tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post116020134501763700..comments2024-01-19T02:23:51.665-06:00Comments on Journal Wunelle: A Scary Story (a wee bit early)wstachourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447198404608861357noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post-1160456347932546792006-10-09T23:59:00.000-05:002006-10-09T23:59:00.000-05:00wunelle - The backup server did actually suffer a ...wunelle - The backup server did actually suffer a hard drive failure. The backups do get written to tapes, but a large catalog of the contents of the tapes is written on disk. Without the catalog you can't find any of the contents of the tapes. Luckily, the tapes can be read and the catalogs reconstructed, it just takes around 30 hours per catalog. I have two of them reconstructed, and two more to go.<BR/><BR/>Given how many hard drives I have to observe (roughly 500 computers with at least one per) it is probably not that surprising to have this many go in such a short time. If a drive will run on average for 10 years then having about 50 failures a year sounds about right. I'll have some weeks with none, and some with a couple, and a few nasty weeks with several. I just have to be sure to take notice of and appreciate those special weeks when I have none.<BR/><BR/>The iPod is about 2 years old. My anecdotal experience is that portable hard drives fare about the same as desktop drives, so I wouldn't expect the iPod to fail any quicker than any other drive. At least when it fails you are not out any irreplaceable data, just the cost of a drive (around $100 in this case).<BR/><BR/>Alex - Sounds like you've had pretty good luck so far, but keep those DVDs spinning - you are probably due. Your 2TB drive should be no problem - you can get the entire contents on just under 450 DVDs ;-)Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13860812772132171202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post-1160448254139812292006-10-09T21:44:00.000-05:002006-10-09T21:44:00.000-05:00I have several computers at work running 24/7, inc...I have several computers at work running 24/7, including one that is still running os 9.2 on an old machine that locks up when put to sleep, so I keep the hard drives spinning. Haven't had a failure in 8 years (In fact, I've never had a failure). I suppose it's only a matter of time. Luckily, my business is small enough to back up to DVD-RAM every evening without too much hassle. Still haven't figured out how to back up my two terabyte drive without buying another two terabyte drive, though;)<BR/><BR/>Alex RandomAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post-1160408146310562132006-10-09T10:35:00.000-05:002006-10-09T10:35:00.000-05:00Boy, talk about plagues and pestilence! So far (k...Boy, talk about plagues and pestilence! So far (knock on wood) my whopping four drives are behaving nicely. My oldest is in the G4 Powerbook, and it's coming up on its four year anniversary. The others are within a year.<BR/><BR/>Amazing that you should have so many in such a short time. I'm assuming that your backup server was a failure of the server itself and not of a hard drive per se, since those back up to tape, no?<BR/><BR/>How old was the iPod? I use mine quite a bit in the car, but mostly it gets jostled around in my backpack. I wonder how long it will last. I guess batteries can be replaced by a professional.wstachourhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12447198404608861357noreply@blogger.com