The summer of dying hard drives

[benbaked]

Man have I been afflicted with failing hard drives this summer, more so then any time in my life. I've had current backups for all of them, except for yesterday. :eek: An external hard drive started making a clicking noise Friday, and did so all weekend as nobody (including myself) noticed. Not so good...

Yesterday I tried getting it to mount on the computer, no such luck. I removed it from the external box and placed it directly into the computer, no such luck. Starting to get worried.... So, I tried putting it into a zip-lock bag and freezing it for a couple of hours, took it out and hooked it up to the computer...no such luck, still making the click-click noises and not showing to the computer at all. Probably not too wise hooking up a drive full of condensation to a computer with live circuits...but hey. :o

So I set it aside and enjoyed some MNF last night instead. Came back today, and hooked it to another computer, this time setting the drive on its side. I booted the computer up, heard two clicks out of the drive, and then nothing but spinning platters....and it mounted to the OS! I'm copying the data off as I write this...maybe a little bit of mother gravity helped the arm kick out of parked mode or something?

:o I feel like I dodged a bullet today. Common sense kicked me in the rear again...BACKUP EVERYTHING! :)

[JamesXP]

I hate drives with moving parts, my hardrive just ran out of spare sectors, 2500+ reallocated sectors :O

and exceed power cycle count, and a few others to boot, I think I hate maxtor now, lol.

[CGR]

I hate drives with moving parts, my hardrive just ran out of spare sectors, 2500+ reallocated sectors :O

and exceed power cycle count, and a few others to boot, I think I hate maxtor now, lol.

Ehhhh, how old was that drive? I have never had a drive that "exceeded power cycle count". Didnt even know such a thing existed.

[benbaked]

I think I hate maxtor now, lol.

That's funny, this drive is a Maxtor. I've had all brands of drives fail on me over the years, quite a few Seagates recently.

[jayfella]

I know they measured rechargeable batteries like that. Maximum of 300 charges or "power cycles" i think on my SE k850i before they turn their back on me.

[JamesXP]

NOTE : your hard disk Power Cycle Count attribute current value (246) is below the normal range (250 - 253) reported for your specific hard disk model. Basically your hard disk was power cycled more times than the maximum number the average hard disk was. Power cycles put some stress on the hard disk mechanic. Sometimes power cycles can be caused by a loose hard disk power connector. Make sure it is properly fastened.

http://www.hddstatus.com/hdrepanalysis.php


that's the drive, it's only from 2006.

[theELVISCERATOR]

I havent lost a drive in years...I had one bad wd come in bad this summer, but it's replacement is golden.

been running raptors on my own systems since the 36's came out..no failures.

[SniperXX]

I got lucky with a clients dead laptop drive by holding it tilted at a certain angle, haha. I was relieved because I thought I was going to have to call and tell her everything was lost. It may have only copied at 500KB/sec but it worked. The drive actually seized up later that day when I was messing with it, lol.

[wolfy1220]

I havent lost a drive in years...I had one bad wd come in bad this summer, but it's replacement is golden.

been running raptors on my own systems since the 36's came out..no failures.

your drives will fail now that you have said that. :bang head