# Upgrade Beginning



## storm5510 (Mar 26, 2009)

My hardware upgrade for Windows 10 Pro (x64) has began. First item: Large HD replacement. The old Seagate shown below is very tired. 45,050 hours and 575 reallocated sectors. Just for fun, I did some math. 19.4 billion revolutions, more or less, during its life.

I had it in my HP workstation and I didn't realize how much the system was struggling with it until I took it out. It was a secondary drive with nothing on it. I had it in there to wipe it thoroughly. After removing it, the system booted twice as fast. The old drive was also SATA II. This workstation has two SATA III ports and four SATA II ports.

The replacement is a _WD Blue_ 1TB. I had said previously that I was sticking with Seagate. After studying the differences, I decided to change. The WD is more expensive than a Seagate of similar size.

Regardless, the WD will be here Saturday. :smile:


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

Wow! That's a lot of hours.

Have you thought about an SSD instead of a hard drive for the new system?


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## storm5510 (Mar 26, 2009)

Masterchiefxx17 said:


> Wow! That's a lot of hours.


I have a twin to the drive above in an external USB enclosure. It has around 28,400 hours on it and has 189 reallocated sectors. I don't use it much any more since getting the 2TB USB3 mini.

The drive that came in the HP is a WD 250GB. It's closing in on 36,000 hours. _Crystal Disk Info_ shows no problems in the SMART data. It could run several more years, or give out tomorrow. It is four years old. The Seagate's are both seven years old.



Masterchiefxx17 said:


> Have you thought about an SSD instead of a hard drive for the new system?


No, I haven't. I tend to go with what I know. The last time I really looked at them, the price was high and the capacity was low. I know that's not the case now.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

You can put a spinner on a SATA2 or SATA3 port and you won't notice any difference. For SSD, you will want to use SATA3 to get the maximum performance.


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## VividProfessional (Apr 29, 2009)

I too would stay away from Seagate and Samsung. go check the "Power on" hours of the ST3000BM001 (the 3TB disk) - its 2,400 hours. Yes two thousand four hundred hours.
I am on my 22nd disk now.... I only purchased one.
Its now also failed and is being used as a training / anger aid.

Seagate admitted to me in writing that the warranty becomes null and void at 2,400hrs usage, 250 power ons, 6tb data write, or 24tb data read. 

that means you can only during the warranty write to the entire disk twice before its out of warranty.

Samsung - well the HDDs they make may be ok, but as my S7 edge handset blew up the other day and according to samsung "suffered an extreme internal failure which isnt covered by warranty as the screen has suffered major damage, it being smashed (due to the thermal runaway) of the handset" Basically we knew your phone would blow up we have a lot of faults but we aint replaceing it...


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## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

> No, I haven't. I tend to go with what I know. The last time I really looked at them, the price was high and the capacity was low. I know that's not the case now.


I would consider it. They are inexpensive and reliable.


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## storm5510 (Mar 26, 2009)

JimE said:


> You can put a spinner on a SATA2 or SATA3 port


A spinner?



Dave Cummings said:


> ...go check the "Power on" hours of the ST3000BM001 (the 3TB disk) - its 2,400 hours. Yes two thousand four hundred hours.


I am not sure who this is directed at. :ermm: Regardless, 2,400 hours is just 100 days of continuous running. I averaged over 6,400 hours a year on the Seagate in the initial post here. Glad I changed my mind!

Edit: My external is a 2TB. 65 hours in about four months.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Spinner = traditional HDD with spinning platters.

For the primary OS/software drive, I'd also suggest using an SSD (as noted above). The performance difference is night and day. You can get a 240GB model for $50-75. Less or at the lowend of that price if you watch the sales.


I've not had any issues with Seagate over any other type of drive. I've had a handful of drive failures over my many years of computer use and I've never had any problems getting a drive replaced that was under warranty (by time - ie: 3 years after purchase or whatever).


As to the failures, if you've had a drive fail 22 times within a warranty period, it's not likely a drive issue. Twice I've suffered multiple drive failures in a single location. Once it was a faulty controller which was corrupting the drives and the second time it was a faulty power supply. I'm also surprised they replaced it multiple times. The standard warranty applies to the purchased drive. The replacement drive typically doesn't include the warranty, although I have gotten a replacement drive replaced as well (I seem to recall it was a Seagate, one of the 1TB models I believe with the known firmware issue years ago). That warranty model is pretty standard and applies to most all hardware/electronics.


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## storm5510 (Mar 26, 2009)

I have only had one drive that actually failed to function after a couple of years of use. It was a Maxtor 200GB I had about a decade ago. From day-one it ran really warm, almost to the point of not being able to touch it. It would do this even when I wasn't doing anything with it. Looking back, it probably had a spindle motor issue.

I have four very old drives that I have kept. Three 40's and one 80. _Crystal Disk Info_ says they all are in good condition. I have an older computer here that I do heavy math on, or did, until the monitor died. One of this group will go back in it. I only need an OS and drivers to do what I need it to do.

I will keep the SSD in mind for future reference. The 1TB WD Blue arrived today while I was gone to work. It spent much of the afternoon and evening inside in an outdoor parcel locker. It feels like a block of ice so I'm leaving it in its sealed bag overnight. I would prefer it not attract any excess moisture from all the rain the past 12 hours.


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## storm5510 (Mar 26, 2009)

The new drive is in and running. _Crystal Disk Info_ indicates everything is as it should be. It has not been read-tested and I am wondering if that is something I should do before installing Windows 10. I don't want to do anything really rigorous with it at this point.


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## Techwardo (Oct 10, 2016)

I definitely think an SSD would be a smarter decision for you at this moment.


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## storm5510 (Mar 26, 2009)

Techwardo said:


> I definitely think an SSD would be a smarter decision for you at this moment.


I understand, really, I do. I've been using computers since 1988 and this is something I need to study in my own way and in my own time. I am still using the twin of the retired Seagate in its USB enclosure. If I did go this route, I would do it there first, as a secondary drive. Having the 2TB USB3 mini, I really don't need a 500GB alternate. Something smaller would do.

I just ordered Windows 10 Pro 64-bit. It will be here in a few days.


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