[Gllug] Is this a silly (RAID) notion?

[Alain Williams]

On Sun, Dec 02, 2007 at 09:50:28PM +0000, James Roberts wrote:
> John Winters wrote:
> 
> > Would it be silly to put all 3 in to begin with, specifying the 3rd as a 
> > spare, then once the installation is complete remove the 3rd drive and 
> > put it away somewhere safe.
> 
> It may seen counter-intuitive, but the MTBF is much longer than the 
> shelf life.
> 
> In other words, a drive that is turned on lasts longer than one that is 
> not (no sniggering at the back please).
> 
> The reason is that polarised devices tend to fail if left unpolarised 
> for long periods - and almost all drives have non-solid capacitors on-board.

Does this mean that ones that I store I should power up occasionally ?

Presumably this also applies to trusty old work horses that I have put in the
loft (on the basis that there *must* be a use for it some day).

-- 
Alain Williams
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