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Rith
08-11-03, 21:18
I booted my PC today to discover my BIOS telling me my HDD was fucked and would soon die...

That's a first for me - I was originally tempted to disbelieve it since its still working fine... but I downloaded some diagnostics from maxtor and sure enough there's a bunch of "SMART" failures...

Those nice people at maxtor are now shipping me a new HDD... anyone else had this before? Anyone care to guess on the MTF for a disk that's already been slated for premature death ?

Oh well - to any CMs / 101st reading this - if I'm not around its probably because I've got a smoking pile of burnt Hard drive in my PC :)

At least I've backed up all my shit now. God bless DELL BIOS for letting me now it was all about to go ratshit.

g0rt
08-11-03, 21:21
Ive seen alot of SMART failures out of Maxtor...actually a friend of mine just had this exact same problem a few days ago and he is also getting a new drive.

Omnituens
08-11-03, 21:27
I'm on a western digital 80gb special edition with 8mb cache

ph34r

Rith
09-11-03, 00:10
Originally posted by Omnituens
I'm on a western digital 80gb special edition with 8mb cache

ph34r

ummm

120 GB ATA/133 8MB Cache HHD

pwn'd - ?

sad - absolutely

ViperG
09-11-03, 00:58
My friend went through 3 200 gig maxtor hd's (randomly die). He is on his 4th one and its being cool so far.

WD and IBM r best

Scikar
09-11-03, 01:01
3 of them randomly die and he gets another? o_O

J. Folsom
09-11-03, 01:04
Originally posted by Scikar
3 of them randomly die and he gets another? o_O That's what most people refer to as the "Well, it may have failed the first 9000 times, but it'll work tomorrow!" attitude, which is also what drove the whole lead to gold alchemy thing for a few centuries.

Shockwave
09-11-03, 01:09
Jesus, people are actually RECOMMENDING IBM and Western Digital HDDs?! Are you people INSANE?!?

Maxtor, IBM, and WD all have reliability problems. Seagate Barracudas are the only HDDs I've never, ever had a problem with.

Before anyone starts trying to be smart BTW, yes I know Barracudas are made for Seagate by IBM. Doesn't change the fact that IBM branded drives are shite and Barracudas are the mutt's dangly bits.

Scikar
09-11-03, 01:10
Originally posted by J. Folsom
That's what most people refer to as the "Well, it may have failed the first 9000 times, but it'll work tomorrow!" attitude, which is also what drove the whole lead to gold alchemy thing for a few centuries.


That was a little different though. How pissed off would you be if you said "It'll never work, so I'm not wasting my time on it" only for someone else to turn lead into gold? Yet you wouldn't feel the same if you said "I'm going to buy my HDDs from a different manufacturer" and this guy's HDD worked fine. ;)

Artie
09-11-03, 05:50
Originally posted by ViperG
My friend went through 3 200 gig maxtor hd's (randomly die). He is on his 4th one and its being cool so far.

WD and IBM r best

Usually when hd's go out on you like that it's the result of Line noise. Try using a power conditioner (or even better) a UPS.

Currently have a 450 watt UPS on my dual 2 ghz Xeons...My dual 80 Gig IBM's are doing just fine after a year of solid use RAID 0'd together thank you very much ^_^

Ozambabbaz
09-11-03, 16:55
<--- 4 GB Quantum Fireball HDD, slaving away on its 5th year as a main OS/Gaming drive :D

Omnituens
09-11-03, 17:08
Originally posted by Rith
ummm

120 GB ATA/133 8MB Cache HHD

pwn'd - ?

sad - absolutely

yes, but mine arent dieing.

Get the fuck down.

Candaman
09-11-03, 17:15
2 X 80GB Seagate Barracuda's 8mb Cache and almost full damn this 2 mb connection i download for the sake of downloading :wtf:

\\Fényx//
09-11-03, 17:16
Lol ive never had a problem with any maxtor drives ive had, well once one of them started clicking, and i actually just shook it a little ... and it kinda fixed it :O Hasnt happened since, that was over a year ago and its still working fine, only problem i have had is with my RAID setup, ive had 3 MSI boards and the RAID's gone tits up on all 3... Im going with ASUS now :)

All 3 HD's I have in my 2 PC's are only 20 gb ones, all 3 are the same model, cant be arsed to rip em open now... and thier about 2-3 years old now since i bought them... so (Touch on wood) Ill have no problems for another 3 years.


[Edit] Art you bastid love the Sig :D Im listening to the LP atm and made me laugh when I saw ur sig just as the song finished rofl :lol:

Shockwave
09-11-03, 17:25
Originally posted by \\Fényx//
Lol ive never had a problem with any maxtor drives ive had, well once one of them started clicking, and i actually just shook it a little ... and it kinda fixed it :O Hasnt happened since, that was over a year ago and its still working fine, only problem i have had is with my RAID setup, ive had 3 MSI boards and the RAID's gone tits up on all 3... Im going with ASUS now :)

You shouldn't have to shake a precision piece of equipment like a hard drive to stop it clicking - that's just bad build quality.

So far I've seen 9 Maxtor 20-80GB HDDs fail, a couple within the first year, but most just a SHADE after the warranty ran out. Then again I say every single 20GB Fujistu drive we had fail over a 2-month period, but that was down to their little problem with duff materials. The 3x80GB Seagate Barracudas I'm running in my main system haven't even twitched in the year or so I've been running them.

Edit: Spelling

IceStorm
09-11-03, 17:50
If it doesn't have at least a three year warranty, don't touch it. That's my philosophy, anyway.

Rith
09-11-03, 18:32
Originally posted by Omnituens
yes, but mine arent dieing.

Get the fuck down.

*gets in his box*

Shakari
09-11-03, 19:07
Originally posted by Shockwave
Jesus, people are actually RECOMMENDING IBM and Western Digital HDDs?! Are you people INSANE?!?

Maxtor, IBM, and WD all have reliability problems. Seagate Barracudas are the only HDDs I've never, ever had a problem with.

Before anyone starts trying to be smart BTW, yes I know Barracudas are made for Seagate by IBM. Doesn't change the fact that IBM branded drives are shite and Barracudas are the mutt's dangly bits.

lol seagate also have there problems,

IBM are not shite, and if the seagates are also made by IBM what does that say for seagate :) rebadging does not change the drives properties

myself i us IBM i have had no problems

also used fujistu with no problems and seagate

have had a WD die 12hrs after i bought it tho lol

but seriously all HD have a chance of fucking up :/

but in the end its all down to personal preference

Shockwave
09-11-03, 19:17
Originally posted by Shakari
lol seagate also have there problems,

IBM are not shite, and if the seagates are also made by IBM what does that say for seagate :) rebadging does not change the drives properties
Different drive mechanics and technologies. Different manufacturing plant too, I believe.


myself i us IBM i have had no problems
also used fujistu with no problems and seagate
have had a WD die 12hrs after i bought it tho lol
but seriously all HD have a chance of fucking up :/
but in the end its all down to personal preference
IBMs are better than Maxtor or (ugh) WD, but Seagate are the best at this exact moment IMHO. But as you say, it's all down to personal preference. :)

Fujitsu no longer make 3.5" HDDs BTW. They almost went bust after this (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/33521.html).

Shakari
10-11-03, 00:56
Originally posted by Shockwave
Different drive mechanics and technologies. Different manufacturing plant too, I believe.

[B]
IBMs are better than Maxtor or (ugh) WD, but Seagate are the best at this exact moment IMHO. But as you say, it's all down to personal preference. :)

Fujitsu no longer make 3.5" HDDs BTW. They almost went bust after this (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/33521.html).


hmmm didn't know about that happening to fujistu the drives i had were only 30 GB and are now getting a bit old technology wise :/

I used to like seagate in fact I swore by them untill i bought 2 40 GB drive and one was defective out of the shop ther other died within 2 weeks :/ get them replaced and had no probelms with the replacesments untill i sold the PC but it had left a nagging doubt there :/

but from other ppl I do hear seagate is good so really not sure lol

IceStorm
10-11-03, 03:45
You may want to visit www.storagereview.com for some performance information regarding various hard disks available. Right now the highest performing 7200 RPM IDE disks seem to be the new Hitachis. Next in line were the WD SE disks, if I remember correctly.

I personally worry more about a warranty than the highest performance. WD gives a 3 year warranty on its SE disks. I don't know if Hitachi is doing so at the moment. If a company won't back its disks with a 3+ year warranty, they're not expecting their disks to last too long, in my opinion.

I currently use IBM, Maxtor/Quantum, and WD IDE disks, along with IBM, Fujitsu, and WD SCSI disks. All four IBM IDEs I own were either RMAed within two years of purchase or had to be firmware updated to get around the problem of idling causing the drives to die. IBM has since sold their IDE HD divison to Hitachi. Hopefully Hitachi does a better job with it.

Most of my Maxtor IDEs do fairly well. I have one of the original 40GB 7200 RPM disks and it is still going strong in my Sun Blade 100. The 160GB disk is a four platter design and failed once (got really loud), so I RMAed it. The older Maxtor-only 5400 RPM disks have held up fairly well, however one 60GB disk failed just outside its three year warranty recently. Of the two Maxtor/Quantum D540X disks I have (Maxtor name, but Quantum mechanicals), one failed and was RMAed, getting me a 120GB in return. The other recently failed - even when out of the case, it ran entirely too hot. RMAed it and got a proper Maxtor back. Needless to say, I've stopped buying Maxtor's lower end disks and won't be buying their 7200 RPM units until they restore the 3 year warranty.

My WD disks are nice. I have four OEM 120s in a RAID5 on my main box, a 120 in my gaming box, another 80 was bought for a friend, and I ordered another 160 for use elsewhere. I think one of the 120s in the RAID5 is having a problem, but the 3Ware software reports no issues. I'll let it go until it breaks, then swap in a replacement. However, WD's 5400 RPM Caviar line is... not something I'll buy. Bought a 20GB a couple years ago, it failed (seized) in four days. All my previous Caviars failed before their warranties expired (but this was back when 2GB was a big disk). WD's Expert and SE disks seem to be fine (I still have an original 18GB Expert that works), but I'd shy away from their value line.

My Fujitsu 10K RPM disks are quiet, cool, and serve in my main machine as boot/OS disks. This in stark contrast to the 10K RPM IBM I use in my video box which sounds like someone chewing on glass and runs hotter than Hades. The other IBM SCSIs are SCA for use with a couple SS20s, but i don't have those in production right now.

Quantum's dead. I had a 20GB Quantum 7200 RPM disk. It's as loud as the IBM SCSI above and quite warm. There was a Quantum in my first ReplayTV, but that was removed and replaced with twin 80GB Maxtor disks, so I don't know how long it would have lasted. Other than that, I haven't made extensive use of Quantum.

Seagate I don't use. The Seagate that came in my Sun Blade 100 was slow, loud, and hot. I haven't bought any Seagates due to their lower performance as tested by SR and now due to their 1 yr warranty. I didn't buy their SCSIs due to heat/noise initially, then due to the price - 15k vs 10k in my main box just wasn't worth it.

Do what you think is best. Some people have better luck with one brand vs another. Back up your critical documents on CD-Rs or DVD-Rs so you don't have to worry too much if your drive dies. :-)

FireST@R
10-11-03, 07:49
Originally posted by Rith
I booted my PC today to discover my BIOS telling me my HDD was fucked and would soon die...

That's a first for me - I was originally tempted to disbelieve it since its still working fine... but I downloaded some diagnostics from maxtor and sure enough there's a bunch of "SMART" failures...



Same thing happend to me a while back.. mailed Maxtor .. shipped it the same day.. and about a month later I got a new drive. Their service is pretty good, but damn they are slow as helllll when it comes to shipping stuff.

anyway.. rith. world pay fucked up my account .. so I cant log back on.. hope to get it fixed some time later this week

iainy13
10-11-03, 08:49
Wish my hd would die... So i could send in for a new one wit its warrenty. Its a 13 gig pos. Anyone think they would send me a 40 gig er somthin if it broke :wtf:

garyu69
10-11-03, 11:23
Originally posted by Rith
but I downloaded some diagnostics from maxtor and sure enough there's a bunch of "SMART" failures... Could i have a link to these things you download beacause my HD is about to die i just need some evidence :(

Rith
10-11-03, 21:16
Originally posted by garyu69
Could i have a link to these things you download beacause my HD is about to die i just need some evidence :(

I'm assuming you've got a Maxtor drive - otherwise don't go anywhere near this :)

http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/powermax.htm

it will format a disk as boot utility

stick it then and run the diags on your drive - if its fucked it will give you an RMA error code...

go back to www.maxtor.com and fill in the returns section - If you want your drive quick (like i did)... enter your credit card details and they'll ship you a replacement straight away - just use the packaging to then put the faulty drive in and return it.

I guess if you don't return your faulty one your CC gets charged with the cost :)

ReefSmoker
10-11-03, 21:23
About 7 or 8 years ago I had the undeniably tedious job of replacing the drives on 800 workstations, including OS and software :( They were Fujitsu drives. Around about the same time I also had a WD drive fail on one of my own systems.

Nowadays I've made a point of sticking with Seagate drives, they're reliable and have the advantage of low noise output. I'm not saying Seagate are perfect, but they've served me well over the last few years.

Take care,

ReefSmoker

StryfeX
11-11-03, 01:17
Personally, I like WD. I have had no problems over the last 3 years with my now 3 drives. A 20 gig, a 40 gig, and a 60 gig are all humming along as happy as can be inside my rig. Although, one thing that's prolly contributing is that A) I have a good UPS, and B), I hardly ever turn my computer off. :D

--Stryfe

Tycho C
11-11-03, 01:54
Hmmm, cant remeber when it was. A few months ago my Maxtor died. Out of nowhere. I did the powermax thing to send it back and had it in 5 -7 business days.

But I never checked the running temp of the last drive. The one I got from them runs at 103 F. Almost too hot to touch. Anyone know if this may be a little high? (This with a cheap HDD cooler)

Edit: It was too hot to touch Before i bought the cheep HDD cooler. Now its better... a bit.

garyu69
11-11-03, 14:27
Originally posted by Rith
I'm assuming you've got a Maxtor drive - otherwise don't go anywhere near this :)
I've decided that a new hard drive is the way to go. After i got home yesterday the PC was making a very annoying Ticking noise and nothing would open. Not even the start menu. This is the second time in two days this has happened so i decided to order meself a new 120gb HD instead.

Hopefully get here tomorrow :)