24 ms·

Maybe I am being overly simplistic, but shouldn't it not matter? Who in the modern age doesn't back up everything all the time? Don't we all operate with the a

Maybe I am being overly simplistic, but shouldn't it not matter? Who in the modern age doesn't back up everything all the time? Don't we all operate with the assumption these things are going to blow at any time? 90%+ of my data is on cloud storage now anyway. When a SSD goes out don't you just chunk it in the drawer of old drives that you promise to take to the disposal center this weekend (and never do) and then take a quick trip to your local computer store for a new one? This reminds me of something an IT support staffer told me a long time ago... "The difference between a IT pro and a user is that to an IT pro hard drives are a consumable resources".

Kye 8y ago
Replacing an SSD is not free, and in most cases it's not easy. Maybe an IT pro can just roll down to the computer store for a new one, put it in their laptop (for free!), and throw a $100+ drive in a drawer without even thinking about warranty, but most people can't. A backup doesn't excuse excessive rates of failure and weird glitches.
- SomeHacker44 8y ago
  Replacing an SSD in a modern Apple laptop is literally impossible. You need to replace the whole dang laptop (or motherboard, whatever they call it these days), which is not something a user can do. Thank goodness for Backblaze, Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, Drobo and Synology. Maybe I have gone overboard, but I have not lost any data in 12+ years.
- PeterisP 8y ago
  The post is about predictability and warnings before a drive dies. The work and cost to replace it doesn't change anyway (since you do replace the drive at the first sign of warnings, right? otherwise what's the point of wanting them?). The only difference is if you get an extra chance to copy the data before you replace the drive - which is no difference at all if you have proper backups. If we'd be arguing about mean time between failure or total cost of ownership, then it'd be relevant, but this post isn't even claiming that the rates of failure are excessive (compared to what?), just that they are too weird and unpredictable for the author's liking.
JohnFen 8y ago
It matters. The existence of backups don't change that. If you have a failure (be it hardware, software, or PEBKAC) that requires you to restore from a backup, that means that you're going to suffer system downtime and you'll have to be spending your own personal time restoring things. Those are not cheap, and we haven't even talked about the cost of new hardware.

Kye 8y ago

Replacing an SSD is not free, and in most cases it's not easy. Maybe an IT pro can just roll down to the computer store for a new one, put it in their laptop (for free!), and throw a $100+ drive in a drawer without even thinking about warranty, but most people can't. A backup doesn't excuse excessive rates of failure and weird glitches.

SomeHacker44 8y ago
Replacing an SSD in a modern Apple laptop is literally impossible. You need to replace the whole dang laptop (or motherboard, whatever they call it these days), which is not something a user can do. Thank goodness for Backblaze, Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, Drobo and Synology. Maybe I have gone overboard, but I have not lost any data in 12+ years.
PeterisP 8y ago
The post is about predictability and warnings before a drive dies. The work and cost to replace it doesn't change anyway (since you do replace the drive at the first sign of warnings, right? otherwise what's the point of wanting them?). The only difference is if you get an extra chance to copy the data before you replace the drive - which is no difference at all if you have proper backups. If we'd be arguing about mean time between failure or total cost of ownership, then it'd be relevant, but this post isn't even claiming that the rates of failure are excessive (compared to what?), just that they are too weird and unpredictable for the author's liking.

JohnFen 8y ago

It matters. The existence of backups don't change that. If you have a failure (be it hardware, software, or PEBKAC) that requires you to restore from a backup, that means that you're going to suffer system downtime and you'll have to be spending your own personal time restoring things. Those are not cheap, and we haven't even talked about the cost of new hardware.