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How, pray tell, are people supposed to determine that certain categories/manufacturers of drives are inherently unreliable? It’s not as though most of us run do

How, pray tell, are people supposed to determine that certain categories/manufacturers of drives are inherently unreliable? It’s not as though most of us run dozens of them for long periods of time to evaluate their reliability. Most of us wait for someone who does do so to spread the news. Which is what is now happening.

wtallis 3y ago
> How, pray tell, are people supposed to determine that certain categories/manufacturers of drives are inherently unreliable? Certainly not by thinking the marketing department is giving you the full story. I don't have a problem with news like this being reported. What I have a problem with is acting like it's a surprise, or acting like a user who loses 3TB of data because of the failure of a single portable drive is a blameless victim (especially when the failed drive in question was a warranty replacement for a previous drive failure).
- deleted 3y ago
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- jackvalentine 3y ago
  That doesn’t really answer the question. How do you determine which ones are good, at the point of sale?
  - wtallis 3y ago
    > How do you determine which ones are good, at the point of sale? You don't. That information is not provided at the point of sale. You either research the products elsewhere before making a buying decision, or you make a purchase knowing it's somewhat of a gamble. (Occasionally Amazon/Newegg reviews may tip you off to important issues with a product, but that's an extremely poor signal-to-noise source of information.) Many people are quite happy to rationalize away the anxiety of that gamble by reassuring themselves with brand loyalty, which is how we get into situations like what prompted this article.
Gigachad 3y ago
You need to have a backup of any important data. Even with a reliable drive, you could still lose or destroy it. Reliability should only be a cost issue where you have to buy a new one.

wtallis 3y ago

> How, pray tell, are people supposed to determine that certain categories/manufacturers of drives are inherently unreliable? Certainly not by thinking the marketing department is giving you the full story. I don't have a problem with news like this being reported. What I have a problem with is acting like it's a surprise, or acting like a user who loses 3TB of data because of the failure of a single portable drive is a blameless victim (especially when the failed drive in question was a warranty replacement for a previous drive failure).

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
jackvalentine 3y ago
That doesn’t really answer the question. How do you determine which ones are good, at the point of sale?
- wtallis 3y ago
  > How do you determine which ones are good, at the point of sale? You don't. That information is not provided at the point of sale. You either research the products elsewhere before making a buying decision, or you make a purchase knowing it's somewhat of a gamble. (Occasionally Amazon/Newegg reviews may tip you off to important issues with a product, but that's an extremely poor signal-to-noise source of information.) Many people are quite happy to rationalize away the anxiety of that gamble by reassuring themselves with brand loyalty, which is how we get into situations like what prompted this article.

Gigachad 3y ago

You need to have a backup of any important data. Even with a reliable drive, you could still lose or destroy it. Reliability should only be a cost issue where you have to buy a new one.