On Jun 26, 2007, at 11:27 AM, Jonathan Hutchins wrote:
I think the only thing that stress testing a drive would do would be to move it closer to it's failure point. Either that will be early, in which case it might possibly happen while testing, not quite as early, in which case it will happen just after installation instead of a week after installation, or it will be later in the drive's life - in which case it will just happen a bit sooner than it would have.
About the only use I can see for this would bet to stress test a few examples of a certain model of a drive to failure, and see what the MTBF is.
There are also environmental factors to consider. Testing the drive in an open, bench-configured computer really doesn't give you any information about how it will perform in a closed case sandwiched between two other hot drives. This is one reason that some manufacturer's well intentioned MTBF estimates are inaccurate.
Frankly, throwing it off a high building seems just as informative.
If you can write a pattern to the drive and it passes fsck, and you can repeat this two or three times, that is going to be about as good a test as you can usefully perform. A drive that will function that well is an unpredictable distance from failure. _______________________________________________ Kclug mailing list [email protected] http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
Each manufacturer provides datasheets for the drive which describes everything required for the user to know while installing the drive. You get spaces required, airflow requirements, etc. If you don't meet these, your drive will either last longer or less than the MTBF. If you think your drive won't last for more than five years, have drives to replace it!
Do not buy cheap power supplies and do not go outside of the datasheet requirements for airflow and space around the drive. You better go for an uninterruptible power supply as well. That'll help your whole system.
Manufacturers provide programs to perform tests with the drive. SMART is an okay technology to help warn of future failures. Did you have a bad experience with drives failing quite often?
Sincerely,
William Harrington