have any experience with either the G-Technology or OWC Mercury drives, but they do look purdy.   In all seriousness, I'd be leery of the G-Technology drives as they use Hitachi hd's.  From personal experience and from the tech geeks I know (they number quite a few in my business), those drives are some of the least reliable out there.  LaCie, for some inexplicable reason, actually switched to using Hitachi's several years ago and saw a considerable increase in their external drive failure rates.  Did some considerable damage to their reputation, too.  Can't seem to find what the guts in the OWC Mercury drives are.

I would suggest building your own external drives; if you can use a screwdriver, you should have very little trouble.  Go to Newegg.com or some other vendor and buy a bare 3.5" SATA drive (I prefer WD Caviar Black 1TB hd's but others will have their own opinions) and an enclosure for it (with a fan, if possible, and read the customer reviews).  It will probably take longer to format the drive after you put it together than to actually build it.  Directions on how to do it are all over the internet, one set being here > http://www.wikihow.com/Build-an-External-Hard-Drive

[DigiGal]

I don't have any experience with either the G-Technology or OWC Mercury drives, but they do look purdy.   In all seriousness, I'd be leery of the G-Technology drives as they use Hitachi hd's.  From personal experience and from the tech geeks I know (they number quite a few in my business), those drives are some of the least reliable out there.  LaCie, for some inexplicable reason, actually switched to using Hitachi's several years ago and saw a considerable increase in their external drive failure rates.  Did some considerable damage to their reputation, too.  Can't seem to find what the guts in the OWC Mercury drives are.

I would suggest building your own external drives; if you can use a screwdriver, you should have very little trouble.  Go to Newegg.com or some other vendor and buy a bare 3.5" SATA drive (I prefer WD Caviar Black 1TB hd's but others will have their own opinions) and an enclosure for it (with a fan, if possible, and read the customer reviews).  It will probably take longer to format the drive after you put it together than to actually build it.  Directions on how to do it are all over the internet, one set being here > http://www.wikihow.com/Build-an-External-Hard-Drive

Well thanks for the suggestion but I ended up getting the G-Technology G-Drive based on other reviews I'd seen.  Fingers crossed that I made a good choice (3yr warranty), time will tell... 

I was originally planning to build my own using WD's green drive with a OWC Mercury Elite AL Pro housing then leaned toward putting a Hitachi in OWC case after reading of problems with WD green drives.  The OWC's are also available with your choice of drive mfgr. either pre-built or DIY.

FW800 was essential and I ultimately didn't want any fan noise on my desktop.  G-Technology's case design with its integrated heat sink plus oversized and vented enclosure looked to provide the best no fan option especially after your mention of potential overheating.   

Had only briefly considered Lacie this time around because of having to replace a zener diode internally on my old one over the last year.  Lots of people were reporting power supply problems with their current crop of Poulton designed D2 Quadra's which tells me they still have powering issues.  My old Lacie Porsche designed drive has had no problems at all though.

[Chilly Brioschi]

WD Black