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Thread: Hard Drive Problem

  1. #1
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    Default Hard Drive Problem

    I have a hard drive that had WINXP. It was working ok except for the modem driver.

    I don't know what happened to it but know not even the BIOS is seeing the HDD. I have tried in different a machines and with different cables.

    Do you guys think this HDD is dead?

  2. #2
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    Lemme think about this for a second
    ......
    Yes.

  3. #3
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    Even if you were able to resuscitate the hard drive, the question is ... how confident would you feel when storing your valuable data on it? Check the classifieds section for a new drive ;D

  4. #4
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    I have. I'm supposed to pick it up tomorrow. The big puzzle is what happened to it in the first place.

  5. #5
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    That's the way man-made things are, one minute they're working and the next they're not :-\ The three important points to remember with hard drives are BACK UP, BACK UP and BACK UP!

  6. #6
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    It must be noted that any electronic device, especially ones as sensitive a hard drive, when exposed to continuous and relatively high levels of heat, WILL fail in time. The life of a hard drive is designed to be a hard, short one.
    This comes to mind suddenly. The landz of hard drives can cause failures. This happens when the BIOS (or OS) incorrectly interprets the landz of the harddrive. Landz is the landing zone for the drives heads and are critical for "calibration" of servo head movement.
    Logic boards can also experience failures if the PC power supply delivers a momentary voltage spike to the drive during operation (especially on the 5volt dc line). This is why it is IMPERATIVE, that people must get good, clean PC powersupplies with lots of wattage. 300W is simply not good enough for most modern computers these days even though they are the recommended minmum. FYI most athlon thunderbird 1000MHz CPU's can "draw" in excess of 40 Amperes.
    If your powersupply is "unstable" or "overworked" it can kill your hardrive. I recommend at least 350 watts or 400 watts for anyone who wants that worry out of thier hair.
    As I remember this, head parking on some brands of hard drives can cause sudden drive death. Starting and stopping a hard drive requires TREMENDOS power from the powersupply. It also prematurely wears out the drive. Solution: don't put the drive to sleep if it is going to be awakened often as is the case in most "desktops".
    There are so many x86 flaws that can kill a hard drive that it would take me an hour to explain them all. Ohh there is something I call "drive slam" this is where your hard drive mometarily losses power in mid read/write. This will cause the heads to slam onto the plater or into the spindle of the drive, causing it to be damaged.
    Note that the only thing keeping your drive heads off the surface of the disc is a small cusion of air being generated by the spinning disc. If this air flow is disturbed it can cause the heads to "collapse" onto the plater. Sudden loss of power to a working drive WILL cause this to happen. When you start this drive up again the heads will mometarily scrape the surface of the disk before it "takes off" and begins to float again on the air cushion. This is why it is IMPERATIVE to properly shut down your computer, as the OS sends a signal to the drive to park the heads before power down. This ensures that the heads do not fall on the spinning disc and scrapes it or damages the heads. Starting a drive with an unparked head is baddddd.

    To better understand drive anatomy, just pull an old one up while it is working (as long as you know that drive will/may die.) As a note, do not pull up western digital drives, they have a "sloppy" design that will loosen the spindel of the heads.
    Drive speed can kill a drive. The faster the drive, the more the risk. Seagate, makes hard drives with fluid bearings. This makes rotational friction less and almost makes 10,000 rpm negligable on the life of a drive.
    However ther regular ball bearing drives, as in Quantums or Fujitsu etc, have a high risk for failure.
    Also as drive capacity goes up, the tolerance for failure and "head skips or scrapes" falls.
    As i said before i got on my usual ranting, there are so many technical reasons why drives fail, but the number one of which, in my view, is "PRIMITIVE" designs. IDE drives are more notoriously primitive than SCSI.
    The better design techniques go into SCSI drives... but it costs you the consumer an arm and a leg to purchase one. Still current drive designs overall, IDE and SCSI... suck.

    --regards
    Simon

  7. #7
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    :-[ duh, uhmmm, it happened again. :'(

    > Note to self: NEVER BY A WD DRIVE AGAIN. >

  8. #8
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    Get a Seagate. They are more reliable..

  9. #9
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    Maxtor is the best one to get...trust me I have three of them in my system. Check out the thread 'Whats in your box'.

    I have years of experience with WD and they suck....although most big companies endorse them I aint takin no risks when it comes to my music and numerous downloaded car movies from kazaa and Imesh. If i had to redownload those man I would......I dont even want to think about it.

    Also make sure you case is well cooled especially arounf the harddrive, If possible space the IDE devices out. Always have air blowing out of the case, add more fans if you can or open the side panel if you want, do regular cleanup to remove dust and the like, check cables and power connectors every now and then.

  10. #10
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    The Maxtors are ok harddrives i must admit.. But They have a record to die quickly.. Try buying a seagate harddisk or one of those IBM harddrive.. ur old harddrive that failed.. It could be just the circuit that fail and the disk platter be in good condittion.. If you thnik u have important information on it.. try carrying it to a certified technician and let them see if they have a circuit board to fit the one u have.. If that works just try and back up as much data as possible, but still buy a new harddrive.. i can say from experience, thats what i did when my harddrive failed.. i had alot of school work on it.. And i can say now, that everything i've recovered..

    Hope i can be of some help... tageous

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