[Discuss] Striping is bad

[richard.pieri at gmail.com (Richard Pieri)]

On Feb 18, 2012, at 10:45 PM, markw at mohawksoft.com wrote:
> 
> If you are saying that a catastrophic failure of a storage device does not
> reflect poorly upon the manufacturer, I suggest you rethink your position.

Okay.  Hmmm.... no.  I still say that you're wrong.  A single failure is statistically insignificant.

> If I were driving home in a Kia and it died with no symptoms, i.e. was
> running perfectly with no "check engine" light as well as properly
> maintained, would you NOT blame the manufacturer?

I'd blame the car, not the manufacturer.  That is a single fault with a single mechanical device.  If, say, 35% of all Kias failed the same way at about the same point in their use lives, then I would blame the manufacturer because that is a statistically significant figure.  But just one?  Insignificant.  Talk to me about reliability after you've put fifty thousand through the wringer and come up with twenty thousand dead within 2 years.

> I say that I had the drive for less than 2 years, it was lightly used. The
> drive died catastrophically. It had no trouble codes and there were no
> issues in the log.

I've had Seagate and WD disks fail just like that after less than a year.  No warnings, no trouble codes, nothing.  Just up and died.  Does that mean all Seagate and WD disks are bad?  Of course not.  But I repeat myself.

I don't care what the manufacturer of the disks I buy is.  Not really.  I see disks as consumable materials.  They're going to wear out, they're going to fail, and they're going to be replaced, same as the belts, hoses, brake pads and tires on a car.

--Rich P.