Hard drives... heh heh... he said "hard"

[A. Crow]

So I never had a hard drive fail on me... until yesterday.  I bought a pair of 320gb Seagates about two years ago and one of them finally died (it's been throwing SMART errors at startup for like a year).  So that makes the "number of drives dead per manufacturer" tally thus: 

WD: 0/2
Maxtor: 0/2
Seagate: 1/2

Unfortunately it wasn't even one of the drives full of *ahem* stuff, it was my system drive.  So it got to spend some time in the freezer to enable me to copy some stuff i hadn't backed up.  Now, I put it to you, distinguished colleagues, anyone know a good deal on hard drives right now?  I've only got about 40gb free between the other 2 drives so I think I'm going to just get a larger one, most likely this.  Mind you, I'm still unemployed and on a budget.  Please feel free to share your hard drive crash stories and clutch drive resurrection stories.  I once saw my boss slam a bad laptop HDD against a desk, then plugged it in and grabbed the users files off of it. 

[Blues]

I hope you put that in tupperware or something similar, sticking a hdd directly in the freezer is the opposite of helping.

Also, HDDs have hit cheap as dirt, at this point any 500GB you grab is going to be like 60 bucks, just get one and go. Not that one though, 8MB cache is a nogo, pick up a 32MB cache version of that model for 5 bucks more and you're set.

[Eschatos]

I got a nice 500 gig for about 80$ this summer. 

[fyre]

Do hard drives use much power? I need a new one, but I only have a 350W PSU.

[HeK]

So I never had a hard drive fail on me... until yesterday.  I bought a pair of 320gb Seagates about two years ago and one of them finally died (it's been throwing SMART errors at startup for like a year). 

Unrelated to your question, but...

Seagate has a five year warranty (which is why people buy them in the first place).
Why didn't you go for an advance RMA the second you had a reported error?

[Blues]

Do hard drives use much power? I need a new one, but I only have a 350W PSU.

No, you're fine unless you want to bulk up on them. Grabbing one to slap in there will be fine with a 350W.

What are your specs that you're using a 350W though... to have a machine that can run TF2 on a 350W doesn't sound healthy at all...

[HeK]

Do hard drives use much power? I need a new one, but I only have a 350W PSU.

Really depends on available power.
What type of processor and video card do you have.
What is the make and model of your power supply. Does it run warm, hot or cool?
What other components do you have, how many optical drives?

[ScottyGrayskull]

What are your specs that you're using a 350W though... to have a machine that can run TF2 on a 350W doesn't sound healthy at all...

Worked fine for me for... 9 months or so. Not saying it was ideal, but the rig played TF2 fine on low/mid detail.

[CaffeinePowered]

[quote author=fyre link=topic=1961.msg54846#msg54846 date=1229054542]
Do hard drives use much power? I need a new one, but I only have a 350W PSU.

Really depends on available power.
What type of processor and video card do you have.
What is the make and model of your power supply. Does it run warm, hot or cool?
What other components do you have, how many optical drives?
[/quote]

Is it the third Wednesday of the equinox and is there an electrical storm?

[Blues]

[quote author=Blues link=topic=1961.msg54866#msg54866 date=1229064475]
What are your specs that you're using a 350W though... to have a machine that can run TF2 on a 350W doesn't sound healthy at all...

Worked fine for me for... 9 months or so. Not saying it was ideal, but the rig played TF2 fine on low/mid detail.
[/quote]
It's more of a long term thing. Your parts will shit out on you a lot faster if they're not drawing adequate power. I'm not sure what the min specs for TF2 are so I could be wrong, especially with Valve having such low low's on their games.

[HeK]

[quote author=HeK link=topic=1961.msg54885#msg54885 date=1229085873]
[quote author=fyre link=topic=1961.msg54846#msg54846 date=1229054542]
Do hard drives use much power? I need a new one, but I only have a 350W PSU.

Really depends on available power.
What type of processor and video card do you have.
What is the make and model of your power supply. Does it run warm, hot or cool?
What other components do you have, how many optical drives?
[/quote]

Is it the third Wednesday of the equinox and is there an electrical storm?
[/quote]

Pretty much. Everything from utility phase variance to ambient temperature can effect your power supply output up to 30%.

[A. Crow]

[quote author=A. Crow link=topic=1961.msg54789#msg54789 date=1229040583]
So I never had a hard drive fail on me... until yesterday.  I bought a pair of 320gb Seagates about two years ago and one of them finally died (it's been throwing SMART errors at startup for like a year). 

Unrelated to your question, but...

Seagate has a five year warranty (which is why people buy them in the first place).
Why didn't you go for an advance RMA the second you had a reported error?
[/quote]

A) I didn't know
B) Fucking Lazy

[Blues]

[quote author=CaffeinePowered link=topic=1961.msg54892#msg54892 date=1229088298]
[quote author=HeK link=topic=1961.msg54885#msg54885 date=1229085873]
[quote author=fyre link=topic=1961.msg54846#msg54846 date=1229054542]
Do hard drives use much power? I need a new one, but I only have a 350W PSU.

Really depends on available power.
What type of processor and video card do you have.
What is the make and model of your power supply. Does it run warm, hot or cool?
What other components do you have, how many optical drives?
[/quote]

Is it the third Wednesday of the equinox and is there an electrical storm?
[/quote]

Pretty much. Everything from utility phase variance to ambient temperature can effect your power supply output up to 30%.


[/quote]
...

[copulatingduck]

[quote author=HeK link=topic=1961.msg55024#msg55024 date=1229122664]
[quote author=CaffeinePowered link=topic=1961.msg54892#msg54892 date=1229088298]
[quote author=HeK link=topic=1961.msg54885#msg54885 date=1229085873]
[quote author=fyre link=topic=1961.msg54846#msg54846 date=1229054542]
Do hard drives use much power? I need a new one, but I only have a 350W PSU.

Really depends on available power.
What type of processor and video card do you have.
What is the make and model of your power supply. Does it run warm, hot or cool?
What other components do you have, how many optical drives?
[/quote]

Is it the third Wednesday of the equinox and is there an electrical storm?
[/quote]

Pretty much. Everything from utility phase variance to ambient temperature can effect your power supply output up to 30%.


[/quote]
...


[/quote]

Also I herd cosmic radiation can flip your bits, so if your shits messing up, the starts must not be aligned to your benefit!

[fyre]

Forgot I posted in here. :


Anyway...I have a Dell XPS 400. Pentium 4, 2.5GB RAM, 7600GT, one DVD drive, and a CD burner. The PSU might actually be 375W, I'm not sure.

I was going to upgrade the PSU when I upgraded the video card last summer, but apparently you can't do that with Dell PCs unless you replace the motherboard too. >

[Blues]

Forgot I posted in here. :


Anyway...I have a Dell XPS 400. Pentium 4, 2.5GB RAM, 7600GT, one DVD drive, and a CD burner. The PSU might actually be 375W, I'm not sure.

I was going to upgrade the PSU when I upgraded the video card last summer, but apparently you can't do that with Dell PCs unless you replace the motherboard too. >

You really didn't need to post that, hard drive working with no problem still stands.

[Master Shake]

Meanwhile, go buy a SSD. They are basically fantastic.

[Blues]

Meanwhile, go buy a SSD. They are basically fantastic.

If, by fantastic, you mean a complete and utter waste of money at this moment in time, and useless for anyone who wants to do more than install an OS and like two games without paying enough to buy a WHOLE COMPUTER. Christballs.

[copulatingduck]

[quote author=J-Master link=topic=1961.msg55660#msg55660 date=1229391964]
Meanwhile, go buy a SSD. They are basically fantastic.

If, by fantastic, you mean a complete and utter waste of money at this moment in time, and useless for anyone who wants to do more than install an OS and like two games without paying enough to buy a WHOLE COMPUTER. Christballs.
[/quote]

$130 for 64GB isn't that bad...

There's much worse things one could blow money on for a gaming rig

[Mission Difficult]

There's much worse things one could blow money on for a gaming rig

Even worse (better?)