HD longevity

I think my machine is burning through HDs too fast. I just replaced a HD
about a year ago, and already I'm finding a bad sector and I think I heard
that tell tale loud clicking sound this morning. I think I'll replace the
drive before it dies this time but I'm wondering what the deal is. The
previous drive was a Maxtor IDE, and the new one is also a Maxtor.
Previous searches of newsgroups for HD advice seemed to indicate
unfortunately that Maxtors may be one of the least reliable drives. The
most interesting post I saw was one from an IT security guy that destroys
HDs after they're removed from computers. He said that in dismantling them
he found that Maxtors looked more cheaply constructed than some other
drives.

Anyways, I'm wondering if I'm burning out drives because of the way I use
them. In particular, I shut off my computer every night and turn it on
again in the morning, this is just an old habit. I've always heard that
turning a hard drive on is the hardest thing on a drive, but I thought that
was a issue with the old drives that has long since been engineered out.
For instance you used to have "park" drives and what not, but no more. The
other thing is I've never used any of the power saving features such as
shutting the drive down after so many minutes of inactivity etc. Maybe if
I did use a power saving feature the drive would last longer?

Any thoughts?

TIA

Paul.

Pdigmking wrote:

I think my machine is burning through HDs too fast. I just replaced a HD
about a year ago, and already I'm finding a bad sector and I think I heard
that tell tale loud clicking sound this morning. I think I'll replace the
drive before it dies this time but I'm wondering what the deal is. The
previous drive was a Maxtor IDE, and the new one is also a Maxtor.
Previous searches of newsgroups for HD advice seemed to indicate
unfortunately that Maxtors may be one of the least reliable drives. The
most interesting post I saw was one from an IT security guy that destroys
HDs after they're removed from computers. He said that in dismantling
them he found that Maxtors looked more cheaply constructed than some other
drives.

Anyways, I'm wondering if I'm burning out drives because of the way I use
them. In particular, I shut off my computer every night and turn it on
again in the morning, this is just an old habit. I've always heard that
turning a hard drive on is the hardest thing on a drive, but I thought
that was a issue with the old drives that has long since been engineered
out.
For instance you used to have "park" drives and what not, but no more.
The other thing is I've never used any of the power saving features such
as
shutting the drive down after so many minutes of inactivity etc. Maybe if
I did use a power saving feature the drive would last longer?

Any thoughts?

People have been complaining for sometime now that Maxtors have been having
problems... Get Western Digital and you'll be much happier. I hear Seagate
is pretty good too.


--
BELA LUGOSI is my co-pilot ...

Pdigmking wrote:

He said that in dismantling them
he found that Maxtors looked more cheaply constructed than some
other drives.

You get what you pay for.

Anyways, I'm wondering if I'm burning out drives because of the
way I use them. In particular, I shut off my computer every night
and turn it on again in the morning, this is just an old habit.
I've always heard that turning a hard drive on is the hardest
thing on a drive,

I think that's true, but not a problem when turned off only once per
day. Besides electricity usage, the only problem I have with leaving
the computer on 24/7 is the possibility of fan failure that could
destroy one or more of my components.

Good luck.

Maxtor tech support just laughs about it. So OK. Make sure
if you buy a Maxtor that you only buy the ones with 3 year
warrantees. Stick it to them. I have a HUGE box of burned
up Maxtor drives less than 2 years old ( my job ). I notice
that I have not lost any of the 3 year warrantee Maxtors. I
opened up several of the drives that failed, and every one
of them shows dark brown streaks around the disk. Looks
like the heads hit the disk, and melted or something.

johns

"johns" wrote in news:1133167876.765660.290230
@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Maxtor tech support just laughs about it. So OK. Make sure
if you buy a Maxtor that you only buy the ones with 3 year
warrantees. Stick it to them. I have a HUGE box of burned
up Maxtor drives less than 2 years old ( my job ). I notice
that I have not lost any of the 3 year warrantee Maxtors. I
opened up several of the drives that failed, and every one
of them shows dark brown streaks around the disk. Looks
like the heads hit the disk, and melted or something.

johns


Anyone have any thoughts about Samsung HD's? They have them at a local
Micro Center here. They are less expensive according to the store because
they aren't packaged very pretty and they don't come with any software
drivers, cables, or data transfer software. The idea is that people who
build computers or replace parts already have that stuff or can figure it
out.

Paul.

In article ,
Pdigmking wrote:
"johns" wrote in news:1133167876.765660.290230
:

Maxtor tech support just laughs about it. So OK. Make sure
if you buy a Maxtor that you only buy the ones with 3 year
warrantees. Stick it to them. I have a HUGE box of burned
up Maxtor drives less than 2 years old ( my job ). I notice
that I have not lost any of the 3 year warrantee Maxtors. I
opened up several of the drives that failed, and every one
of them shows dark brown streaks around the disk. Looks
like the heads hit the disk, and melted or something.

johns


Anyone have any thoughts about Samsung HD's? They have them at a local
Micro Center here. They are less expensive according to the store because
they aren't packaged very pretty and they don't come with any software
drivers, cables, or data transfer software. The idea is that people who

you can buy *any* main brand disk in a plain package with extra bits
at reduced cost. It's refereed to as OEM for arcane reasons.

IMO I buy disks on price and performace. the manufacturer reports
reliability in MTBF numbers but these are irrelevant to a person
buying a single disk because MTBF is a statistical number for the
failure rate from the manufacturer's POV over thousands of disks. Dell
probably cares.

No matter the brand, the disk *you* buy can die tomorrow and you have
to live your (computing) life with this in mind.

backup backup backup.

--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

"Al Dykes" wrote in message
...

you can buy *any* main brand disk in a plain package with extra bits
at reduced cost. It's refereed to as OEM for arcane reasons.

You can save a few bucks buying OEM drives, but you need to make
sure you know what you are paying for. Only the vendor knows for sure
whether that OEM drive is new or refurbished. Read the fine print and
ask to make sure.
IMO I buy disks on price and performace. the manufacturer reports
reliability in MTBF numbers but these are irrelevant to a person
buying a single disk because MTBF is a statistical number for the
failure rate from the manufacturer's POV over thousands of disks. Dell
probably cares.

I agree MTBF doesn't mean much, but the warranty does. You can buy
drives from reputable vendors with everything from a 90 day waranty
(typically refurbished drives) to a 5 year warranty. In my experience,
those with longer warranties are a better deal.

No matter the brand, the disk *you* buy can die tomorrow and you have
to live your (computing) life with this in mind.

backup backup backup.

I agree completely. Getting a warranty replacement for a failed drive
is nice, but having your data to put on it is even better.


--
James T. White

In article ,
James T. White wrote:
"Al Dykes" wrote in message
...

you can buy *any* main brand disk in a plain package with extra bits
at reduced cost. It's refereed to as OEM for arcane reasons.

You can save a few bucks buying OEM drives, but you need to make
sure you know what you are paying for. Only the vendor knows for sure
whether that OEM drive is new or refurbished. Read the fine print and
ask to make sure.


Reputation is *everything* in the HD market and I don't think any
manufacturer is going to risk it by selling refurb as new. If the
disk is in the factory package it's new unless it has a refurb sticker
on it (which I have seen).

If that disk was sold to you as new, run don't walk, to the
*manufacturer's head office and scream that a dealer is
misrepresenting the goods. Maybe you'll get a case of news disks,


--
a d y k e s @ p a n i x . c o m

Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.

"Al Dykes" wrote in message
...
In article ,
James T. White wrote:
"Al Dykes" wrote in message
...

you can buy *any* main brand disk in a plain package with extra
bits
at reduced cost. It's refereed to as OEM for arcane reasons.

You can save a few bucks buying OEM drives, but you need to make
sure you know what you are paying for. Only the vendor knows for
sure
whether that OEM drive is new or refurbished. Read the fine print
and
ask to make sure.


Reputation is *everything* in the HD market and I don't think any
manufacturer is going to risk it by selling refurb as new. If the
disk is in the factory package it's new unless it has a refurb sticker
on it (which I have seen).

Manufacturer's won't , but resellers will.

If that disk was sold to you as new, run don't walk, to the
*manufacturer's head office and scream that a dealer is
misrepresenting the goods. Maybe you'll get a case of news disks,




--
James T. White

"James T. White" wrote in news:438b26cf$0
:

"Al Dykes" wrote in message
...
In article ,
James T. White wrote:
"Al Dykes" wrote in message
...

you can buy *any* main brand disk in a plain package with extra
bits
at reduced cost. It's refereed to as OEM for arcane reasons.

You can save a few bucks buying OEM drives, but you need to make
sure you know what you are paying for. Only the vendor knows for
sure (snip)

This is all very interesting, I'm looking at new ones, not refurbished,
the only OEMs I've seen on shelves around here are the Samsungs; but does
anyone have any experience with Samsung HDs? The reviews I've found thus
far seem to be faverable. One review said that they were a little slower
but more durable. I've found several references to Maxtor and Fujitsu
HDs piling up in broken bins over the last two or three years. Seagate
HDs seem to be getting good reviews but I don't see them on the shelves
around here anymore for some reason (yes I know I can buy them online).
Western digital has got some good reviews but the this all started three
years ago when a WD broke down on me and I decided to try to Maxtor
instead.

One review of the Samsung 160gig (7200 speed, 8.9ms, ATA) said that they
use two disks instead of three which in theory makes them a little less
trouble prone.

Pau.