Hard Disk Reliability

I have had a string of bad luck getting good hard disk.

My PC's original 320GB HD is okay. Still working today.

Since I'm doing 3D simulation, 320GB HD just isn't enough. So I added
a Seagate 500GB HD to my PC.

That Seagate gave me lots of problems.

Got a replacement from Seagate and still lots of problems.

Later I read somewhere that Seagate's 500GB HD has some kind of
defect.

So okay, I bought a WD 640GB HD as a replacement, and copied all the
data over from the Seagate 500GB HD.

This WD 640GB HD is even worse !

There are times the WD 640GB just refuse to start. The BIOS takes
forever to detect it.

And yes, someone told me that maybe my PSU doesn't have enough juice
to power either the Seagate or the WD, for that I bought a 650 W
Corsair PSU and put it into my PC.

But the problem with 500GB and/or 640GB HD still remains.

My huge amount of data means I have to have huge capacity HD. I am
seriously thinking of getting a TB HD and get rid of both the 500GB
Seagate and 640GB WD.

However, I'm kinda worried.

My bad experience with both the Seagate and WD makes me wonder what's
going on with Huge Capacity HD.

Anyone here using TB HD? What's your experience with it? Does TB HD
gives you any trouble?

What's your recommendation on getting TB HD? Which brand / model ?

Please help.

Thank you !!

Hari Hari Mau wrote:

> I have had a string of bad luck getting good hard disk.
>
> My PC's original 320GB HD is okay. Still working today.
>
> Since I'm doing 3D simulation, 320GB HD just isn't enough. So I added
> a Seagate 500GB HD to my PC.
>
> That Seagate gave me lots of problems.
>
> Got a replacement from Seagate and still lots of problems.
>
> Later I read somewhere that Seagate's 500GB HD has some kind of
> defect.
>
> So okay, I bought a WD 640GB HD as a replacement, and copied all the
> data over from the Seagate 500GB HD.
>
> This WD 640GB HD is even worse !
>
> There are times the WD 640GB just refuse to start. The BIOS takes
> forever to detect it.

How's your power supply? What are the voltages at the hard drive
during the first 5 seconds after the computer is turned on, as
measured with a digital multimeter?

I find it hard to believe that two HDs in a row would be bad. I
always run a diagnostic for at least a day before trusting any data to
a new drive. I use the factory diagnostic or one of the free
diagnostics from HDDguru.com, such as MHDD

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Hari Hari Mau <> wrote:
> I have had a string of bad luck getting good hard disk.

> My PC's original 320GB HD is okay. Still working today.

> Since I'm doing 3D simulation, 320GB HD just isn't enough. So I added
> a Seagate 500GB HD to my PC.

> That Seagate gave me lots of problems.

> Got a replacement from Seagate and still lots of problems.

> Later I read somewhere that Seagate's 500GB HD has some kind of
> defect.

> So okay, I bought a WD 640GB HD as a replacement, and copied all the
> data over from the Seagate 500GB HD.

> This WD 640GB HD is even worse !

> There are times the WD 640GB just refuse to start. The BIOS takes
> forever to detect it.

> And yes, someone told me that maybe my PSU doesn't have enough juice
> to power either the Seagate or the WD, for that I bought a 650 W
> Corsair PSU and put it into my PC.

> But the problem with 500GB and/or 640GB HD still remains.

> My huge amount of data means I have to have huge capacity HD. I am
> seriously thinking of getting a TB HD and get rid of both the 500GB
> Seagate and 640GB WD.

> However, I'm kinda worried.

> My bad experience with both the Seagate and WD makes me wonder what's
> going on with Huge Capacity HD.

> Anyone here using TB HD? What's your experience with it? Does TB HD
> gives you any trouble?

> What's your recommendation on getting TB HD? Which brand / model ?

> Please help.

> Thank you !!

Seagates made in China are pretty bad. WD has known issues with
the disk taking long on errors and some interface compatibility
problems. Hitachi should be fine today and Samsung is fine.
I have a Samsung TB in an external USB/eSATA case and never
had any issues over either interface.

Arno

Hari Hari Mau <> wrote in
news:95154619-bb00-49c9-93b3-:

> I have had a string of bad luck getting good hard disk.
>
> My PC's original 320GB HD is okay. Still working today.
>
> Since I'm doing 3D simulation, 320GB HD just isn't enough. So I added
> a Seagate 500GB HD to my PC.
>
> That Seagate gave me lots of problems.
>
> Got a replacement from Seagate and still lots of problems.
>
> Later I read somewhere that Seagate's 500GB HD has some kind of
> defect.
>
> So okay, I bought a WD 640GB HD as a replacement, and copied all the
> data over from the Seagate 500GB HD.
>
> This WD 640GB HD is even worse !
>
> There are times the WD 640GB just refuse to start. The BIOS takes
> forever to detect it.
>
> And yes, someone told me that maybe my PSU doesn't have enough juice
> to power either the Seagate or the WD, for that I bought a 650 W
> Corsair PSU and put it into my PC.
>
> But the problem with 500GB and/or 640GB HD still remains.
>
> My huge amount of data means I have to have huge capacity HD. I am
> seriously thinking of getting a TB HD and get rid of both the 500GB
> Seagate and 640GB WD.
>
> However, I'm kinda worried.
>
> My bad experience with both the Seagate and WD makes me wonder what's
> going on with Huge Capacity HD.
>
> Anyone here using TB HD? What's your experience with it? Does TB HD
> gives you any trouble?
>
> What's your recommendation on getting TB HD? Which brand / model ?
>
> Please help.
>
> Thank you !!
>
Doesn't sound like a real problem. Try going into the BIOS, autodetecting
the drive and set the Cylinder/heads/sectors to the numbers you get
manually. When you don't explicitly set the parameters, the BIOS does that
dectection with every boot.



--
(setq (chuck nil) car(chuck) )

On Dec 5, 5:13*pm, Arno Wagner <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
> In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Hari Hari Mau <harimau....@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
> > I have had a string of bad luck getting good hard disk.
> > My PC's original 320GB HD is okay. Still working today.
> > Since I'm doing 3D simulation, 320GB HD just isn't enough. So I added
> > a Seagate 500GB HD to my PC.
> > That Seagate gave me lots of problems.
> > Got a replacement from Seagate and still lots of problems.
> > Later I read somewhere that Seagate's 500GB HD has some kind of
> > defect.
> > So okay, I bought a WD 640GB HD as a replacement, and copied all the
> > data over from the Seagate 500GB HD.
> > This WD 640GB HD is even worse !
> > There are times the WD 640GB just refuse to start. The BIOS takes
> > forever to detect it.
> > And yes, someone told me that maybe my PSU doesn't have enough juice
> > to power either the Seagate or the WD, for that I bought a 650 W
> > Corsair PSU and put it into my PC.
> > But the problem with 500GB and/or 640GB HD still remains.
> > My huge amount of data means I have to have huge capacity HD. I am
> > seriously thinking of getting a TB HD and get rid of both the 500GB
> > Seagate and 640GB WD.
> > However, I'm kinda worried.
> > My bad experience with both the Seagate and WD makes me wonder what's
> > going on with Huge Capacity HD.
> > Anyone here using TB HD? What's your experience with it? Does TB HD
> > gives you any trouble?
> > What's your recommendation on getting TB HD? Which brand / model ?
> > Please help.
> > Thank you !!
>
> Seagates made in China are pretty bad. WD has known issues with
> the disk taking long on errors and some interface compatibility
> problems. Hitachi should be fine today and Samsung is fine.
> I have a Samsung TB in an external USB/eSATA case and never
> had any issues over either interface.
>
> Arno

Many thanks for the tips !!

On Dec 5, 5:00*pm, "larry moe 'n curly" <larrymoencu...@my-deja.com>
wrote:
> Hari Hari Mau wrote:
> > I have had a string of bad luck getting good hard disk.
>
> > My PC's original 320GB HD is okay. Still working today.
>
> > Since I'm doing 3D simulation, 320GB HD just isn't enough. So I added
> > a Seagate 500GB HD to my PC.
>
> > That Seagate gave me lots of problems.
>
> > Got a replacement from Seagate and still lots of problems.
>
> > Later I read somewhere that Seagate's 500GB HD has some kind of
> > defect.
>
> > So okay, I bought a WD 640GB HD as a replacement, and copied all the
> > data over from the Seagate 500GB HD.
>
> > This WD 640GB HD is even worse !
>
> > There are times the WD 640GB just refuse to start. The BIOS takes
> > forever to detect it.
>
> How's your power supply? *What are the voltages at the hard drive
> during the first 5 seconds after the computer is turned on, as
> measured with a digital multimeter?
>
> I find it hard to believe that two HDs in a row would be bad. *I
> always run a diagnostic for at least a day before trusting any data to
> a new drive. *I use the factory diagnostic or one of the free
> diagnostics from HDDguru.com, such as MHDD


At first someone told me that my PSU gives out too little the current,
for that I change a 650 Watt PSU. Still the problem persisted.

BTW, how to measure the thing on the Sata cable? I have no idea which
are the +ve and -ve pins.

In article <a0b22505-e780-4786-970b->,
Hari Hari Mau <> wrote:
>
>At first someone told me that my PSU gives out too little the current,
>for that I change a 650 Watt PSU. Still the problem persisted.
>
Ok, it could be your power supply, even after you installed a new
one. A disc drive uses much more power when it starts then when it's
spun up, and a stressed or out of spec power supply will indeed cause
problems. The (arbitrary) wattage doesn't matter. A bad power supply
doesnt' deliver the required AMPS, or lets the voltage fluctuate as
draw changes. Don't bother with a multimeter. You can't test a switching
power supply with a multimeter.

But...when you switched out the drives did you ALSO try a new
cable? Might be just a bad cable. And try a different controller port
also. I'll bet dollars to donuts its not your power supply at all just
a bad cable or bad port.

Other possibilities are heat: is the drive installed in a hot
spot, no air flow and near other hot stuff? And BIOS, some not to ancient
Nvidia BIOSes had issues with readahead settings for instance.

Hari Hari Mau wrote:
> I have had a string of bad luck getting good hard disk.
>
> My PC's original 320GB HD is okay. Still working today.
>
> Since I'm doing 3D simulation, 320GB HD just isn't enough. So I added
> a Seagate 500GB HD to my PC.
>
> That Seagate gave me lots of problems.
>
> Got a replacement from Seagate and still lots of problems.

What problems?
>
> Later I read somewhere that Seagate's 500GB HD has some kind of
> defect.
>

That's specific.

> So okay, I bought a WD 640GB HD as a replacement, and copied all the
> data over from the Seagate 500GB HD.
>
> This WD 640GB HD is even worse !

How is it worse?

>
> There are times the WD 640GB just refuse to start. The BIOS takes
> forever to detect it.

So it's the drive, not the motherboard or the cable?

>
> And yes, someone told me that maybe my PSU doesn't have enough juice
> to power either the Seagate or the WD, for that I bought a 650 W
> Corsair PSU and put it into my PC.

That's a fair PSU, I wouldn't expect that to be the problem.

>
> But the problem with 500GB and/or 640GB HD still remains.

And you've tested these with the WD and Seagate hard drive diagnostic tools?



--
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Hari Hari Mau <> wrote:
> I have had a string of bad luck getting good hard disk.
>
> My PC's original 320GB HD is okay. Still working today.
>
> Since I'm doing 3D simulation, 320GB HD just isn't enough. So I added
> a Seagate 500GB HD to my PC.
>
> That Seagate gave me lots of problems.
>
> Got a replacement from Seagate and still lots of problems.
>
> Later I read somewhere that Seagate's 500GB HD has some kind of
> defect.
>
> So okay, I bought a WD 640GB HD as a replacement, and copied all the
> data over from the Seagate 500GB HD.
>
> This WD 640GB HD is even worse !
>
> There are times the WD 640GB just refuse to start. The BIOS takes
> forever to detect it.
>
> And yes, someone told me that maybe my PSU doesn't have enough juice
> to power either the Seagate or the WD, for that I bought a 650 W
> Corsair PSU and put it into my PC.
>
> But the problem with 500GB and/or 640GB HD still remains.
>
> My huge amount of data means I have to have huge capacity HD. I am
> seriously thinking of getting a TB HD and get rid of both the 500GB
> Seagate and 640GB WD.
>
> However, I'm kinda worried.
>
> My bad experience with both the Seagate and WD makes me wonder what's
> going on with Huge Capacity HD.

> Anyone here using TB HD?

Yep.

> What's your experience with it?

Its perfect.

> Does TB HD gives you any trouble?

> What's your recommendation on getting TB HD? Which brand / model ?

I use Samsungs myself. That one is the eco green.

Hari Hari Mau wrote:
> I have had a string of bad luck getting good hard disk.
>
> My PC's original 320GB HD is okay. Still working today.
>
> Since I'm doing 3D simulation, 320GB HD just isn't enough. So I added
> a Seagate 500GB HD to my PC.
>
> That Seagate gave me lots of problems.
>
> Got a replacement from Seagate and still lots of problems.
>
> Later I read somewhere that Seagate's 500GB HD has some kind of
> defect.
>
> So okay, I bought a WD 640GB HD as a replacement, and copied all the
> data over from the Seagate 500GB HD.
>
> This WD 640GB HD is even worse !
>
> There are times the WD 640GB just refuse to start. The BIOS takes
> forever to detect it.
>
> And yes, someone told me that maybe my PSU doesn't have enough juice
> to power either the Seagate or the WD, for that I bought a 650 W
> Corsair PSU and put it into my PC.
>
> But the problem with 500GB and/or 640GB HD still remains.
>
> My huge amount of data means I have to have huge capacity HD. I am
> seriously thinking of getting a TB HD and get rid of both the 500GB
> Seagate and 640GB WD.

Wow, that's uncanny. I got no solution for you, but it's uncanny that
you are bringing up Seagate 500G and WD 640G drives, because that's what
I got too. I had the 500G earlier, and all was well, and then I ran out
of space, so I decided to get the 640G as a supplement. Installed the
640G and everything was fine, then all of a sudden, one day later the
500G gives up the ghost. No warning, just not accessible anymore, all
you get is a firmware revision number at bootup. Anyways, it could be
just a coincidence that the 500G died one day after installing the 640G,
but that doesn't bring my data back. Anyways, fortunately the Seagate
500G was still well under warranty, and I got my RMA back in 4 days
after sending off the bad drive. I haven't installed the replacement
500G yet, and I may not do it, I'll just sell it off and get another
model. I was also looking at 1TB drives, but their price is not quite as
good as the 640GB disks are right now.

> However, I'm kinda worried.

As you should be. My rule these days is that all hard drives should be
assumed crappy until proven reliable. I still got a couple of old 200G &
300G IDE drives still purring along in the same machine but I don't
trust any of the new ones.

> My bad experience with both the Seagate and WD makes me wonder what's
> going on with Huge Capacity HD.
>
> Anyone here using TB HD? What's your experience with it? Does TB HD
> gives you any trouble?
>
> What's your recommendation on getting TB HD? Which brand / model ?


Well, seeing as I am a cynic, and my rule of thumb is that they're all
crappy, I wouldn't recommend any of them. Just get two of them and
mirror them.

Yousuf Khan