Could a harddrive die because of start and stoping even when its in a ext. enclosure

[DKre8ive1]

Ok so here is my gripe I got a brand new 320gig WD drive and a Vantec Esata enclosure about a year and a half ago and I left it on and I only use it for backup.

So my question is how the hell can it fail on me when I have my older 120gig WD(internal drive) that I have been putting a good fragging to for around 3+ years not even give me any hint of failure.

I read on a review on NewEgg where someone mentioned that having your external drive on at all times and if it is esata it could cause it to die sooner because its constantly starting and stopping, but to be honest I cant find the review at the moment and I would really like to hear some input from the local FST A+ techies here on what they think and if what the reviewer said could actually be true.

[clocker]

I think your drive failed for the normal reasons that hard drives do...it just felt like it.
I've got that same enclosure (black NexStar3) and haven't had any drives fail while in it, nor have I heard any rumors to that effect.

[Appzalien]

I read in a PC Magazine that the biggest cause of external hard drive failure is Heat. Cases that have poor ventilation can cause a drive to fail prematurely. For that reason, and I too use my external for backup only, I remove my drive after making the backup and store it in my desk until the next time I need to make an image. This way I only run it for an hour at a time every two months or so.

[tutipute]

Turning the drive on and off should not cause an HD to fail unless it had a problem in the first place. This was a problem a few years back but its been gone for quite a while now...

Appzalien has a good point, it might be that the HD overheated to death.
However, i personally think that it was just a damaged drive on a ticking clock.

[clocker]

I read in a PC Magazine that the biggest cause of external hard drive failure is Heat. Cases that have poor ventilation can cause a drive to fail prematurely.
Although I make an effort to cool my HDDs- because I can!- I think the theory of premature drive death due to "heat" is overstated.
There are millions of late 90's/early 2k Dells, Gateways, etc. that still function with absolutely no case ventilation whatsoever.
In fact, most of these chassis look like they were designed to minimize airflow and serve as great examples of how NOT to cool internal components- yet they still chug right along.

I don't even know how you'd design a test to gather enough data to make a statistically valid assessment regarding the most common single cause of drive failure.

[DKre8ive1]

Well in the summertime there would be times when my Vantec(Blue NexStar3} Enclosure got so hot you couldn't hold on to it for long, so I am going to blame constant overheating during the summer as the reason and the next drive I get I am going to make sure I put it under my desk where it seems to be a lot cooler since heat always rises and my other external has never had the problem of feeling burning hot.

Thanks for all your suggestions. :)

[lynx]

Despite what's been said, in the past I've had 2 drives fail after what I would describe as "excessive" heat. This was about the time that HDD coolers started being prolific, and just before the advent of technology recording the maximum temperature the drive had reached. Fortunately (for me) both drives were replaced under warranty.

Since then, drive temperature has become much more of an issue, but at the same time the manufacturers have done a lot to reduce the amount of heat produced so that excessive temps are much less likely to be produced.

Reading the S.M.A.R.T. data can tell you if temperature was really an issue, but of course that's intended to warn you about impending failure, you probably have no access to it once the drive has failed (but you can bet the manufacturers can).

Anyway, if the drive is only 18 months old it should still be under warranty - check WD's website to make sure and get it replaced free.

Good idea about under the desk - put it where you can accidentally give it a good kicking, that'll teach it.

[athenaesword]

i've never had a HDD fail on me due to heating. with external enclosures though i've had the enclosure board with the connections go bad.. which only happened a month after purchase so...

[Appzalien]

I read in a PC Magazine that the biggest cause of external hard drive failure is Heat. Cases that have poor ventilation can cause a drive to fail prematurely.
Although I make an effort to cool my HDDs- because I can!- I think the theory of premature drive death due to "heat" is overstated.
There are millions of late 90's/early 2k Dells, Gateways, etc. that still function with absolutely no case ventilation whatsoever.
In fact, most of these chassis look like they were designed to minimize airflow and serve as great examples of how NOT to cool internal components- yet they still chug right along.

I don't even know how you'd design a test to gather enough data to make a statistically valid assessment regarding the most common single cause of drive failure.


I have had a few of those old relics myself and I do tend to agree with you that they were built to last forever. Unfortunately thats not the case today, the newer drives are built in China, not to last, but to make the most profit from a low price while paying the lowest possible wages to employees. Thats why you can buy a 500gig drive for under a hundred bucks U.S., and also why they are more likely to die from heat or shock than the old work horses. I've had those old things apart and there was hardly a piece of plastic anywhere inside, and if there was it was nylon, not true for new drives.

[clocker]

I have had a few of those old relics myself and I do tend to agree with you that they were built to last forever. Unfortunately thats not the case today, the newer drives are built in China, not to last, but to make the most profit from a low price while paying the lowest possible wages to employees.
But couldn't you say exactly the same for motherboards, memory, vid cards, etc.?
In which case, shouldn't we see a corresponding rise in failure rate for these components as well?

As an aside...I would tend to discount "shock" as a failure vector in desktop PCs- they rarely get moved (and are usually off when doing so), so I don't see physical abuse too often.

[tknaught]

Enclosures definitely seem to fail more often than internal drives do. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a short in the controller.

[kondrae]

The drive was probably going to die and stopping and starting maybe finished it. whenever i buy external case, the main thing i look for is to make sure it disappate heat well.

i have a nexxtech and it works great. http://reviews.cnet.com/cases/nexxtech-hard-drive-enclosure/4505-3030_7-32114654.html

[DKre8ive1]

Anyway, if the drive is only 18 months old it should still be under warranty - check WD's website to make sure and get it replaced free.

Good idea about under the desk - put it where you can accidentally give it a good kicking, that'll teach it.

Well I finally got around to opening up my pc and removing that drive and guess what my warranty is good till 05/2009 so I am planning on sending it back to them for a replacement.

Thanks for the tip lynx and to answer the last part of the quote my desk is like 8 feet long and where I plan to set the drive is no were near where I sit, so kicking it by accident is not something that is likely to happen.

[Appzalien]

The article I mentioned in my earlier reply was about external enclosures specifically, not neccessarily what brand of drive was put inside it. It said that when you choose an external enclosure for putting your own drive in, you should choose a name brand and make sure it has a cooling fan inside as well as ventilation slots in the cover. Most brand name prebuilt externals (Maxtor/ Seagate/ WD) you'll notice, are put together to stand vertically with venting at the the top and bottom so heat can rise out easily, fan or no fan. Using a no-name external case and setting it on its side probably doesn't do the hard drive inside any favors.

So just using some common sense about positioning, air circulation and choice of the case design should let your drive last a long time. After all, a WD 500gig external has the same 500gig drive inside that you can buy so it stands to reason if you get a good case for it you separately bought drive should last awhile too.

[DKre8ive1]

:( I lost another 160 drive so I guess this past two months have not been good for my harddrives it seems.

But I guess its time to go upgrade and get me maybe two 500gig drives or maybe even two 750 gig drives if there is not much of a price difference when I purchase them which more then likely will be two weeks from now.

[The Flying Cow]

In my experience (lost a 250GB drive that belonged inside a PC, but I was using encased in an enclosure, as well as a 90GB drive that was also in the same situation) drives can die due to repetitive starting and stopping.
I don't think that's the only reason why they go, though. The 250GB one was dropped once, by a friend, accidentally. Really pished me off, and I guess it had it's results ><

Anyhow the price dif is minimal. The 750GB MyBook I just bought on credit cost me €160, and the 1TB was €180. The 500 was €150 or something.

So you see, not cheap at all, but very close in terms of range.

-Shaman