Hard drive failure sucks

[jdeg]

Ah, okay. It looks like some good software. Luckily all the stuff I mentioned above is free, but it's certainly not as user friendly. All the linux drive stuff is cd bootable.

On a side note, I rarely turn off my computer. I took the drives out last night and I could hardly touch them they were so hot. they spin at 15k rpm, but I'm sure that much heat wasn't helping.

I'm writing the image to a new drive now. Hopefully it works!

 

[aroy]

If your drives are getting so hot, it is time that you though of some serious cooling. I have a few extra fans blowing across my drives. Periodic cleaning the accumulated dust will help a lot.

 

[shamitv]

I think it's a bit overkill for a workstation.

For photographs, Amazon AWS is a good option too. 10 TB backup would cost just $100 per month.

It is pretty much set and forget thing, you have to:

1. Setup storage so that files are moved to backup storage after some time (say a month)
2. Setup encryption keys so that only you have keys to files (and file names) and Amazon does not
3. Setup schedule for backup from your workstation

An example configuration :

http://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html#r=IAD&key=
calc-55CE48CC-4095-4312-BAAD-39E154A886BD


I use approx 50 GB space, and cost is less than $2 per month.

 

[mikeh32217]

I just upgraded my whole system and one of the things I got was a 256GB SSD drive and man what a difference. I've been wanting one for a long time and waited for the price to come down, and since I bought it a month ago the price has dropped another $30...grrrrr. Used to be I would turn on the computer and wait about 3-4 minutes for the dust to settle now it's on the order of seconds. I love it!
Another reason I waited so long is that I had to do a fresh install because I had my system strung across 2 partitions and it would have been impossible to do a clone, but it's been several years since fresh install and I had a lot of collateral damage on the old system. As a developer, in many different areas I need a lot of tools to do my job and am constantly looking for better tools, free tools, etc. so I do a lot of try and burns.

 

[RocketCowboy]

I think you're jinxing things @jdeg ! One of my home ESXi systems that I use for my work lab is complaining that a disk is timing out and going offline. Guess I'm doing some backups/moves this morning too.

 

[mikeh32217]

For photographs, Amazon AWS is a good option too. 10 TB backup would cost just $100 per month.

It is pretty much set and forget thing, you have to:

1. Setup storage so that files are moved to backup storage after some time (say a month)
2. Setup encryption keys so that only you have keys to files (and file names) and Amazon does not
3. Setup schedule for backup from your workstation

An example configuration :

http://calculator.s3.amazonaws.com/index.html#r=IAD&key=
calc-55CE48CC-4095-4312-BAAD-39E154A886BD


I use approx 50 GB space, and cost is less than $2 per month.

I know it's been discussed on here before but the 1TB myPassport external drives are about $80. I plug it in every month or so and do my backups.
They're good little drives and although they are a little slow you can do full or incremental backups and you are in control of your data.

BTW when I say slow my backups are 400GB and takes a little over an hour.

 

[shamitv]

I know it's been discussed on here before but the 1TB myPassport external drives are about $80....
BTW when I say slow my backups are 400GB and takes a little over an hour.

1 TB backup space costs around $120 per year (400GB around 50) . Advantage of Amazon is automatic nature of backup that is "Set and forget".

Downside is much slower restore (or ~100 for overnight shipping a HDD to Amazon and back).

 

[mikeh32217]

1 TB backup space costs around $120 per year (400GB around 50) . Advantage of Amazon is automatic nature of backup that is "Set and forget".

Downside is much slower restore (or ~100 for overnight shipping a HDD to Amazon and back).

The problem I have with set and forget is the strain it puts on your system; when does actual transfer take place, your computer has to be up during that time, is there interruption in the sites service, how long will the service be offered, if you don't pay will you lose data, is data secure.

I guess I just prefer to have control over my data, I've been programming for many years and plugging the external drive in once a month and backing up is not a problem with me. Plus I use Acronis and impact is minimal for me and when I rebuilt my system I went from 4 core to 8 core, 3GHz to 4GHz and memory from 8GB to 16GB so there's not much that can slow me down.

 

[jdeg]

I know it's been discussed on here before but the 1TB myPassport external drives are about $80. I plug it in every month or so and do my backups.
They're good little drives and although they are a little slow you can do full or incremental backups and you are in control of your data.

BTW when I say slow my backups are 400GB and takes a little over an hour.

I have one sitting right here. The only thing I wish it has is an esata port for the speed.

I've spent almost another day trying to get the copied image of the failed drives to boot and it's just not happening. I can see that the files are there but something just isn't right with it booting even after trying to rebuild all the boot data. I have a feeling it has something to do with it going from RAID array on an onboard controller to a single sata drive.

So, I'm doing a fresh install of windows on the SSD drive. Obviously I'll have to reload everything, but at least I recovered some lost files

 

[jdeg]

I think you're jinxing things @jdeg ! One of my home ESXi systems that I use for my work lab is complaining that a disk is timing out and going offline. Guess I'm doing some backups/moves this morning too.

crap! You may have to do what I did if it starts getting bad sectors.

All of this makes me glad the web server is fairly new and on an ssd RAID 5 array.

 

[RocketCowboy]

Only problem I've heard is that SSD doesn't give you warning before it fails, and isn't as easily recovered. But none of my SSDs have failed yet either (knock on wood)


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[mikeh32217]

I have one sitting right here. The only thing I wish it has is an esata port for the speed.

I've spent almost another day trying to get the copied image of the failed drives to boot and it's just not happening. I can see that the files are there but something just isn't right with it booting even after trying to rebuild all the boot data. I have a feeling it has something to do with it going from RAID array on an onboard controller to a single sata drive.

So, I'm doing a fresh install of windows on the SSD drive. Obviously I'll have to reload everything, but at least I recovered some lost files

I've never messed with Raid configurations so can't help you there.
Did you copy or clone, a copy won't work. Can you save data that is the most important thing?
A fresh install is not the worst thing but it is time consuming, took me a couple of days to do mine and will find things as I go that I need or haven't installed until I actually need them.

Good luck

 

[aroy]

There was a time when I would do a fresh install every six months, as I collected a lot of junk - trial programs, programs no longer required etc. So I had a list of all the programs required for a fresh install, and the sequence of installing programs. Worked beautifully. Now a year has passed and I am due for a fresh install in my work station. Reinstalled the OS in my laptop a few months ago.

 

[mikeh32217]

There was a time when I would do a fresh install every six months, as I collected a lot of junk - trial programs, programs no longer required etc. So I had a list of all the programs required for a fresh install, and the sequence of installing programs. Worked beautifully. Now a year has passed and I am due for a fresh install in my work station. Reinstalled the OS in my laptop a few months ago.

I have a friend that's retired and is an avid gamer, he does a fresh install every 3 months and always has the latest hardware. Always liked his hand-me-downs!

 

[jdeg]

Only problem I've heard is that SSD doesn't give you warning before it fails, and isn't as easily recovered. But none of my SSDs have failed yet either (knock on wood)


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Yeah, I guess they don't have the good ol' SMART reporting, huh? That and you can't hear them clicking. haha This is one reason I opted for the PRO drive. They have a 5 year (vs the 3 year on the evo's) warranty and use higher quality memory.

I've never messed with Raid configurations so can't help you there.
Did you copy or clone, a copy won't work. Can you save data that is the most important thing?
A fresh install is not the worst thing but it is time consuming, took me a couple of days to do mine and will find things as I go that I need or haven't installed until I actually need them.

Good luck

It's okay, I figured it out. Thanks

There was a time when I would do a fresh install every six months, as I collected a lot of junk - trial programs, programs no longer required etc. So I had a list of all the programs required for a fresh install, and the sequence of installing programs. Worked beautifully. Now a year has passed and I am due for a fresh install in my work station. Reinstalled the OS in my laptop a few months ago.

That seems time consuming You're better off just reloading an image with everything already installed that you need.

I have a friend that's retired and is an avid gamer, he does a fresh install every 3 months and always has the latest hardware. Always liked his hand-me-downs!

I bet you get some nice video cards! haha I actually wasted 2 hours last night trying to figure out why windows just black screened on boot. It didn't like that I had a second monitor plugged in! It wasn't even on! I almost tossed some hard drives out the window after I figured this out.

 

[mikeh32217]

I bet you get some nice video cards! haha I actually wasted 2 hours last night trying to figure out why windows just black screened on boot. It didn't like that I had a second monitor plugged in! It wasn't even on! I almost tossed some hard drives out the window after I figured this out.

Yeah I've done that before when tired and I figured it out pretty quick thank god but I've done some really dumb stuff. When I get tired I get confused and if I don't quite right then I usually end up doing something that I regret. Patience is a virtue I've been working on but haven't conquered.

 

[jdeg]

So I've been using the Samsung SSD Pro for a week now, and it's fantastic. Note that the drives that failed, and what I was used to, were 15k RPM SAS drives. The SSD drive is faster. I attribute some of this to a fresh install of windows, which always helps with speed.

Also, I just realized that this site is running off of the same drives, but in a RAID 5 array

Edid: Just realized it went down another $15 since I purchased it.

 

[Eduard]

So I've been using the Samsung SSD Pro for a week now, and it's fantastic. Note that the drives that failed, and what I was used to, were 15k RPM SAS drives. The SSD drive is faster. I attribute some of this to a fresh install of windows, which always helps with speed.

Last week I heard an unusual noise on my main external storage device. So after remembering this thread - and maybe a little paranoia, I replaced it. Found a great deal on a Seagate 3.5" 4 TB Hybrid drive (ST4000DX). I use it for my consolidated image catalog. I should be okay storage wise for a while.

 

[RocketCowboy]

@jdeg that SAS drive...2.5" or full size?


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[jdeg]

Last week I heard an unusual noise on my main external storage device. So after remembering this thread - and maybe a little paranoia, I replaced it. Found a great deal on a Seagate 3.5" 4 TB Hybrid drive (ST4000DX). I use it for my consolidated image catalog. I should be okay storage wise for a while.

Probably a good idea to replace it. Although I've heard drives make more noise when they are almost full and fragmented too. This is the one you got? Amazon.com: Seagate Desktop 4 TB Solid State Hybrid Drive SATA 6 GB with NCQ 64 MB Cache 3.5-Inch (ST4000DX001): Computers & Accessories