Am 14.03.2012 03:05, schrieb Nataraj:
I would have to dig up some references, but I have read some articles that claim that the reliability of a drive that is in full time operation in a server, running 24hrs/day and maybe even seeking under heavy load is way different than a drive that you run for a day or two and then it sits in an environmentally controlled storage, powered down for most of its lifetime. At least from what I read, the failure rate is much lower for the same drive used under the later conditions.
OTOH I remember reports about drives failing to start after having been powered off for extended time periods. Something about heads sticking to platters or somesuch. Though I don't know if that information still applies to current drive technologies.