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Thread: Hard Drive Problem

  1. #11
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    Define quickly, I've had the 20GB over 3 years and the other 2 40GB over 2.5 years. I'm actually do for building another machine.

  2. #12
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    Quickly... Well three-four years .. Once you see bad sectors start to affect the hard drive.. Thats the end of the maxtor harddrives

  3. #13
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    I dont really keep drives for that long anyway...I always sell my PC to someone who just types documents and send emails so its not under nuff stress by accessing nuff files and playin intense games and stuff.

  4. #14
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    Excuse me folks, but am I the only person here that read Gillion's post?

    There are a number of reasons hard drives fail. The two most prominent ones are:

    Bad Disk - When bad sectors start to appear, the drive's days are numbered. While repairing the drive might help you some, unless there's something on it that you REALLY want to preserve, buy a new one.

    Bad Power Supply - This actually happens more often than not. One of the easiest ways to tell if your powersupply is giving issues is to test if your BIOS picks up the drive. The best way to be sure, is to change the powersupply. Power supplies are FAR cheaper than new hard drives. If you've ever noticed that the drive goes dead or comes back on and then goes dead again - I can bet my next month's salary that your powersupply is to blame. If you're not getting bad sectors on the disk, and it seems to be failing, it is highly likely that your powersupply is messing with you.

    Avoid Non-Metal designer Cases. These cases do not allow for electrostatic grounding from the powersupply. What happens then is that electrostatic discharge will be absorbed by your hard drive (and other devices). This will kill the power to it intermittently, causing the drive head to smash into the platter at irregular periods.

    However, 9/10 times when there are strange device problems in your PC, the Power Supply is to blame, as Gillion so eloquently pointed out before. While it may be true that Western Digital drives are substandard products, Seagate drives will die the same death if your powersupply ain't good to begin with.

    The Bottom Line: If you're not getting bad sectors on the disk, Don't accuse your hard drive of failure before you check your powersupply. Change the powersupply (borrow a friend's if u have to) to eliminate that cause. I've returned far too many working hard drives to RMA thinking that they were the problem. Your power supply is a devious little beast and will lie to you in cases of hardware failure.

    NOTE: Your powersupply doesn't have to stop working to be faulty. It can cause devices to fail even though your machine is still powering up. Many times devices on your mobo fail for no apparent reason and then start working again when you reboot your computer. If you've ever noticed this before, CHECK YOUR POWER SUPPLY. You have been warned.

    - Xeno

  5. #15
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    [quote author=GILLION link=board=3;threadid=228;start=0#msg1563 date=1036518738]
    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
    [/quote]

    Xeno, your words are EXTRTEMELY TRUE, and to add to it some people overload their pathetic el-cheapo little power supplies.
    Who know better do better. Anyways. I reposted the old post ehh
    As a matter of note ENABLE SMART on your DRIVES.... I will not say this again.

  6. #16
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    I'm watching DBZ as I write this...

    Western DIGITAL and MAXTOR DRIVES SUCK !!!!

    --Gillion

  7. #17
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    LOL!!!
    ROFLMAO!!! ;D

    - need we say more?

  8. #18
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    R.E brand of HARD DISKS.

    I have a story 2 tell, its about my 1st hard drive a wes dig 15 gig. ok it died as a result of bad clusters after it lived with me for about 14 months. When nearing its final days it made really funny sounds, the sound that indicates HEAD problems.
    My homie has a dell (lol how silly) anyhow, his dell came with this brandless 6 gig, he bought a 40gig MAXTOR and in 2 months the maxtor died! bad cluster dissease killed it. Seem like MAxtor's immune system is even weaker than that of WES DIG.

    I have a SEAGATE 40 gig now, and it run quite well, it seems to be healthy and in good shape. the funny thing is it gets alot of excersise and work alot harder than my WES DIG (R I P). my machine hardly ever is shut down cuz I have it on all the while, even when I'm not home or sleepin, occasionaly I let it hibernate 4 a while.

    as 4 my fren, well he's back 2 using that brandless 6 gig on his dell.

    Another fren, told us something, mayb its a tech MYTH. I dont know. lol he told us 2 put both those dead HARD drives in the FREEZER. I asked "nigga R U serious?" now this guy is a well respected techie who know his shiznit hardware, MIS, e.tc but I thought that was just plain WEIRD. anyhow we put the drives in the fridge and took them out 2 days later an dem juss neva werk!
    mayb it didnt work cuz I didnt have FAITH in the belief of the fridge resurecting hardrives or mayb thats his way of carrying them 2 di morgue so that they would be on ice! pre-burial riyual.

    QUESTION . If a faulty hard drive is placed in the refridgerator is it possible for the device to become functional again?


    dont laugh @ me 4 asking what I think is a riddiculous question. sum1 PLz gi mi an answer. cuz the GUY told me this is a FOUNDATION SYSTEMS man & mi hortical bredrin. he wouldnt tell me crap! right? lol & I cant believe we put the drives in di freezer.

  9. #19
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    umm... no... sicholas.... just NO... ok? NO.

    I won't laugh at you... at least not yet...

    but to believe that putting a HD in the refridgerator will "cure" it is just as ridiculous as to believe that mosquitoes can't carry the AIDS virus or that having sex with a virgin will rid one of AIDS... it's urban myth.

    In fact, if you are a physicist, you will note that air exists INSIDE the hard drive. Putting it inside the freezer will CONDENSE that air to water, and then maybe ice, which will in turn settle on the drive components.

    The ferrous oxide layer on the platter will rust (upon reacting with the Hydrogen DiOxide compound) and the microelectronic circuitry will short the minute you plug that in. In fact, plugging it in will probably cause your power supply to become grounded in the hard drive, frying it on the spot. In a case like that, I'd most certainly hope that your house is insured.

    Freezing the drive will also damage the many precision devices inside the cylinder and head, rendering it useless. If your hard drive died of bad sectors, you can't freeze it and bring it back to life. I think your friend was making fun of you.

    If your hard drive had a head crash (one of those rare bizarre cases where your power supply might spike, stopping the rotation of your hard drive platter for a deadly fraction of a microsecond, causing your read head to plunge onto the platter) you might be able to resurrect it by (brace yourself) dropping the drive from a short height - a foot the most maybe. This might get the head unstuck and working again. But the drive may not last long after that bang. The reason is that the platter is made of glass (in most cases) and, well, if you drop glass......

    ......so anyways, the idea is quite simple. If the drive has bad sectors, it's days are numbered.

    And please, don't go freezing your HD, or making out with virgins, or forwarding that e-mail in hopes Bill Gates will reward you with money, or that something bad will happen to you if you don't.....

    Some people in the world enjoy making fools out of others. I think your friend has been had, you included. But that's why we have www.techjamaica.com - where we can come together and dispell myth and fantasy......

    ........and then have a laugh at your expense while we're at it ;D

  10. #20
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    Default Re:Hard Drive Problem

    Jeeezzzzaassss Now I have heard everyting !!!

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