Hard Disk Reliability

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 !!

Hari Hari Mau wrote:

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

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Hari Hari Mau wrote:
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

Hari Hari Mau wrote in
:

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.



--
(setq (chuck nil) car(chuck) )

On Dec 5, 5:13*pm, Arno Wagner wrote:
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Hari Hari Mau wrote:



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

Many thanks for the tips !!

On Dec 5, 5:00*pm, "larry moe 'n curly"
wrote:
Hari Hari Mau wrote:
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


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.

Hari Hari Mau wrote:
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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Hari Hari Mau wrote:
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.

On Dec 5, 7:12 pm, Hari Hari Mau wrote:


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.

On Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:12:52 -0800, Hari Hari Mau thoughfully wrote:

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.