Hard Disk Reliability

[Hari Hari Mau]

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 !!

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

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

 

[Arno Wagner]

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

 

[chuckcar]

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.

 

[Hari Hari Mau]

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 !!

 

[Hari Hari Mau]

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.

 

[spodosaurus]

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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Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow transplant. Please
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[Rod Speed]

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.

 

[Flasherly]

Got a Malaya (a first for me) 750G Seagate and haven't had a problem.
Let Windows pick it up for NTFS and didn't add extra partitions.
200-300G of video so far. Certainly does take awhile to defrag (I
split according to subj matter to the inside and outside tracks) --
quite a workout, hours. I only buy Seagates these days, 5-yr
warranty, since around 200G days after bad experiences with Maxtor/
WD. Have yet to run into a problem w/ these Seagates mostly 200G,
about 5 or 6 drives total, some possibly nearing the end of their
warranties. They're also all from newegg stock.

 

[jaster]

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 !!

Had a few problems with Seagate 320 myself, had to get firmware update
from Seagate which improved performance. You should look into external
an external 1TB drive.

BTW, you haven't described the problems or symptoms with your drives.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

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

 

[Dave]

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 !!

Are you sure your motherboard is good? What specific format (IDE/SATA) are
each and every one of these disks...the "good" ones and the "bad" ones? I'd
be shocked if you actually got two consecutive Seagate drives that are bad.
And the odds of getting a bad WD after TWO bad Seagates???? It simply will
not happen. You've got another problem. First suspect would be a bad power
supply, but you've replaced that. Another possibility is bad RAM, but that
would affect ALL hard disks. A bad motherboard would affect all hard drives
also, unless some of your hard drives are IDE and some are SATA.

I guarantee you that you do NOT have two bad Seagate hard drives and a bad
WD hard drive. I'm betting that NONE of your hard drives are bad. Stop
focusing on hard drives and figure out what the real problem with that
system is. Otherwise, I guarantee you that any "TB" hard drive you buy WILL
be bad, if connected to your system. -Dave

 

[geoff]

I agree with the other poster, when I've seen this problem, it turned out
to be the power supply having issues.

--g

 

[Dave]

I agree with the other poster, when I've seen this problem, it turned out
to be the power supply having issues.

--g

That's a good suspect, but I think he said (I'd have to double check) that a
new Corsair 650 was tried. That one could also be bad, I guess. But not
likely. Unless he's got TWO bad power supplies, I'm suspecting a bad
motherboard. -Dave

 

[YKhan]

That's a good suspect, but I think he said (I'd have to double check) that a
new Corsair 650 was tried. That one could also be bad, I guess. But not
likely. Unless he's got TWO bad power supplies, I'm suspecting a bad
motherboard. -Dave

A motherboard that destroys a hard drive?

Yousuf Khan

 

[Dave]

A motherboard that destroys a hard drive?

Yousuf Khan

YES!!! I've seen it a few times. Not really destroys though. Just causes
various symptoms which might lead you to believe your hard drive is bad.
Can't say I've seen a hard drive destroyed by a bad mainboard. But, if you
believe the hard drive is bad and "recycle" it, then the motherboard might
have caused you to destroy a good drive. (ooops) -Dave

 

[Yousuf Khan]

YES!!! I've seen it a few times. Not really destroys though. Just causes
various symptoms which might lead you to believe your hard drive is bad.
Can't say I've seen a hard drive destroyed by a bad mainboard. But, if you
believe the hard drive is bad and "recycle" it, then the motherboard might
have caused you to destroy a good drive. (ooops) -Dave

My definition of a destroyed hard drive is not an illusionary
destruction. A destroyed hard drive stops working in not only the same
system, but in any other system. So have you seen a motherboard make a
hard disk do that?

Yousuf Khan

 

[Dave]

My definition of a destroyed hard drive is not an illusionary destruction.
A destroyed hard drive stops working in not only the same system, but in
any other system. So have you seen a motherboard make a hard disk do that?

Yousuf Khan

Nope, haven't seen that. Have seen multiple hard drives destroyed by cheap
power supplies, though. -Dave

 

[Frantisek.Rysanek]

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

What system chipset do you have? Or an add-on SATA HBA chip?
Motherboard model?

Frank Rysanek

 

[Ed Medlin]

A motherboard that destroys a hard drive?

Yousuf Khan

A bad controller.....yes.


Ed