1. It's right on their web site. 5 years is noted as the design lifespan. Of course my neighbor can't get that much since their screensaver and main application for their PC is "Disk Defragmenting..."
If you must exceed 5 years, then move out of the consumer class products and get a backup tape unit too.
2. If we stick with reality, the drive overlay is just fine. Where people have problems is they don't make a boot diskette to get at their files when the OS didn't boot, or forget how to remove it when they move the drive.
But the biggest sin is they didn't have a backup plan. They run along with files and pictures that "can't lose" on a hard disk with no backup. Denial about backup is rampant. Most learn the lesson firsthand.
3. ISA cards run at very slow transfer speeds. Even if you managed to get it to work, a SCANdISK could take days.
Bob
I has an older mobo with 8gb Hdd limit, want to add 40gb-80gb, cheapies are Maxtor or Western Digital.
1. gossip I've heard is that Maxtor has early (<5yr) failure rate. What's your experience?
2. Are there drawbacks to using the cheaper solution of boot overlay (EZbios and such)or is there a better one? I may want to slave other Hdd's to checkout. What if both have boot overlay, will there be a conflict?
3. I know Promise controller cards will work (dma33-66), but will older ISA cards also translate the CHS, cards from old 486 DX2? I've tried to research 2 old ones and can't find info for max Hdd useage.

Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic