Topic: Death by HDD Enclosure???

[ra2commando]

Hello!
HDD related question...

I am using a 'noname' HDD enclosure I bought at the local computor shoppe. This is my second, but a different 'noname'; the first one died due to power supply failure.
I have two harddrives Seagate Barracuda 120GB (7200.3) and 320GB (7200.10).

So I was using the 120GB hdd through the enclosure until one day i turn it on and get the message "x:\ is not accessible. The file or directory is corrupted or unreadable".... From SOME program I got some message about crosslinked files... hmmm... pulled out NTFS GetDataBack, recovered most of my files onto the 320GB hdd.... Until couple of days ago, I try to copy some files onto it and get a BSOD. Ran CHKDSK.... it found some bad blocks and after doing 4 of 5 steps aborted on the last step (I forget what the error was but it seemed benign, so I closed the window)... that "fixed" my harddrive. Now I get the same message as with the first one, ie "x:\ ...CORRUPT...". CHKDSK aborts with "Unable to determine volume version and state". I can still get the files out w/ GetDataBback, but frankly its pissing me off cuz now I have no hard drive to put them on!

I am kind of tired of spending 100 bucks every couple of months on a new hard drive , so I kinda decided to get this problem fixed. I kinda suspect the enclosure. The problem is, I run it all the time on my laptop (I actually never turn my computer or the hdd off) and I'm wondering if the enclosure simply can't "hack it"

Did someone else encounter something like this with a similar setup?? Or should I spend 40 bucks on a better enclosure??? If so, can someone recommend one??

Thank you very much in advance =)

 

[bushwhacker]

If you are using the external HDD, you CANNOT use it as 24/7 operation.

You need to turn it off when it is not in use. WHen you leave it on, it constantly generate the heat and external closure traps it. ( unless you have the active fan in the closure.

If you don't have the active cooler in the external, i suggest you to buy that so.

 

[SNGX1275]

Ah I kind of dispute that bushwhacker. I've got a CHEAP enclosure for a 500 gig drive, and I've had it on 24/7 for probably over a year. It does run hot, but it is still running and google released a study a while back with their hd failures and unless the temps were extreme it didn't conclude hot drives failed any faster. I could find the link again if you must see it. Or you could probably search techspot for my name and google hard drive report and find it.

 

[bushwhacker]

Probably depends the problem of the hard drive.

In my friend's case. His catastrophic hard drive was Maxtor 6L250R0 PATA.

Was the hard drive a factor of the failure?

 

[ra2commando]

bushwacker: absolutely not!
I would depend completely and absolutely on any new Seagate Barracuda (WD and Maxtor on the other hand are the worst, IMO... will never buy either of those. Hitachi is perhaps little better).
When my first problem occured I figured the harddrive was getting old (prolly around 4 years now, and I would expect it to fail @ 4.5~5) so I bought a new one, but the same problem occured fairly quickly.

I'm just wondering if its because of how I'm "handling" the enclosure or the enclosure itself. Maybe I AM using it too much... I was just looking for someone to say "oh yea, that happens with enclosures all the time, they are all crap and should only be used occasionally" but that seems not to be the case, so maybe by spending 50 bucks on a good enclosure the problem will disappear?

PS. here is the paper SNGX1275 mentioned
labs.google.com/papers/disk_failures.pdf
its a very interesting read, I was really surprised because I developed a way to cool my harddrives to +/- 33C from 43C by securing them in the CD bays and then opening them and allowing the air to pass through in large quantities through the case and out (which raised my cpu and MB by 2C). And then I found out that 40-45C is the most optimal temperature for the harddrives anyway... AMAZING!!!

Edited by Poertner_1274: Made the link to the article clickable.