[Soekris] Hard Drive Recommendations

[John Pettitt]

Igor Sobrado wrote:
> In message <47A157DF.1020808 at cloudview.com>, John Pettitt writes:
>   
>> Ronald L. Rosson Jr. wrote:
>>     
>>> I currently have a net4801-60 running pfsense as my firewall. I am 
>>> looking for Hard drive recommendations for drives that can handle 
>>> being in the case of a  4801. Last one over heated in just under a year.
>>>       
>> I gave up after drilling  holes and installing a small fan the drive 
>> still didn't last (and it was an enterprise rated drive) - I switched to 
>> a CF based setup (m0n0wall) in the end.
>>     
>
> Overheating in just under a year?  You know the Newton's law of cooling,
> right?  dQ/dt = C*(T_0-T_a) where T_0-T_a is the difference of temperature
> between the object and its surroundings.  How can a hard disk drive
> (or any other object) be heating for a year?  On the other hand, it is
> an exponential decay... the drive will be fried in just a few hours!
>
> It is easier than all that... you need a drive that is rated for a
> power-on hours (POH) of at least 700 hour/month.  It is not a heat
> related problem, it is a mechanical problem.
>
> What is the POH of that "enterprise" drive?  perhaps four hours day?
> I guess that "enterprise" is just a buzzword for some manufacturers.
>
> Get a real enterprise drive rated for 700 hour/month and this problem
> is solved.  For example, the Hitachi E7K100 drives (not the 7K100 ones).
> Just look at the specs of the drive before buying.
>
> Igor.
>
>   
It was an E7K100 that failed.     Started giving errors after just over 
a year.     I don't think it was the temp (I did have a fan) but it 
still didn't last.     I've had really bad experiences with laptop 
drives in general in 4801's now I use a
CF with a FreeBSD boot and network mount file systems from a server on 
boxes that need it (or run 100% CF with m0n0wall in the case of my 
firewall).

John