Intro and question

[wayne]

Hi all,

I guess I should introduce myself. I do several things. I publish the
online free magazine The Digital ImageMaker. It went live on June 1 and
has over 40 articles up already covering the broad digital imaging
area. It's at www.dimagemaker.com . I exhibit my digital art nationally
(Australia) and internationally and you can have a look at that at
www.artinyourface.com I also teach digital imaging, photography, design
at the
Australian Academy of Design and I run a photography and graphic design
studio with my wife. I did
a computer science undergrad and electrical engineering post grad
degrees.

Now I have a question that comes out of a discussion we've been having
on one of the digital art forums. It concerns the reliability of
external drive units over internal drive mounting. I have a gut feeling
(well more than that, based on observation and heat observations) that
many external drive units may have inadequate cooling and thus bring on
drive failure earlier than if the same units were mounted inside a
computer. Do
you guys have any opinion on this?

I guess related to this is the issue of whether any brands of the
larger drives seem to be more reliable than others at present?

Cheers,

Wayne

Wayne J. Cosshall
Publisher, The Digital ImageMaker, www.dimagemaker.com
Freelance writer in graphic design, photography, digital technology
Personal art site www.artinyourface.com
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Ron Reaugh]

Hi all,

I guess I should introduce myself. I do several things. I publish the
online free magazine The Digital ImageMaker. It went live on June 1 and
has over 40 articles up already covering the broad digital imaging
area. It's at www.dimagemaker.com . I exhibit my digital art nationally
(Australia) and internationally and you can have a look at that at
www.artinyourface.com I also teach digital imaging, photography, design
at the
Australian Academy of Design and I run a photography and graphic design
studio with my wife. I did
a computer science undergrad and electrical engineering post grad
degrees.

Now I have a question that comes out of a discussion we've been having
on one of the digital art forums. It concerns the reliability of
external drive units over internal drive mounting.

"reliability"....define exactly the part of reliability that concerns you.
If one takes the exact same drive and mounts it internally vs externally
then one could expect the same drive life in general.

I have a gut feeling
(well more than that, based on observation and heat observations) that
many external drive units may have inadequate cooling and thus bring on
drive failure earlier than if the same units were mounted inside a
computer.

TRUE! There are however external enclosures that have perfectly adequate
cooling.
There are also removable trays for ATA HDs that gives the best of both
worlds.

Do
you guys have any opinion on this?

I guess related to this is the issue of whether any brands of the
larger drives seem to be more reliable than others at present?

Nope but I wouldn't hesitate to consider the new Hitachi 500GB.

 

[Rod Speed]

Hi all,

I guess I should introduce myself. I do several things. I publish the
online free magazine The Digital ImageMaker. It went live on June 1 and
has over 40 articles up already covering the broad digital imaging
area. It's at www.dimagemaker.com . I exhibit my digital art nationally
(Australia) and internationally and you can have a look at that at
www.artinyourface.com I also teach digital imaging, photography, design
at the
Australian Academy of Design and I run a photography and graphic design
studio with my wife. I did
a computer science undergrad and electrical engineering post grad
degrees.

Now I have a question that comes out of a discussion we've been having
on one of the digital art forums. It concerns the reliability of
external drive units over internal drive mounting. I have a gut feeling
(well more than that, based on observation and heat observations) that
many external drive units may have inadequate cooling and thus bring on
drive failure earlier than if the same units were mounted inside a
computer. Do you guys have any opinion on this?

Yes, they are certainly in a less desirable environment and most
of the drive manufacturers only warrant their external drives for
1 year, even when their internals have a 3 year warranty, so
they clearly consider that they arent as reliable used externally.

I guess related to this is the issue of whether any brands of the
larger drives seem to be more reliable than others at present?

Its never really possible to say definitively.

 

[wayne]

Hi Ron,

Well I guess it is long term life expectancy that is the reliability
issue I am most concerned with.

What are the removable SATA trays you would recommend?

Cheers,

Wayne

 

[Ron Reaugh]

Hi Ron,

Well I guess it is long term life expectancy that is the reliability
issue I am most concerned with.

If the drive surface temperature is kept below 40C in the external enclosure
then it's life will not be reduced by heat aging. If there is shock
mounting in the external enclosure then the drive with any reasonable
handling the drive's life will not be reduced.

What are the removable SATA trays you would recommend?

KingWin KF-83 has 3 fans and shock mounting and costs ~$30. Transport it
in a padded case and it's great.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

Hi all,

I guess I should introduce myself. I do several things. I publish the
online free magazine The Digital ImageMaker. It went live on June 1 and
has over 40 articles up already covering the broad digital imaging
area. It's at www.dimagemaker.com . I exhibit my digital art nationally
(Australia) and internationally and you can have a look at that at
www.artinyourface.com I also teach digital imaging, photography, design
at the Australian Academy of Design and I run a photography and graphic
design studio with my wife. I did a computer science undergrad and
electrical engineering post grad degrees.

Now I have a question that comes out of a discussion we've been having
on one of the digital art forums. It concerns the reliability of
external drive units over internal drive mounting.

"reliability"....define exactly the part of reliability that concerns you.
If one takes the exact same drive and mounts it internally vs externally
then one could expect the same drive life in general.

I have a gut feeling
(well more than that, based on observation and heat observations) that
many external drive units may have inadequate cooling and thus bring
on drive failure earlier than if the same units were mounted inside a
computer.

TRUE! There are however external enclosures that have perfectly adequate
cooling.
There are also removable trays for ATA HDs that gives the best of both
worlds.

Do you guys have any opinion on this?

I guess related to this is the issue of whether any brands of the
larger drives seem to be more reliable than others at present?

Nope but I wouldn't hesitate to consider the new Hitachi 500GB.

Take your meds ronny. That is a 5-platter drive filled to the rim.
Not something you want in a badly vented external enclosure.

 

[Ron Reaugh]

Hi all,

I guess I should introduce myself. I do several things. I publish the
online free magazine The Digital ImageMaker. It went live on June 1 and
has over 40 articles up already covering the broad digital imaging
area. It's at www.dimagemaker.com . I exhibit my digital art nationally
(Australia) and internationally and you can have a look at that at
www.artinyourface.com I also teach digital imaging, photography, design
at the Australian Academy of Design and I run a photography and graphic
design studio with my wife. I did a computer science undergrad and
electrical engineering post grad degrees.

Now I have a question that comes out of a discussion we've been having
on one of the digital art forums. It concerns the reliability of
external drive units over internal drive mounting.

"reliability"....define exactly the part of reliability that concerns you.
If one takes the exact same drive and mounts it internally vs externally
then one could expect the same drive life in general.

I have a gut feeling
(well more than that, based on observation and heat observations) that
many external drive units may have inadequate cooling and thus bring
on drive failure earlier than if the same units were mounted inside a
computer.

TRUE! There are however external enclosures that have perfectly adequate
cooling.
There are also removable trays for ATA HDs that gives the best of both
worlds.

Do you guys have any opinion on this?

I guess related to this is the issue of whether any brands of the
larger drives seem to be more reliable than others at present?

Nope but I wouldn't hesitate to consider the new Hitachi 500GB.

Take your meds ronny. That is a 5-platter drive filled to the rim.
Not something you want in a badly vented external enclosure.

HUH, I said a well cooled and shock mounted external enclosure...get a
clue.