A comprehensive review of hard-disk drive reliability

A shorter development cycle (i.e. 12-18 months on average), a shorter life cycle in the field (i.e. 2-3 years on average); as well as higher reliability requirements (i.e. a specified minimum MTTF of 400,000 hours), all present new challenges to the hard-disk drive manufacturer. In order to meet and exceed the ever-increasing customer expectations, a systematic approach needs to be taken beginning with the early design state, through pre-production and mass production, and finally through to field operation. This paper presents Quantum's current effort in achieving this goal.