Hard Disk Quality and Reliability Specifications
Reprinted, with permission, from The PC Guide
Hard Disk Quality and Reliability Specifications
There are a number of different specifications used by hard disk drive manufacturers to
indicate the quality and reliability of their products. Some of these, such as MTBF, are
frequently discussed (but not always all that well understood). Others are obscure and
typically of interest only to hard drive aficionados. All are important to those who care
about hard disk quality--which should be anyone who stores data on a hard disk. 
In
this section I discuss the most important of these specifications, what they mean, and
perhaps most importantly, what they don't mean! You'll also find some discussion
of specifications in the section on quality and reliability issues,
particularly temperature specifications and noise specifications.
Note: In addition to the
hard-disk-specific numbers explained in this section, hard disks usually come with a
number of environmental specifications that dictate how they should and should
not be used in order to operate reliably. These are essentially the same as those provided
for power supplies. The only
caveat about applying the power supply environmental specifications here is that hard
drives are more sensitive to altitude than most components and can fail when
operated at altitudes over 10,000 feet; see here
for the reason why.
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