Hard Drive Failing?

[cfg83]

BlackDeuceCoupe -

Originally Posted by BlackDeuceCoupe

Dell uses several ODMs, so it all depends... But AFAIK Dell Latitudes are made by Quanta (#1 maker of lappys).

Sorry for not being more definitive, but this stuff is very hush-hush.

LoL!

It took me months to figure out my Toshiba A215 is actually a Compal JAW91 (#2 maker of lappys) with a Toshiba badge, some modifications to hide its true identity, and configured to be sold especially at Circuit City.

Thanks for the info. I'm going to spend some time researching Quanta.

CarloSW2

[cfg83]

RH77 -

Sorry about the WD. My coworker got some external USB hard drives on sale from Best Buy (stood in line before it opened to be first in line). Within a week they started failing. You guessed it! WD!!!!!!!!!!

CarloSW2

[NiHaoMike]

I haven't had too much trouble with hard drives failing, but I would recommend the Seagates for that 5 year warranty. I did have one Seagate fail on me (somehow happened after it has been in storage for a few months, as it worked perfectly before), but it was replaced for free under warranty and the replacement was 50GB larger as compensation for the trouble.

If reliability is your prime concern, SSD is the way to go. RAID arrays are also good.

[RH77]

Originally Posted by cfg83

RH77 -

Sorry about the WD. My coworker got some external USB hard drives on sale from Best Buy (stood in line before it opened to be first in line). Within a week they started failing. You guessed it! WD!!!!!!!!!!

CarloSW2

Since the "Desktop Age" is fading in the home market, I hope I won't have to buy another drive -- but with laptop drives getting bigger, backup will become an issue.

Originally Posted by NiHaoMike

I haven't had too much trouble with hard drives failing, but I would recommend the Seagates for that 5 year warranty. I did have one Seagate fail on me (somehow happened after it has been in storage for a few months, as it worked perfectly before), but it was replaced for free under warranty and the replacement was 50GB larger as compensation for the trouble.

If reliability is your prime concern, SSD is the way to go. RAID arrays are also good.

I think I had a Seagate go out on me, but it was a 540MB oldie, but they're customer service sounds good.

I'm an amateur computer "recycler", so I've acquired several parts during repairs/upgrades, and by just taking old computers off of people's hands. The only parts I've really bought have been networking components, and the Samsung drive -- speaking of which, the BIOS refuses to recognize the full capacity. I have another 1GHZ box to possibly move it over to.

It's funny, with SSD, "Solid-State" reminds me of my grandparents console TV (get up and change the channel -- kerchunk, kerchunk), but a great idea for data storage.

Have the prices on these come down? I know they're popular with military applications where vibration and failure rates are an issue, but I haven't priced them for a while.

RH77

[RH77]

I feel I have to bring this thread "back from the dead" -- more problems.

I ended up with a Re-Furbed Dell laptop (under warranty) to replace the one that had an unknown problem with charging and power, etc.

Now I'm worried about a potentially failing HDD again, and warranty issues...

Once in a while (maybe every 2 days or so), it will make a loud screeching noise -- like a fork on a chalkboard for a second or less. It sounds to be coming from the drive area, but it happens too quickly to pin it down.

Drive: Toshiba MK2552GSX, 250GB, 5400RPM
Laptop: Dell XPS M1530

Questions:

• Is there a reliable, recommended program to test the drive health?
• My 1-year warranty ran out, but should they warrant the replacement also for a year?
• I suppose I should back everything up again (the process is getting old, ugh)

Thanks again for any help!

-Rick

[RH77]

Me again...

Digital picture and music backups are simply exhausting the room I have on my drives. I'd be fine, but I had a WD 80GB fail, another WD 200GB that only partitions to 100GB due to a hardware glitch (tried everything, known issue) and a bunch of old 500MB doorstops...

I have a picky process of backing up pix in triplicate (DVD, Laptop, Spare Drive) for preservation, since they don't usually get printed.

So, that brings up the external drive. I'd like having the convenience of moving from machine-to-machine and dump a backup at will.

The Question: Brand vs. Reliability vs. Price. WD loses for sure. Then there's off-brands (Buffalo?), and the usuals: Seagate, Fujitsu. Can I assume that it's just the same ol' HDD in there with a fancy case/interface? Then there's the docking station option?

What do you use/prefer?

RH77

[captainslug]

Originally Posted by RH77

What do you use/prefer?

Pick a reputable internal hard drive then put it in a highly rated enclosure or dock with the type of interfaces you want. You'll save money and have a reliable drive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153066

[RH77]

Good idea -- then I can swap drives if necessary.

I'm assuming Seagate 7200's (Barracuda) are still pretty solid...

RH77

Originally Posted by captainslug

Pick a reputable internal hard drive then put it in a highly rated enclosure or dock with the type of interfaces you want. You'll save money and have a reliable drive.

Newegg.com - Thermaltake BlacX N0028USU External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5" & 3.5" USB 2.0 - External Enclosures

[cfg83]

captainslug -

Originally Posted by captainslug

Pick a reputable internal hard drive then put it in a highly rated enclosure or dock with the type of interfaces you want. You'll save money and have a reliable drive.

Newegg.com - Thermaltake BlacX N0028USU External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5" & 3.5" USB 2.0 - External Enclosures

I agree. Also, depending on the Laptop, *sometimes* there are secondary hard drive caddies that you can swap out in place of the CD drives. This allows you to bypass cable management.

CarloSW2

[RH77]

That was the sound of a slow death -- like a metal-on-metal bearing noise.

Luckily it held up long-enough to back up the data that wasn't destroyed (minimal stuff that wasn't fully backed up before). In the interim, a 1TB external drive was purchased to back up household computers. Pix and music was the biggest concern.

Here's the silver lining to the story -- although the laptop warranty expired, the manufacturers warranty is still in effect. Toshiba has agreed to provide a replacement part

So, the moral of the story: check with the manufacturer of the part after the overall machine warranty is expired.

The bum deal: it's out of service for at least 2 weeks -- up to 30 days. I'm only out shipment to the HDD service center -- they ship it back.

RH77