Favourite Computer Components

[stretch0069]

Re: Favourite Computer Components

Pinnacle DC1000

[smason]

Re: Favourite Computer Components

Motherboards: Intel, Gigabyte, SuperMicro, and whatever Dell uses in their high-end servers.
Monitors: Dell (the non Acer ones) Samsung and Gateway after a recap
KVMs: Avocent/Switchview. ONLY. Ever other brand I've ever tried as failed
UPSes: American Power.
Real RAID controllers: Adaptec, 3ware, Dell PERC (usually Adaptec under the covers)
Hard Drive: it's all a crap shoot these days.

[larrymoencurly]

Re: Favourite Computer Components

Memory : apart from stick made from unknown brands with unknown chips, they're pretty reliable

Aren't the known brands of modules made mostly from unknown chips? I think the only way to be guranteed known chips is by choosing Samsung or no-heatsink Crucial modules or inspecting them in the store.

[Wester547]

Re: Favourite Computer Components

HDD: IBM (Deskstar, ultrastart, Travelstar, they all suck, premature bearing failure. The same goes for the older WD Caviar drives.)

I don't disagree since IBM also had NVRAM chip problems with their PCBs in their Deskstar series, but in all fairness, while ball bearing hard drives might have a tendency to become worse for wear audibly and technically over time, if you put enough scrutiny upon any drive and do enough research I think (at least this is what I've began to feel and think recently) you'll find that every hard drive has some sort of defect that makes it an eventual candidate for possible failure. Seagate had nice FDB drives but many of them has a tendency to have seized spindle motors that would be difficult to set free for whatever reason (they used something like 'air oil', unless I'm mistaken). Google it- it's not a seldom occurrence, and was quite an issue with Seagate Barracuda ATA IV drives and up (as of 7200.10 it was not fixed and was still happening, especially with 250GB+ and multiplatter drives). Of course, that's not to say it reached occurrence that often, as knocking a drive over or subjecting it to a sharp shock would make it much more likely to happen. That Seagate allow their FreeAgent external drives to run so hot doesn't help at all, of course. I think power cycles don't help either, at least when they're rather many, and of course heat/thermal cycling. The Seagate Momentus drives tend to have head/preamp and motor problems too, eventually.

But it doesn't end there. PCBs being fried was quite commonplace and still is because for whatever reason, the "STMicro" smoothing chip (the L2750 series, I believe) on the PCB tends to fry prematurely, and quite a few drives have this SMT chip, from the 7200.7 series from Seagate to Western Digital Caviar Green/Blue drives (I've yet to see a modern Western Digital drive that doesn't have that chip, even going back as drives from 2002...). WD MyBooks have poor controller boards and once those go since those are essentially the drive's firmware (via the initio chip) so even if it does die you wouldn't be able to just take the drive out and retrieve the data via a SATA port because the chip that 'tells' the system what the drive is is dead and no longer connected to it. And I won't even go to the firmware woes Seagate have had since their 7200.11 series. Not only that, but since the 7200.7 series Seagate seemed to have used a special, magnetic, film-like material to protect the platters. While it was again supposed to protect them eventually it can, under enough stress and conditions, "peel off" over time and contaminate the heads and cause all sorts of issues. This isn't just found on that 'datacent' site which appears to be spam on some level but in this PDF, along with seized spindle motors:



^ I believe it since it's marked in text and since it sounds like a valid explanation for some of the 7200.7+ deaths I've read about. Of course, it's not to say these problems can't be fixed or sorted in some way, but it makes me stop worrying incessantly about things like PRT. It's not to say it's not worse than LRT or that it won't cause problems, but so many other things can go wrong that they might just do that before PRT ever becomes a kiss of death. Maybe Enterprise drives can minimize these problems, being built to higher standards, but not everyone can afford them, especially since HDD prices are higher than ever anyway. And SSDs obviously are not bistable, flash memory itself isn't. But then again, the only seriously proven solution for hard drives and storage is a decent backup.

I think there comes the point where you just have to make the best of what you can with your hardware. I think that even in light of the above that if you lay perusal to any hardware, something about it, with some exceptions, will likely have some sort of possibility of failure. Now adays, anyway - if it isn't lead-free solder it's BGA (modern HDDs are all RoHS compliant, too... might not change much but it doesn't help their lifespan), and if it isn't that it's bad capacitors (and easier problem to solve, obviously, but even so). But not even a reflowing or reballing can permanently sort lead-free solder, not unless stronger solder and a better package is opted for, but that won't happen. Heavy ripple from PSUs and voltage/power spikes definitely don't amend anything either. I don't mean to rant too much or be too negative, I just think that every brand and series of any component has its problems, so I stick by the idea of making the best of what you have when you can, rather than living in fear (though it doesn't hurt to take precautions and be safer than sorry) or going out of your way to denounce one particular brand or product when no company or product is without issue, at least the lion share of the time. Of course, I'd still recommend staying away from unanimously dangerous and horrific products, but my stance remains.

[Shocker]

Re: Favourite Computer Components

That Seagate allow their FreeAgent external drives to run so hot doesn't help at all, of course.

I wish they'd stop using plastic enclosures, given how craptastic plastic is at dissipating heat.

Great example of when penny pinching backfires.

[ratdude747]

Re: Favourite Computer Components

I wish they'd stop using plastic enclosures, given how craptastic plastic is at dissipating heat.

Great example of when penny pinching backfires.

Better than fanner tech made AL enclosures... they are AL, but there is no bushings or padding... one wrong move and your HDD is toast (I killed a laptop drive that way once). Not for the clumsy.

[Shocker]

Re: Favourite Computer Components

It's surprising what some of my desktop drives have been through. Not that it makes me more confident about laptop drives.

[larrymoencurly]

Re: Favourite Computer Components

IBM model M and model F keyboards. Great for typing and for bashing in faces, and blood cleans off easily.