We have recently purchased around 300-400 drives of 500GB from Hitachi GST.

Our test method for checking the drives is filling up the drives with files (by replication) and do a hash check after (with comparison to the original source file.) Should the drive drop out (due to retry errors) it is RMAd. We do check for SMART after, as based on experience, it is fairly accurate on the sector reallocation count when the drive is in imminent failure. You also need to keep an eye on read statistics (we use iostat) to check if the performance is sub par. Normally, the drives will return to normal speeds after sector reallocation.

Based on our statistics, I would say that we do get around 1% defect rate for the drives (we have swapped out around 3 of them for 1 died and 2 having bad sectors.) After around a month, you get a further 1% or less (for typically having bad sectors further.) The same goes for after around 1 year.

In another interesting note, we purchased around 8 pcs of 2TB from Hitachi GST and probably from a batch problem, we had to replace around half of it due to bad sectors. We had a batch before of around 8 pcs of 2TB but everything were good.

As for performance, there are times when some of the drives deliver consistent performance (the hash checks don't all finish at the same time.) Though we don't classify the drives but my guesstimate is around 5%.

Slashdot should have a like button. I like your post. But alas, I don't think we will have it where I live.

i thought that galaxy is defined as a group of starts, planets, etc. orbiting a central blackhole. but probably it's more of an observation than the definition though.

oops... hahaha

thinking of modem

but i guess my subconscious was thinking of another. :))

There are microprocessors probably in just about everything:

computer
cellphone
remote control
tv
microwave
light bulbs
monitor
air conditioner
dsl modem
router
dsl router
model
etc...

i will assume nowadays that all electric consuming equipment will have a microprocessor in it.

at the same time, these equipment may have multiple microprocessors in it as well.

Android gets to have bugs here and there. One of the gripes that we have (me and my colleagues) is the calendar function. There is a problem with the synchronization of calendar between Android and Google Apps. The interpretation of Android for whole day entry and Google is different with the calendar entry going haywire to wrong date if you switch between a time entry and whole day. In addition, we get to have sync issues when changing times and dates of the calendar. It becomes "disconnected" where the Android calendar and Google calendar does not reflect the changes made to each other. However, when you delete the entry, it will be deleted on the other.

The solution is to use iPhone (one of my colleague has and does not experience any problems.) Google sucks with the own products rather third party integration. iOS It has better support with the synchronization and does not have any problems (indicating that it is an Android issue.) The synchronization is faster (instant update after saving the changes) instead of Android which requires some time to update (and not sure if it will really update.)

Given that Google has almost 20,000 employees as of end of 2009, what are all of them doing? Maybe their mantra of launching and keeping everything in beta actually materializes in the products that they deliver.

wow. i didn't expect it but there are quite a number of people who are mute here in slashdot.

even with the situation, how many language are you able to communicate with? it may be a good thing since the chances of being helped with technology is high (in the slashdot crowd.)

what are your views in which technology helps you communicate with others. hope this becomes an interesting discussion.

p.s. i apologize if ever my terms don't become politically correct. no bad intention is meant. but my belief is that by labeling people politically correct terms is quite offending as well (it's like being a hypocrite.) but maybe it may depend on the views of the society if a negative connotation has been associated with a particular term.

some areas in north amera are experiencing a heatwave.

living in the tropics, it's like heatwave for most of the year. just this summer, the norm temperature would probably be 34 degrees C till around 38 (93 to 100.)

so much for complaining. but we have been experiencing this not just for a couple of days but a couple of months. the temperature is pretty much the same throughout the day and night. it's pretty much torture, but i learn to survive (even without using air conditioners.)

consider the heat and the electric grid also can't handle (not enough generation capacity.) and areas get black outs during peak hours. at the same time, electricity rates spike to around usd 0.30 per kwh, that's one heck of an expensive way to cool down. also bundle that with drought.

i guess the americans should try evaporative air conditioning (water vapor.) or maybe ice based cooling during the night to reduce peak grid loads during the day.

on the side note, because of the expensive electricity rates here, i've been reasearching on cheaper air conditioning solutions. it seems there is not much "technology" involved in reducing energy usage of air conditioning.

thanks. got it. :)

this is quite a very informative article.

my question though from the image produced is that the metres/meters scale shows how "strong" or "weak" the gravity is from the normalized sphere? how is it in the unit of metres/meters? i would appreciate if someone could explain the map more detailed (i probably need another explanation from the article to understand it more.)

the goce satellite is cool. i mean i didn't realize that we have technology such as xenon ion thrusters. i thought they were limited to star trek. my ignorance. :((

thanks in advance. :)

how about if winds blow the ash to the site?

haven't seen any post here (that's modded) about private jet option. but it would be cool to have one. anybody flying with it? care to share stories.

your post kicks ass! :D

why is there a need to compare this and that to ipod. reading initially the headline, i though it was an ipod with hiv detection capability. everybody seems to be comparing stuff to apple products. ipod this, ipad that, iphone there, etc.

but i will have to bow to the people at apple for their great marketing. they have successfully made their products the de facto standard for everyone to have.