FreeAgent Products

turn on suggestions Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type.
Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type.
Reply
Topic Options
danb1985
Visitor
danb1985
Posts: 1
Registered: ‎07-23-2008
0

Practical data transfer quantity before overheating risk?

Options

‎07-23-2008 05:48 AM

Hello,
 
I recently bought a USB 2.0 1TB Freeagent Desktop drive as a backup for video editing footage. When I received the drive, it appeared to be in good working order, and I was able to transfer small quantities of files (around 20GB) across successfully.
When I put approximately 180GB of data to transfer, the drive copied solidly at around 30MB/s for between 60-90 minutes then crashed out, freezing up and then vanishing from 'My Computer'. The case was extremely hot, and the hard drive subsequently refused to work. I gave it the night to cool down and tried it in the morning. No luck - the hard drive refused to work on three different machines - although the front LED lights switch on when the power and USB cables are plugged in, the drive fails to spin up. When listening closely, you can hear the drive repeatedly try to start up, but all three computers have failed to recognise its existence. A colleague is adamant that this failure can be attributed to the drive overheating and becoming damaged. He's also claimed this is, unfortunately, irreversible.
 
I have since returned this drive to the retailer for a refund and ordered a Freeagent Pro 1TB drive (I wanted the SATA connectivity as well). What I'd like to know is: is there a limit I should copy across before giving the drive a chance to cool down? If it's the sheer speed of transfer (although I wouldn't have expected this), is it worth using the SATA connection sparingly and only copying across, say, 40GB at a time before giving the drive a break?
 
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but returning broken hardware is always a pain in the neck, and I'd rather not have to go through this again! I'd have thought a terabyte drive would have been capable of transfering very large quantities of data non-stop - am I wrong in this?
 
Thanks for your time. Cheers!
Report Inappropriate Content
Message 1 of 2 (3,164 Views)
 
Reply
Exabyte
Exabyte
MrButkus
Posts: 861
Registered: ‎05-23-2008
0

Re: Practical data transfer quantity before overheating risk?

Options

‎07-26-2008 09:47 AM

There seems to be a failure rate of these in days (like most electronics) right out of the box.
Returns are a problems, expecially if you mail ordered them. There are other questions in this forum on how hot these should get.
Make sure they have ventilation and I would stand them upright, creating an air tunnel through the case.
I installed a small PC fan in my Maxtor OT4.  Now it's much cooler at the base.
I just think it was not built right and toasted.  I have another Maxtor that was running scandisk for hours with no problem.
I've seen many other external cases made by other companies, a few with fans built into the case.
Report Inappropriate Content
Message 2 of 2 (3,134 Views)
 
Reply