Just wondering if it is my bad luck, or if anyone else is having the same problems. We have about 17 Dell optiplex and dimension desktops and workstations, all with SATA scsi drives. In the last year, about half ouf these hard drives have failed, and had to be replaced. Since they are under warranty, Dell just keeps replacing them with remanufactured ones. I am afraid that when the warranty runs out, We are going to be forced to buy new hard drives for all of these machines, because Dell is not fixing the problem. I can't do anything about the electricity in this building, but each computer is on a UPS and surge protector system, and still having the problems.

I have never seen this before with IDE drives. Most of the computers are running debian linux, a couple running windows. I am not sure if this is a Linux problem or an OS problem, or just a Dell/hardware problem.

Any thoughts?
Jeff

It shouldn't be a surprise that Dell's hardware isn't top of the line. On the other hand, all hard drive manufacturers have had problematic runs at one time or another. Are all the failing hard drives from the same manufacturer, with close serial numbers?

Also, vibration is a hard drive killer. Is there any source of vibration that these machines are exposed to?

While I've had hard drives run 5 years or more, these days I only expect about 18 months on average. Hard drive are mechanical devices, and always in motion. They will fail, guaranteed - the only question is when.

All my important drives are mirrored, and the less critical drives are backed up nightly. A strategy for dealing with the inevitable failures is probably your best course of action.