How do you test new hard drives for failure?

[Sony190]

How do you test new hard drives for failure if they are going to all be in Raid 0 config? 3plus drives ?

[Psykoikonov]

Maybe not the best way but format them and run chkdsk (check both boxes) on them. Maybe benchamrk them as well and see if any SMART errors come up.

[Sony190]

I was asking because I want to add 3 or 4 to the array that I already have. I just recieved 1 from hitachi brand new because 1 blew out.
i found this on Ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/Lot-of-5-24P3703-36GB-U320-SCSI-68-PIN-IBM-Drive-U320_W0QQitemZ290216400801QQihZ019QQcategoryZ64460 QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262 I dont want want to mix to much together and I guess what I was asking is do I Run 5 or 6 together or just run 3 or 4 from this purchase? If I make a purchase

[Mr.Guvernment]

do you need that many drives in raid 0......

most maker have tools on their site to check for performance, failure rates

[Neuromancer]

I was asking because I want to add 3 or 4 to the array that I already have. I just recieved 1 from hitachi brand new because 1 blew out.
i found this on Ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/Lot-of-5-24P3703-36GB-U320-SCSI-68-PIN-IBM-Drive-U320_W0QQitemZ290216400801QQihZ019QQcategoryZ64460 QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262 I dont want want to mix to much together and I guess what I was asking is do I Run 5 or 6 together or just run 3 or 4 from this purchase? If I make a purchase

Well I dont think I would buy frm an ebayer that uses a picture of the village people to show the product.

But then again most people just use stock photos.


4 should be plenty, and then you can get a couple of large sata drives for storage.

[=ACID RAIN=]

I agree, but to the original question, use the manufacturers tools. That is the definitive way to determine eminent failure.

[Sony190]

It's necessarry to keep building my system at a current stride I have had current set up since Abit Nf7-s 2.0 and like it the way it is. Somethings that I add to my system are always out of spec with what is currently on store shelves. You might like something from Nvidia where I would go with something from 3DLabs its just choice but hardware moves very slow. If you lived in my city you would build like this also sales, reps never know anything the techs know everything but are never there. So I dont buy off of store shelves.
The original system included a 3DLabs Wild cat 800
http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:3Dlabs%20Wildcat%20Realizm%20800%20Video%20Card: 1991677263
but I could not go with the 2000.00 price tag.

[grumperfish]

For checking drives I generally look at SMART data and temperatures with Everest first, followed by a full HDTune sector scan. After that I run speedfan with the online hdd test, I check the system log for any notices about drive or controller issues, and then run HDTach benchmarks. If everything checks out then I start moving data.

[Zerix01]

The last four drives I bought I beat on with this tool, mhdd. (http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/) Be careful not to run some of those test on a drive with data, it doesn't spell it out for you when it will delete things.