why do i keep losing hard drives?

  • Thread starter Thread starter rob
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rob

i lost a couple of hard drivesa few weeks ago whilst trying to install
a new one.
My memory is a bit hazy on those, but i got a new one and fitted it
ok.
It has been running in my system for about 3 weeks now, and i thought
it was about time i put the lid back on, so i shut down, turned off,
pulled the lead out the back of the PC.
Put the lid back, powered up and lo and behold, my new hdd has
failed!!!!!
looks like some sort of power thing has gone on, because when i power
on, i get a quick spurt of power, then nothing, so i am asuming that
the PSU is tripping out.
Disconnect the HDD and all is well. I connected it via an external
enclosure, and the hdd wont power up, and i noticed the power lead to
the enclosure got VERY hot, so i switched off straight away.
If i gently shake the drive next to my ear, i can hear what i think is
the read/write heads moving about on the platter. This is what i
found with my other drives. I dont understand why, can anyone offer
any advice?
I have been building/repairing pc's for ears, and have never had this
much grief!!
 
sorry, i have been building PC's for YEARS, not for body parts just in
case you think i'm crazy....
 
Sounds like it's long past time to try replacing your suspect power supply
unit with a High Quality one of adequate power output. (I use Antec.)
 
Rob Walford said:
sorry, i have been building PC's for YEARS, not for body parts just in
case you think i'm crazy....
Click to expand...


I too have been building PC's for years, successfully I might add, but
lately things are not going well. Same sort of strange problems that you and
others have been reporting. Darned if I know what is going on.

It is beginning to sour me on computers as a hobby. I just want them to work
as I have other things to do these days.

Cheaper parts are no bargain if it takes two or three of them to get one
that works.

Ed Cregger
 
Multiple drive failures implies a point of failure outside the drives,
such as a bad or inadequate power supply, or severe environmental
problems, such as inadequate cooling or lots of dust or vibration. It's
extremely unlikely that multiple independent drives would fail in
succession due to drive defects, even in the case of cheap disk drives.

Of course, getting a better disk drive may help ... but since you've
already encountered multiple failures, best to make certain that the
other factors external to the drive (especially the power supply and
cooling) are within acceptable limits, first, otherwise you might be
needlessly sacrificing another drive (and a more expensive one at that).
 
Thats exactly the position i am in, Ed.
I done my tinkering, tweaking, overclocking etc over the years, now I
have better things to do with my time.

I have been using Seagate and Western Digital Hard drives.
The thing about power is that My system has been running with the HDD
for a few weeks without any problem. I have been video editing,
playing games etc with no ill effects. My PC has 2 ide controllers,
one with 2 HDD an one with a DVD burner and another HDD.
All through the failures, my Boot disk ha remained completely
unaffected, its always the slave drives that get damaged.
The only thing I can think of is that for some reason the drive did not
shut itself down properly, or got some sort spike when I turned on/off.
 
rob said:
i lost a couple of hard drivesa few weeks ago whilst trying to install
a new one.
My memory is a bit hazy on those, but i got a new one and fitted it
ok.
It has been running in my system for about 3 weeks now, and i thought
it was about time i put the lid back on, so i shut down, turned off,
pulled the lead out the back of the PC.
Put the lid back, powered up and lo and behold, my new hdd has
failed!!!!!
looks like some sort of power thing has gone on, because when i power
on, i get a quick spurt of power, then nothing, so i am asuming that
the PSU is tripping out.
Disconnect the HDD and all is well. I connected it via an external
enclosure, and the hdd wont power up, and i noticed the power lead to
the enclosure got VERY hot, so i switched off straight away.
If i gently shake the drive next to my ear, i can hear what i think is
the read/write heads moving about on the platter. This is what i
found with my other drives. I dont understand why, can anyone offer
any advice?
I have been building/repairing pc's for ears, and have never had this
much grief!!
Click to expand...

I also have been building computers for a number of years and know it can be
frustrating at times.
Although most of the machines have been running fine...one of the machines
has lost four harddrives
now over the past two years!
I,ve used and have seen failures in maxtor, seagate and WD.
Although I did replace the powersupply just as a precaution...The machine
has 4 internal
drives and two external and both internal and external drives have quit.
Fortunately, for the most part they developed S.M.A.R.T errors or other read
/write problems...
so only a little non-backed up data was lost.
All were still under warranty and replaced by the mfg with no hassles.

The last one that went was really quite a shock though.
I recased the machine to allow for better cooling and more harddrives...
and tested it...all was well.
After a couple of reboots, one of the drives was no longer detected in the
bios!
Of course it was the only drive that was not backed up!
(note: the comp. is used by a photographer and the drive contained scanned
negatives...
so he still had the data, but would have had to have spent days rescanning
everything)

anyway...after the initial panic...i examined the drive with a magnifying
glass and discovered
a surface mount capacitor with a bad solder joint. (one end was raised off
the board slighty)
i did managed to resolder it (poorly) and copy all the data to another dirve

I think I have now learned my lesson...Since it's a known fact that all
harddrives will (someday)
fail...I'm going to have all my "customers" sign a form that they have
either backed up ALL
their data or will render me non-liable if ALL data on the machine is lost.

It was the worst computer panic situtations I've been in!
 
Mxsmanic said:
Multiple drive failures implies a point of failure outside the drives,
such as a bad or inadequate power supply, or severe environmental
problems, such as inadequate cooling or lots of dust or vibration. It's
extremely unlikely that multiple independent drives would fail in
succession due to drive defects, even in the case of cheap disk drives.
Click to expand...

I agree, unless the drives were all the same manufacturer/model as in the
now infamous IBM deathstar example.
Of course, getting a better disk drive may help ... but since you've
already encountered multiple failures, best to make certain that the
other factors external to the drive (especially the power supply and
cooling) are within acceptable limits, first, otherwise you might be
needlessly sacrificing another drive (and a more expensive one at that).
Click to expand...

Not knowing the system I'd also wonder about other devices that might be
injecting noise onto the system power rails, like fluorescence lamp inverters.

Loose power connecter/wire crimps are also suspect.
 
David said:
I agree, unless the drives were all the same manufacturer/model as in the
now infamous IBM deathstar example.
Click to expand...

If they are truly all manufacturers defects, then it seems to me that
one could demand compensation from the manufacturer (assuming that the
drives have not already been replaced for free ... and even then, some
compensation is in order).

If the drives are not of the same make and model, it's very unlikely
that the drives themselves are at fault.
Not knowing the system I'd also wonder about other devices that might be
injecting noise onto the system power rails, like fluorescence lamp inverters.
Click to expand...

Fluorescent lamps are legion in areas where computers are used; I'd be
very surprised if this were making any difference.

I've heard that unclean utility (mains) power can shorten the lives of
disk drives--is this computer on a UPS?
Loose power connecter/wire crimps are also suspect.
Click to expand...

They'd have to be exterior to the drives, though, since it's unlikely
that every drive would have something loose.

There's a slim possibility that the system is somehow putting an
extraordinary load on the drives, but I assume this has been ruled out.
Also, disk drives tend to be happier running continuously than being
started and stopped, irrespective of whether they are cheap or expensive
models.
 
Mxsmanic said:
David Maynard writes:




If they are truly all manufacturers defects, then it seems to me that
one could demand compensation from the manufacturer (assuming that the
drives have not already been replaced for free ... and even then, some
compensation is in order).
Click to expand...

Ask IBM if they did. I don't know.
If the drives are not of the same make and model, it's very unlikely
that the drives themselves are at fault.




Fluorescent lamps are legion in areas where computers are used; I'd be
very surprised if this were making any difference.
Click to expand...

I said the inverters, not the lamps. Normally one would think they're fine
but they're switching regulators with high voltage outputs and if something
is defective it's possible they could inject onto the power rails.

Btw, if those places, in legion, are wired properly the computer power is
on a separate panel from the fluorescent lighting.

I've heard that unclean utility (mains) power can shorten the lives of
disk drives--is this computer on a UPS?




They'd have to be exterior to the drives,
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I meant; like the 4 pin molex. Bad crimps are rampant
in those things and imagine what hell it could play if the ground was loose.
 
Rob, something I discovered while on the phone with my brother in law a
month ago. We were perplexed with my problems, as I had gone through 3
different CD burners over a period of a couple years and had trouble with a
brother's hard drive that had failed him but was intermittent on my system,
and couldn't get a 4th burner that he gave me knowing it worked...

After looking at seemingly everything, he asked me if my cables were good,
I thought that they were. But low and behold, one of my molex power
connectors, though looking good, is bad.

What can happen if the molex is bad is that one of the two voltages gets in
and not the other, and I think that that will fry drives. Or the ground
will fail and the same thing occurs.

I marked the bad connector and I am not using it now.

As soon as I can I am buying a real great quality power supply so that I
won't have to worry any more and keep losing money like I have in the past.

So, just a heads up to all of you: the connector, cable, or circuit upon
which a drive fails (that the drive is feeding from) can be the culprit,
and will be a snake in the grass to your computer happiness.

Hope this helps. Get a new supply, a PC Power and Cooling is your very
best choice, Enermax is your second best choice. Antecs, Sparkles, OCZs,
Coolermaster, Silverstone are some good brands. Many swear by the Antec
supplies, Antec has been doing business for a long time.
 
I think that this may have been my problem.
I have had a new hard drive working ok, but without the fan that i had
connected in serial with the molex for the old drive.
Of course, im a bit nervous about reconnecting it, so im not going to
chance it.
Thanks for the posts.
 
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