is Seagate's 'Seashield' harmful?

  • Thread starter Thread starter George Orwell
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George Orwell

I have had a few Seagate drives die after 2 years or so.
All had this Seashield. So offers anti-static as well as
mechanical protection, but can it make overheating?
I have a couple of 10-year Seagate drives still running in
an ancient overclocked system (the IDE controller would be
12% overclocked in this thing), and never an error on
either. Maybe they built them better in the old days?

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George Orwell said:
I have had a few Seagate drives die after 2 years or so.
All had this Seashield. So offers anti-static as well as
mechanical protection, but can it make overheating?
I have a couple of 10-year Seagate drives still running in
an ancient overclocked system (the IDE controller would be
12% overclocked in this thing), and never an error on
either. Maybe they built them better in the old days?
Click to expand...

Possibly. Elecronics do die earlier when hotter, at about
half the lifetime for every 10C. But they start with a
lifetime of about 50 years at 25C, excluding electrolythe
capacitors (worse) and power semiconductors (better). Note
that most modern CPUs fall into the "power semiconductor"
class and hence you need to look into their datasheets for
lifetime estimates.

I have personally seen this with a set of 22 network cards
running at 70C. They started dying after 2 years and had
the peak death rate at around 2.5-3 years. Replaced them
all afterwards.

Arno
 
George said:
I have had a few Seagate drives die after 2 years or so.
All had this Seashield. So offers anti-static as well as
mechanical protection, but can it make overheating?
I have a couple of 10-year Seagate drives still running in
an ancient overclocked system (the IDE controller would be
12% overclocked in this thing), and never an error on
either. Maybe they built them better in the old days?
Click to expand...

I've seen only two Seagates with covers, a 40GB, 5400 RPM "U" series
with a rubbery cover and a 7200 RPM, 80GB Barracuda IV with a metal
one, and the latter would idle about 2-3C hotter than other 7200 RPM
HDs (measured with thermometer in the aluminum casting), and removing
the cover would lower the temp. Neither drive failed in my
possession.

The only electronic HD failures I've seen that were probably heat
related were in old Maxtors that used tiny 6-pin chips to move the
motor and heads. I believe some Quantum HDs also used them, even
before the merger with Maxtor.
 
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