Re: [9fans] Petabytes on a budget: JBODs + Linux + JFS

[erik quanstrom <quanstro@quanstro.net>]

On Mon Sep 21 14:51:07 EDT 2009, wes@authentrus.com wrote:
> erik quanstrom wrote:
> Our top-of-the-line Sub Zero and Thermidor kitchen appliances are pure
> junk. In fact, I can point to Consumer Reports data that shows an
> inverse relationship between appliance cost and reliability.

storage vendors have a credibility problem.  i think the big
storage vendors, as referenced in the op, sell you on many
things you don't need for much more than one has to spend.

so i understand one is not inclined to believe a storage guy
about the need for something that's more expensive.

however, unlike your refrigerator, the hard drive vendors
claim different reliability numbers for enterprise drives
than consumer models.  they claim (a) lower ure rates
(b) greater mtbf (c) 100% duty cycle.  typical enterprise
drives today have a 10x smaller claimed ure rate, 2-5x
greater mtbf and are warrented to run 100% of the time.

you may not believe them, but when we see drive failures,
chances are very good that it's a consumer drive.

from what i can tell without any nda access, there's different
hardware on enterprise drives.  there are different chips on
the pcbs of most enterprise drives, claimed extra accelerometers
and temperature sensors (to properly place the head).

- erik