Raptor 150GB High Fail Rate?

Element-Xero · Feb 1, 2008

Heard a lot of things on the negative about the 150GB being insanely loud and failing frequently, with WD being extremely uncooperative about returns on newegg.

I purchased the drive already, because the idea of a 10,000rpm 150GB OS HD makes me a little hard.

Newegg comments disproportionate? Bad experiences in general? What I really want to see is a bunch of people posting saying they have been running theirs since they came out with no issue ;P

Element-Xero · Feb 1, 2008

Also incidentally after 7 years of .48 posts per day that was my 1,000th post haha.

Automata · Feb 1, 2008

Honestly, don't read NewEgg reviews. Most of the people have no idea what they are doing.

I would dare to say that most of the failures are due to people getting the drive and not cooling it well enough. These drives run HOT and need to be actively cooled. If you keep it cool, it should last awhile.

I have no experience with their RMA as I have yet to see one fail, so I can't really make a comment about it.

Element-Xero said:
Also incidentally after 7 years of .48 posts per day that was my 1,000th post haha.

Grats!!!

Element-Xero · Feb 1, 2008

That's what I was thinking. I have a 120mm fan in front of the lower 3.5" bay so I will likely mount it there by itself and put the 750GB Barracuda in the upper bay (soon to be paired with another 750GB Barracude because having 1.5TB of storage just looks good on paper.

)

Thanks.

CGR · Feb 1, 2008

thideras said:
Honestly, don't read NewEgg reviews. Most of the people have no idea what they are doing.

I would dare to say that most of the failures are due to people getting the drive and not cooling it well enough. These drives run HOT and need to be actively cooled. If you keep it cool, it should last awhile.

I have no experience with their RMA as I have yet to see one fail, so I can't really make a comment about it.

Grats!!!

Not totally true. The drives are rated to temperatures higher than most users will ever encounter.

And its not just Newegg that has those reports, I have read similar reviews all over the net. The 150's just seem to have a much higher failure rate than the 36 and 74's had. Now that could also just be because of the amount sold, but I tend to believe the 150's are not as solid as their lower brothers.

Automata · Feb 1, 2008

CGR said:
Not totally true. The drives are rated to temperatures higher than most users will ever encounter.

Hmm...did not know that. Now I'm not sure how much it would hurt the drives...but man, they run really hot. Combine that with little or no airflow and you will get an increase in failure rate, although, I don't know by how much.

hafa · Feb 1, 2008

thideras said:
Hmm...did not know that. Now I'm not sure how much it would hurt the drives...but man, they run really hot. Combine that with little or no airflow and you will get an increase in failure rate, although, I don't know by how much.

It has always been my philosophy that regardless of the stated maximum operational temperature of a component, it will last longer and perform better if kept cooler.

CGR said:
And its not just Newegg that has those reports, I have read similar reviews all over the net. The 150's just seem to have a much higher failure rate than the 36 and 74's had. Now that could also just be because of the amount sold, but I tend to believe the 150's are not as solid as their lower brothers.

Granted, my sampling pool is pitifully small, with only 20 150s and 15 74s in service, but thus far we've had 3 74s fail and 0 150s fail. Of course, the 74s have been in service a bit longer, but the pool is also smaller. Perhaps subjective at best...

CGR · Feb 1, 2008

thideras said:
Hmm...did not know that. Now I'm not sure how much it would hurt the drives...but man, they run really hot. Combine that with little or no airflow and you will get an increase in failure rate, although, I don't know by how much.

Dont get me wrong, cooler is always better and will prolong the life.

=ACID RAIN= · Feb 1, 2008

hafa said:
It has always been my philosophy that regardless of the stated maximum operational temperature of a component, it will last longer and perform better if kept cooler.

That's my bible right there, summed up

tuskenraider · Feb 1, 2008

thideras said:
These drives run HOT and need to be actively cooled. If you keep it cool, it should last awhile.

Well what temperatures are you witnessing to claim they run so hot? I see this constantly stated with no comparison given. I've owned 6 Raptors now and all have run cooler than the data drive I keep/kept next to it over the years. Right now for me, Raptor=28C Seagate 7200.10=30C. I believe I have a pic linked that I took in Everest sitting in another thread here that claimed Raptors are so hot.

Maverick0984 · Feb 1, 2008

tuskenraider said:
Well what temperatures are you witnessing to claim they run so hot? I see this constantly stated with no comparison given. I've owned 6 Raptors now and all have run cooler than the data drive I keep/kept next to it over the years. Right now for me, Raptor=28C Seagate 7200.10=30C. I believe I have a pic linked that I took in Everest sitting in another thread here that claimed Raptors are so hot.

Eh, it was said before, and people like lemmings assume it is true.

Blazing fire · Feb 1, 2008

Just touch it after a virus scan/defragment. It does not take an expensive piece of insturment / software to tell whether or not it is hot.

If it is, just put a fan to reduce it to ~30 degrees celus or lower.

tuskenraider · Feb 1, 2008

Blazing fire said:
Just touch it after a virus scan/defragment. It does not take an expensive piece of insturment / software to tell whether or not it is hot.

If it is, just put a fan to reduce it to ~30 degrees celus or lower.

Relying on a person's judgement of temperature is pretty much the reason false information like this gets repeated.........get a cheap instrument.

JCLW · Feb 1, 2008

I don't have any 150s, but I have four 74s running in RAID (stacked one on top of another) that have been 100% in the last 2+ years.

RollingThunder · Feb 2, 2008

tuskenraider said:
Well what temperatures are you witnessing to claim they run so hot? I see this constantly stated with no comparison given. I've owned 6 Raptors now and all have run cooler than the data drive I keep/kept next to it over the years. Right now for me, Raptor=28C Seagate 7200.10=30C. I believe I have a pic linked that I took in Everest sitting in another thread here that claimed Raptors are so hot.

Tyranos · Feb 2, 2008

I've had a Raptor X 150 for over a year now, running on average at 45c even with a single dedicated 120mm fan blowing on it. Yes, my ambients are hot.

Blazing fire · Feb 2, 2008

I suppose you're right but if you have to retreat your hand within like a sec then you know it's hot. And I believe that you would know 55c when you feel one.

Anubis_386 · Feb 2, 2008

I'd say that without any air going by them they get hot, my 150GB did .. not as hot as many other drives tho .. But then they definitely are noisy .. unless you dampen the noise ... I also think its always better to keep stuff cool and I hated the noise so I solved both problems by putting it in a Zalman Heat Pipe Cooler with an intake fan blowing over it .. I can't get a temp reading from it as for some reason it doesn't show up in Everest or speedfan .. but from touch it is a lot cooler then 1 of my 250GB WD storage drives that sits next to it .. it too has a Zalman cooler on but it and the heatpipes are always hot to touch

RollingThunder · Feb 2, 2008

On a related issue, can anyone elaborate on this thread regaring Raptors?

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=546220

JohnD · Feb 26, 2008

CGR said:
Dont get me wrong, cooler is always better and will prolong the life.

No, that simply incorrect. Google has published a report involved hundreds of drives and it turned out that cooling drives too far will actually reduce their life, the same as running too hot. You have to find the rigth balance which is around 38c:

http://storagemojo.com/?p=378

Raptor 150GB High Fail Rate?

Member

Member

Destroyer of Empires and Use

Member

Member

Destroyer of Empires and Use

Member

Member

Member

Senior Member

Member

Member

Senior Member

Member

Destroyer of Trolls & Spammers

Attachments

Member

Member

Member

Destroyer of Trolls & Spammers

Registered

Similar threads