[Soekris] Hard Drive Recommendations

[Igor Sobrado]

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.