Western Digital AV drives in PC?

[Towermax]

I recently was given two almost new WD3200AVJS drives pulled from DVRs. The drives have been re-formatted for Windows and run fine in my test system.

These 320GB WD drives are optimized for video use, for example in DVRs and surveillance systems. They're low power, run very cool and they're quieter than comparable non-AV drives (although with a performance hit apparently).

I'd like to use these drives in a Windows/Linux PC since cool and quiet sounds good. However, checking around the net, there are comments that say the error-correcting ability of these drives has been reduced to improve video throughput. For example, I found this comment in the [H]ardOCP forums:

"I do know that Video Drives use much less stringent error correction routines because keeping a smooth stream of data is more important than making sure every bit is perfect."

However, when I go the WD spec sheets for the drive, the "non-recoverable error rate" is identical for this drive and its desktop equivalent (WD3200JS). It also says that these drives are "ideal for Media Center PCs".

Does anyone know if these drives are reliable enough for normal desktop use?

[Joovilhar]

Considering that PCs used to boot from floppy disks, which are several orders of magnitude less reliable than any hard disk, I don't think you have much of a need to worry.

If data integrity is a big thing with you, you will want a filesystem that keeps track of data hygeine (such as ZFS) - as even normal "desktop" drives can occasionally return bad data without any warning signs (especially if your power supply is about to give up the ghost.)

This blog covers it in greater detail:
http://blogs.sun.com/constantin/entry/z ... data_right

Don't worry to death about it. But make sure you keep backups - after all, you could be fretting about the reliability of your disks until you get home, only to find some bastard thief has broken into your house and stolen your PC - data and all - leaving you with nothing but a moot concern.

[Towermax]

Considering that PCs used to boot from floppy disks, which are several orders of magnitude less reliable than any hard disk, I don't think you have much of a need to worry.

If data integrity is a big thing with you, you will want a filesystem that keeps track of data hygeine (such as ZFS) -

Don't worry to death about it. But make sure you keep backups

Yes, I used to use those floppies. But they didn't have 320GB of hard-to-replace data stored on them. I also kept multiple backups of important data floppies.

And ZFS, nice as it is, is not yet an option for my Windows systems.

My systems are backed up daily to a server, so I'm not worried about permanent data loss. I'm more concerned about possible file corruption on desktop systems.

I just don't want to install a drive which may create some degree of instability or other problems in a desktop system. That's why I asked for feedback from anyone with knowledge of the AV drives. I suspect there's no problem at all, but it's worth checking to see if anyone has experience with these drives.