Sunday 8 October 2006

Pic of the day: Back to Maxtor, for the time being. (Yes, my home office really has that wallpaper. I am virtually immune to bad taste.)

Another disk crash

Tonight, the external hard disk crashed. This was my fairly new LaCie 250 GB USB-2 hard drive, which I've only used a couple months. This is a new record even for me, the Maxtor drives use to last a year or more. You may want to consider this if you are ever looking for an external hard disk.

Then again most customers probably use theirs as a pure backup device rather than an actual hard disk. If that is the case, however, you may be better served by a dvd burner. In fact, I have a couple of those. The thing is, I use a hard disk because I may access any of the files on it at any time. In fact, my computer may do so even when I am at work or asleep. So the alternative for me is to buy an internal hard disk. These are far more reliable. The problem is, if either my computer or my hard disk goes down, so does the other. And if the hard disk approaches full, I will have to buy a new computer to get more space.

But to be honest, I had not calculated with just how fragile these things are. A year is one thing. Three months (possibly less) is another. I am not likely to buy that model again. The only one I have not had break down yet is the one from Western Digital, but it is also the one I have used the least. I am not convinced that it is actually better, though it would not surprise me. WD has a good reputation.

***

After the fall of the LaCie (which made me lose my copy of Windy Tales, a very original and artistic anime that is still not for sale in English), I unpacked the latest Maxtor again. It is yet another model, subtly different from both of my earlier Maxtors. Most notably, it is encased in a rubbery plastic that is not hot to the touch. It seems to be slightly thicker than the earlier models too, so I assume there is a layer of air around the actual hard drive and electronics. It does not have a fan either, so I have no idea how the heat from the disk gets away. Perhaps it somehow creates less heat than the others (the Western Digital was similarly cool). Or perhaps it is really hot inside and will break down even faster than the rest. If we live, we shall see, and probably report in detail.