Computer Setup Question

[Glenn Chan]

Another option for you... throw those drives in an external Firewire enclosure.

Quite a number of people seem to find that their Lacie drive failed, or that their firewire drive is dropping frames.

There are some firewire drives which don't have fans in them, and I suspect the drive gets really hot just by placing my hand on the case.


2- Hugh: You can use Speedfan to check the temperatures of your drive. They should all be below 45C or so.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download337.html Just a download site, not the official one

[Hugh DiMauro]

Thanks Glenn. I will do that. In the meantime, a Dell tech advised me that 6 SATAs in my case with the 650 watt power supply will not overheat since they are spinning at 7200 rpm. She added that SCSI drives may be a bit too much for my case since they spin at 10,000. Hmmm.

SOOooooo... I jotted down my technical help "case number" and will see what's what. If there's a problem I can always call back and raise holy hell citing my case number and the advice given.

By the way, I paid extra for the Dell "Gold Plan" where the salesperson advised me that I get a "special" phone number and a special express service code that entitles me to talk to a "real" Dell tech in the continental United States with a hold time guaranteed to be less than five minutes. I wonder how much bullshit that is? What really frosts my balls is why these companies make you pay extra for what they should be giving you just for buying their product. Sheesh!

OH and one more thing: The hard drives I bought from TigerDirect.com had fantastic prices and are considered "OEM". The salesperson told me merchandise marked "OEM" are plain box hard drives without software or the cables and fancy packaging that usually comes with the same hard drive that costs more. You guys don't think I am being sold grey market stuff, do you?

[Edward Borden]

You aren't being sold grey market stuff. What they told you is true, but what they DIDN'T tell you is that OEM parts also have a reduced warranty. Sometimes down to days.

That was BS about the 7,200 rpm drives being fine.

If you are willing to chance it, I bet that 'case number' was a good idea. Might even want to try and call them, tell them you put all the drives in, and one overheated, and see what they do... But if you didn't buy the drives from them, what CAN they do? They aren't going to buy you new hard drives if it wasn't their parts.

[Hugh DiMauro]

Edwardo:

I have the nagging feeling that instead of getting a barely English-speaking individual in some other part of the world who attempts to help me by reading off of a list of what to tell me when I respond with "this or that", I have paid extra for an English speaking person in the United States who attempts to help me by reading off of a list of what to tell me when I say "this or that". Business in this country has become so sneaky and insidious.

<<sigh>>

The guy did tell me the warranty was reduced. But the hard drives are factory new, right?

[Glenn Chan]

Sometimes retail versions of a product come with a reduced warranty, so the store can upsell you on a service protection plan.
Sometimes the retail version of a printer doesn't come with a USB cable so the store can sell you an overpriced USB cable.
Go figure.

The websites should say what the warranty for an OEM hard drive is. Seagate I believe is 5 years, most of the others around 1-3 years. With WD, it depends on the version you buy.

OEM hard drives are new, not refurbished. Refurbished drives are marked as such (refurbished drives typically have a 90 day warranty or more).

2- There are some rebate deals that can be cheaper than buying at non-rebate prices from tigerdirect/newegg/zipzoomfly/monarch. Check hot deals sites for your country. Big chain stores usually run them.

3- I think putting one drive in one of the 5.25" bays should be ok. You can check temps with Speedfan. Two may not fly... I wouldn't know.

[Hugh DiMauro]

Thanks, Chan the Man! The bays are much bigger than the drives (hence my having to install them with adapters). Plenty of airflow on the sides.

[Jeremy Davidson]

I saw a reference to an external SATA enclosure once -- I don't know how they work, but that might be an option as well.

Glenn, 45C still sounds awfully hot (my processor runs cooler than that). Any suggestions on an ideal operating temperature?

[Edward Borden]

Another way to check if they are factory new vs. refurbished is to check the part number and/or serial number. These can be cross referenced with the manufacturer.

[Christopher Lefchik]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Davidson

I saw a reference to an external SATA enclosure once -- I don't know how they work, but that might be an option as well.

I have a SATA drive in an external SATA enclosure that I use for backing up my projects. Since it is connected by a SATA connection to my computer it's just as fast as my internal drives (important with the huge amount of material that has to be backed up).

At this point I don't know of any companies selling external SATA drives, so one has to buy the SATA enclosures and drives and put them together themselves. Also, no computers I know of have external SATA ports. The SATA enclosure I purchased, an Apricorn EZ Bus DTS, comes with a PCI card that has one external and one internal SATA ports.

[Edward Borden]

Originally Posted by Christopher Lefchik

Also, no computers I know of have external SATA ports. The SATA enclosure I purchased, an Apricorn EZ Bus DTS, comes with a PCI card that has one external and one internal SATA ports.

You mean no computer comes with an external port ON-BOARD. You obviously have a computer with an external SATA port. It's all a matter of what controller you buy.

There are also some pretty nifty things on the market that are PCI slot covers with an "adapter" that lets you plug internal SATA cables into it, then you can plug in another SATA cable externally. The alternative to just leaving a PCI cover off and routing cables through the open hole (which would work as well).

This business with external SATA drives is referred to as "DAS" (Direct Attached Storage). Same thing as having a SCSI card with an external port, and plugging a box full of SCSI drives into it. This is probably something many of you in higher-end Post situations have seen. The difference with SATA is that it's a different type of bus, with a significant different being that you can only have one device on a channel. SCSI can hold a whole slew, and you can also connect directly to external controllers as well, all of which is better suited for a DAS array.

[Christopher Lefchik]

Originally Posted by Edward Borden

You mean no computer comes with an external port ON-BOARD.

Yes, that's what I meant.

Originally Posted by Edward Borden

You obviously have a computer with an external SATA port.

Only because I added them (although I custom built my computer in the first place). Still, I know of no commercial computers that come preconfigured with external SATA ports.