Judging external HD reliability

[jack-rp9/bkPP+cDYtjvyW6yDsg at public.gmane.org (Jack-rp9/bkPP+cDYtjvyW6yDsg@public.gmane.org)]

When working for a bank, we built our own 'NAS Server' by putting a hardware
RAID card and as many and the biggest drives we could afford.  The servers
didn't need a LOT of CPU but memory always helped.  We did use 1G NICs.
And yes, we still backed it up to a tape backup system.  These were used
for low performance NAS needs (storing check images at 200bpi and PDFs
of statements).

It worked and was cheap.  The highest $$ single component was the Adaptec
RAID card, but it works.  Also use software to monitor your RAID and its
drives, because things do fail.  And buy a spare drive whether you keep it in
or not.

Currently I would probably choose the WD Green drives, due to lower power
and enough performance for most mainly storage jobs.  Also purchase and keep
a spare drive available for replacement of failed drives.

We also set up dual NICs on most systems, one for backups and monitoring,
and the 'public' interface for normal data/application use.  The
backup/monitoring
network was in-house only.