Warning - Maxtor 120GB 160GB drives are unreliable

[hodw]

I advise all of you with maxtor 120GB or 160GB drives to immediatly
backup your data and buy new drives from other companies.

In the last 9 months I had two new maxtor drives fail without warning.
The same system has drives from other companies which work pefectly.
The money and data loss was much more that buying a new drive.

Also their RMA system and costumer support are really bad.

Hod

 

[dean]

Yep, maxtors are shite and I would steer clear of them too. We had a
laptop drive go wrong recently and a desktop drive, and they were both
maxtors.

Dean

 

[Lez Pawl]

Yep, maxtors are shite and I would steer clear of them too. We had a
laptop drive go wrong recently and a desktop drive, and they were both
maxtors.

Dean

so that's 4 out of how many hundred thousand............I run 4 Maxtor's 2 x
5 years and 2 x 2 years.

I am sure the other manufacturers have their problems.............

 

[Kenny]

I too have had a Maxtor 160GB fail recently.

 

[pedro]

My experience with their RMA system and costumer support is extremely well.;
but how can we judge based on two votes ??
pedro

 

[Rod Speed]

There's some evidence that it was the high warranty failure
rate that send Maxtor bust and got them taken over by Seagate.

 

[WannaKatana]

The only two HD's I ever had fail were Maxtor's. I will never buy one
again. Always good results from Western Digital.

Joel

 

[Rod Speed]

The only two HD's I ever had fail were Maxtor's. I will never
buy one again. Always good results from Western Digital.

The WD jumper scheme is too silly for me
and I prefer the nice quiet Samsungs instead.

Main downside with Samsungs is that they arent bleeding
edge, so you cant currently buy 500G drives for example.

 

[larry moe 'n curly]

The WD jumper scheme is too silly for me
and I prefer the nice quiet Samsungs instead.

Main downside with Samsungs is that they arent bleeding
edge, so you cant currently buy 500G drives for example.

The only Samsungs I tried were 250GB, and all vibrated badly enough to
make the computer case hum.

 

[kony]

I advise all of you with maxtor 120GB or 160GB drives to immediatly
backup your data and buy new drives from other companies.

In the last 9 months I had two new maxtor drives fail without warning.
The same system has drives from other companies which work pefectly.
The money and data loss was much more that buying a new drive.

Also their RMA system and costumer support are really bad.

Hod

You are obviously a troll.

Even if you had a couple Maxtors fail, their RMA system is
as painless as it gets, superior to some of the other major
manufacturers. It is hassle free, easy, fast, and they're
cross ship the replacement. If there were something more
they could do I don't know what it is.

What "customer support" is there? If you need customer
support you have no business fooling with hard drives. You
buy it, install it, use it, and IF it fails, you pull it and
RMA it. They don't argue things like this, and they're not
a data recovery service.

Storagereview.com has the most comprehensive database of
drive failures. Having a random sample of 2 fail is no
evidence of a trend. Recently some people had several
Seagates fail, and I've had others fail too, and I have over
a dozen maxtors with no worse failure rate than any other
brands here.

If you lost data, you need to make backups. The make of
drive has nothing to do with this, if the "data loss was
more than buying a new drive" then you are a fool for not
making backups.

 

[Rod Speed]

The only Samsungs I tried were 250GB, and all vibrated badly enough to
make the computer case hum.

Mine doesnt.

 

[Rod Speed]

You are obviously a troll.

Even if you had a couple Maxtors fail, their
RMA system is as painless as it gets,

Not here it aint. You have to return it to Singapore using a
receipted delivery system and that normally means that it
makes more sense economically to toss it in the bin.

superior to some of the other major manufacturers.

Again, not here.

It is hassle free, easy, fast, and they're cross ship the replacement.
If there were something more they could do I don't know what it is.

Have a return site in country would be a start.

What "customer support" is there? If you need customer
support you have no business fooling with hard drives.

Mindlessly silly. Particularly with Maxtor where it can
be something as basic as PowerMax refusing to work
with your drive and you need to use it to do an RMA.

You buy it, install it, use it, and IF it fails, you pull it and RMA it.

It aint always that simple.

They don't argue things like this,

Fraid they do, particularly about how you packed it.

and they're not a data recovery service.

Storagereview.com has the most comprehensive database of drive failures.

But isnt much use when trying to decide which of the current
drives on offer does best reliability wise. Because there is
normally **** all in the database yet on the current drives.

Having a random sample of 2 fail is no evidence of a trend.
Recently some people had several Seagates fail, and I've
had others fail too, and I have over a dozen maxtors with
no worse failure rate than any other brands here.

Pity about the storagereview stats with some of the Maxtor drives.

GREAT footshot.

 

[Noozer]

Not here it aint. You have to return it to Singapore using a
receipted delivery system and that normally means that it
makes more sense economically to toss it in the bin.

Where is "here"?

....and are these OEM drives? If so, talk to your OEM dealer. If not, your
government should provide some kind of fair trade practices.

 

[Rod Speed]

Where is "here"?
Australia.

...and are these OEM drives?
Nope.

If so, talk to your OEM dealer. If not, your government should provide some kind of fair
trade practices.

It does, but that is legally acceptible.

 

[hodw]

Yes they do
I had a lot of Western digital , but they failed after 5 6 YEARS of use
not months and gave a lot of warnings before the data got lost.
MAXTOR drives fail without warning and with a lot of data loss

Hod

 

[hodw]

Sure its painless as it gets
they return a refurbished drive which is more defective than the one
you send them thats why it is so easy for them.

When I tried to complain I dident get any answers.

Hod

 

[kony]

Not here it aint. You have to return it to Singapore using a
receipted delivery system and that normally means that it
makes more sense economically to toss it in the bin.

So it goes with any company's product if they don't have a
return center in your corner of the world.

Mindlessly silly. Particularly with Maxtor where it can
be something as basic as PowerMax refusing to work
with your drive and you need to use it to do an RMA.

I've RMA'd Maxtors without running the Powermax at all, i
mean not even trying to.

It aint always that simple.

If you are competent to install it, yes it is.
The truth is that not everyone who can hold a screwdriver to
fasten a drive, or click a mouse to run windows, is fit to
change or diagnose hardware problems. That's why there are
professionals. If you dont' find it simple, take it to a
professional that does.

Same with anything else in life, if you don't know WTF
you're doing, it'll be less than simple.

Fraid they do, particularly about how you packed it.

If you can't manage to pack a HDD properly, yet again we see
why you should not be handling hardware. Their policy about
packing is no different than at least a few of the other
brands.

 

[kony]

Sure its painless as it gets
they return a refurbished drive

.... just like the other brands do.

which is more defective than the one
you send them thats why it is so easy for them.

I'm suspecting you are blaming them for something you'd done
wrong.

When I tried to complain I dident get any answers.

If you have any major brand of drives dropping like flies
it's time to take a hard look at your system, where the real
problem lies. Manufacturers do test their products, to have
2 out of 2 fail would mean you're either extremely unlucky
(don't go outside, you'll probably be struck by lightning 3
times in a row) or the drive wasn't the problem. Might be
heat, power, the shipper's handling of the package, your
installation procedure... lots of possible way to kill a
drive.

 

[Rod Speed]

So it goes with any company's product if they don't
have a return center in your corner of the world.

Duh, the point is that the others do and Maxtor doesnt.

I've RMA'd Maxtors without running the
Powermax at all, i mean not even trying to.

That requirement has varied over time.

If you are competent to install it, yes it is.

No it isnt, on what they require for the RMA particularly.

There is also the OEM question too.

The truth is that not everyone who can hold a screwdriver
to fasten a drive, or click a mouse to run windows, is fit to
change or diagnose hardware problems. That's why there
are professionals. If you dont' find it simple, take it to a
professional that does.

Separate matter entirely to your silly pig
ignorant claim that its always that easy.

Same with anything else in life, if you don't know
WTF you're doing, it'll be less than simple.

Separate matter entirely to your silly pig
ignorant claim that its always that easy.

If you can't manage to pack a HDD properly, yet again
we see why you should not be handling hardware.

Separate matter entirely to your silly pig
ignorant claim that its always that easy.

Their policy about packing is no different
than at least a few of the other brands.

Separate matter entirely to your silly pig
ignorant claim that its always that easy.

 

[kony]

Duh, the point is that the others do and Maxtor doesnt.

So they should build one? Ok. Now consider that someone
else, somewhere else, won't have a WD or Samsung, Hitachi,
etc, etc, center near them. Overall, we can't fault them
for where you live, nor find fault with them wanting you to
mail it to them instead of, oh, to the local supermarket
instead.

That requirement has varied over time.

I'm suspecting the primary problem you had was that you
dealt with a Maxtor CSR a bit like you deal with some
posters in this newsgroup. It wouldn't be hard to imagine a
scenario where they were smiling while they made you jump
through hoops... consider CSRs are low paid, have monotonous
jobs, and probably all secretly plot against you Rod. ;-)

No it isnt, on what they require for the RMA particularly.

If they require you to run it and it won't run, you merely
tell them that. Seems pretty clear cut to me.

There is also the OEM question too.

How is that a question?
Either you buy it knowing it had a maxtor warranty or that
it didn't. You buy it knowing it had the OEM vendor
warranty instead or in addition, or that it didn't. If you
buy it with no paperwork stating a warranty at all, and no
warranty statement from the seller, you are accepting there
is no guarantee of warranty coverage. That's not really
questionable, either it's covered or not. If you throw away
all your paperwork then maybe you won't know if you had
several drives but how is that a manufacturer's fault?
Further, how is this any different than with another brand?

Separate matter entirely to your silly pig
ignorant claim that its always that easy.

It is always easy.
Is it as easy as walking and chewing gum? Nope.
Easy as finding the sky? No again.
Easy as doing any other typical kind of RMA? Yes, even
easier than most.

Separate matter entirely to your silly pig
ignorant claim that its always that easy.

It's easy. Maybe in your case it's expensive shipping it
long distances, but that's not hard, just more costly.

Separate matter entirely to your silly pig
ignorant claim that its always that easy.

LOL.

Rod, it's that easy.

Separate matter entirely to your silly pig
ignorant claim that its always that easy.

It might be even easier than "that easy".