Massive Google hard drive survey

jmke · 19th February 2007, 11:07

Google releases data of their HDD experience:

"One of those we thought was most intriguing was that drives often needed replacement for issues that SMART drive status polling didn't or couldn't determine, and 56% of failed drives did not raise any significant SMART flags (and that's interesting, of course, because SMART exists solely to survey hard drive health); other notable patterns showed that failure rates are indeed definitely correlated to drive manufacturer, model, and age;

http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/18/m...resting-thing/

jmke · 19th February 2007, 11:11

Quote:

We first look at the correlation between average temperature
during the observation period and failure. Figure
4 shows the distribution of drives with average temperature
in increments of one degree and the corresponding
annualized failure rates. The figure shows that failures
do not increase when the average temperature increases.
In fact, there is a clear trend showing that lower
temperatures are associated with higher failure rates.
Only at very high temperatures is there a slight reversal
of this trend.

interesting data! The colder the HDD, the higher the failure rate, sweet spot for HDD temps seems between 35-40°C; between 15-30°C the failure rate is noticeably higher

Too bad they don't include company names & drive models...

19th February 2007, 12:04

that pretty much kills the business of harddrive coolers

jmke · 19th February 2007, 13:13

not quite, as without active HDD cooling I see temps between 45-50, which is where the failure rate gets higher in the charts; most HDDs with active cooling are between 30-35... almost perfect

19th February 2007, 19:18

My hdd's are between 28°c and 34°c with two quiet 92cm fans running at 6V. Cant really put the lower than that (or they wont start)...

As for SMART: indeed, it's not really a good diagnostic tool. I've had 2 defective hdd's lately and both were pronounced in pristine health by SMART.

20th February 2007, 09:48

okay, but SMART can't detect everything. It only detects whether your hard disk is wearing out or not. It can't predict a sudden failure.

22nd February 2007, 19:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by HardFreak

okay, but SMART can't detect everything. It only detects whether your hard disk is wearing out or not. It can't predict a sudden failure.

i wasn't talking about sudden failure and i doubt all the google ones were either.

Sidney · 22nd February 2007, 20:50

I am in trouble; my Hitachi 160GB SATA is running at 27°C normally and never exceeded 33°C in the last two years. I'd better put a heater there.

22nd February 2007, 20:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazyman

I am in trouble; my Hitachi 160GB SATA is running at 27°C normally and never exceeded 33°C in the last two years. I'd better put a heater there.

You could glue it to your CPU heatsink, keeps the cpu cool and the hdd warm

jmke · 22nd February 2007, 21:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazyman

I am in trouble; my Hitachi 160GB SATA is running at 27°C normally and never exceeded 33°C in the last two years. I'd better put a heater there.

no you're not in trouble, averages are just that: averages

19th February 2007, 11:07	#1
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,022	Massive Google hard drive survey Google releases data of their HDD experience: "One of those we thought was most intriguing was that drives often needed replacement for issues that SMART drive status polling didn't or couldn't determine, and 56% of failed drives did not raise any significant SMART flags (and that's interesting, of course, because SMART exists solely to survey hard drive health); other notable patterns showed that failure rates are indeed definitely correlated to drive manufacturer, model, and age; http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/18/m...resting-thing/ __________________

19th February 2007, 13:13	#4
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,022	not quite, as without active HDD cooling I see temps between 45-50, which is where the failure rate gets higher in the charts; most HDDs with active cooling are between 30-35... almost perfect __________________

22nd February 2007, 20:50	#8
Sidney Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 15,738	I am in trouble; my Hitachi 160GB SATA is running at 27°C normally and never exceeded 33°C in the last two years. I'd better put a heater there. __________________ lazyman Opteron 165 (2) @2.85 1.42 vcore AMD Stock HSF + Chill Vent II

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19th February 2007, 12:04	#3
Rutar Posts: n/a	that pretty much kills the business of harddrive coolers

19th February 2007, 19:18	#5
SuAside Posts: n/a	My hdd's are between 28°c and 34°c with two quiet 92cm fans running at 6V. Cant really put the lower than that (or they wont start)... As for SMART: indeed, it's not really a good diagnostic tool. I've had 2 defective hdd's lately and both were pronounced in pristine health by SMART.

20th February 2007, 09:48	#6
wutske Posts: n/a	okay, but SMART can't detect everything. It only detects whether your hard disk is wearing out or not. It can't predict a sudden failure.