Adding Up the Cost of Disk Failure

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Another factor contributing to the fact that administrators tend to undervalue the problem of disk failures is that hard drive prices have decreased significantly in recent times, coming down to the $50 to $200 range. To many, it does not seem like a big deal to replace a disk when it goes down. Unfortunately, the hardware aspect is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to costs. Add in the IT personnel time to replace the disk and, if replacement is done after a disk fails, employee downtime, the value of lost productivity, and potential loss of customers or loss of service to customers, and suddenly it turns into a very expensive proposition.

Inexpensive though disks may be, the data they contain is not, which is why most enterprises have some sort of backup and restore strategy in place. Although backup techniques have markedly improved over the years, relying on backing up as the sole solution to disk crashes is like saying that because medical technology has made great strides, we do not need to work to prevent automobile accidents or wear seat belts or install airbags in cars. True, doctors can do a pretty good job these days of piecing bodies back together, but it is a slow, painful, and expensive undertaking compared with preventing accidents in the first place. The same applies to hard drives. Preventing a crash — anticipating it, safeguarding the data, and replacing the disk before it fails — is far preferable to cleaning up the mess afterwards.

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