40Gb Western Digital hard drive
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From: mike on 28 May 2010 17:47 Hi, Hoping to benefit from the collective wisdom of the group with regard to computer systems. So far over a period of about 2 years I've brought home from the scrapyard three different E-machine computers, all of which had a blown-up power supply made by Bestec - I get the feeling that that is reason enough to turn around and run the other way, once you see the 'Bestec' name, since out of those three systems, the only thing that was still usable that I have found was one 128Mb stick of ram. Until the other day... I was sorting out what I could drop off at the recyclers, scrapyard and landfill, when I once again hooked up a Western Digital 40 Gb hard drive, and once again got a bunch of grief from it, until I put a WD utilities disk in the floppy drive, just to run the mfg's utilities on it before tossing it. I selected for the program "install EZbios" - just because I hadn't done that before, ya know? Next, I told it to restore track 0 (zero), which it seemed happy enough to do. Long story short, this drive which I couldn't even complete any kind of diagnostic test on previously, I was now able to load Ubuntu on, and I used it for 3 days in a row for my usual news-gathering activities. Then, this morning in the middle of my readings the system went brain- dead on me. Of course, the first thing I suspect is the HD. I shut the system down and let it sit for 15 or 20 minutes, then checked to make sure there's no lose connectors or the like, nothing is unusually warm, and then unplug and replug everything (possibly the stick of ram wasn't quite seated right, everything else seemed OK) and started it back up - booted into Ubuntu 8.04 fine, I let it idle awhile then shut it down for the day. I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow may bring 8^). Just wondering if any one had any info or thoughts on why the HD was seemingly revived by the 'install EZbios' and 'restore track zero' moves that I put on it, and also what I might do to make a more effective repair to this drive, or at least a diagnostic that will tell me if something's wrong with it - I really think it would benefit from a low-level format but I don't have a program for that at the moment. The Western Digital diagnostics pronounce it to be error- free. Thanks, Mike
From: Meat Plow on 28 May 2010 18:01 On Fri, 28 May 2010 14:47:25 -0700, mike wrote: > Hi, > > Hoping to benefit from the collective wisdom of the group with regard to > computer systems. So far over a period of about 2 years I've brought > home from the scrapyard three different E-machine computers, all of > which had a blown-up power supply made by Bestec - I get the feeling > that that is reason enough to turn around and run the other way, once > you see the 'Bestec' name, since out of those three systems, the only > thing that was still usable that I have found was one 128Mb stick of > ram. Until the other day... > > I was sorting out what I could drop off at the recyclers, scrapyard and > landfill, when I once again hooked up a Western Digital 40 Gb hard > drive, and once again got a bunch of grief from it, until I put a WD > utilities disk in the floppy drive, just to run the mfg's utilities on > it before tossing it. I selected for the program "install EZbios" - > just because I hadn't done that before, ya know? Next, I told it to > restore track 0 (zero), which it seemed happy enough to do. Long story > short, this drive which I couldn't even complete any kind of diagnostic > test on previously, I was now able to load Ubuntu on, and I used it for > 3 days in a row for my usual news-gathering activities. Then, this > morning in the middle of my readings the system went brain- dead on me. > > Of course, the first thing I suspect is the HD. I shut the system down > and let it sit for 15 or 20 minutes, then checked to make sure there's > no lose connectors or the like, nothing is unusually warm, and then > unplug and replug everything (possibly the stick of ram wasn't quite > seated right, everything else seemed OK) and started it back up - booted > into Ubuntu 8.04 fine, I let it idle awhile then shut it down for the > day. I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow may bring 8^). > > Just wondering if any one had any info or thoughts on why the HD was > seemingly revived by the 'install EZbios' and 'restore track zero' moves > that I put on it, and also what I might do to make a more effective > repair to this drive, or at least a diagnostic that will tell me if > something's wrong with it - I really think it would benefit from a > low-level format but I don't have a program for that at the moment. The > Western Digital diagnostics pronounce it to be error- free. > > Thanks, > Mike The problems and solutions may be coincidental. There isn't much you can do to make the repair more reliable nor are there consumer grade diagnostics that can pinpoint problems. I revived a 120 gig Maxtor a week ago by swapping the electronics with an exact twin I had in the scrap box. The drive just quit. Made no noise, platters didn't spin. Replaced the electronics board, problem solved and friend didn't lose his OS or data.
From: D Yuniskis on 28 May 2010 18:16 Hi Mike, mike wrote: > Hoping to benefit from the collective wisdom of the group with regard > to computer systems. So far over a period of about 2 years I've > brought home from the scrapyard three different E-machine computers, > all of which had a blown-up power supply made by Bestec - I get the > feeling that that is reason enough to turn around and run the other > way, once you see the 'Bestec' name, since out of those three systems, > the only thing that was still usable that I have found was one 128Mb > stick of ram. Until the other day... eMachines are... well, we won't go there! :-/ > I was sorting out what I could drop off at the recyclers, scrapyard > and landfill, when I once again hooked up a Western Digital 40 Gb hard > drive, and once again got a bunch of grief from it, until I put a WD > utilities disk in the floppy drive, just to run the mfg's utilities on > it before tossing it. I selected for the program "install EZbios" - > just because I hadn't done that before, ya know? Next, I told it to > restore track 0 (zero), which it seemed happy enough to do. Long > story short, this drive which I couldn't even complete any kind of > diagnostic test on previously, I was now able to load Ubuntu on, and I > used it for 3 days in a row for my usual news-gathering activities. > Then, this morning in the middle of my readings the system went brain- > dead on me. What machine did ou have this running in? I think drive manufacturers cite something like 40% (? more?) of drive returns have "No defect found". (something to keep in mind). The first thing I would do is move the drive to a known *reliable* machine (perhaps on the secondary controller or as a slave, etc.) and see how well it runs. You may discover that the machine you were having problems with was the problem! (bad caps, bad power supply, etc.) > Of course, the first thing I suspect is the HD. I shut the system > down and let it sit for 15 or 20 minutes, then checked to make sure > there's no lose connectors or the like, nothing is unusually warm, and > then unplug and replug everything (possibly the stick of ram wasn't > quite seated right, everything else seemed OK) and started it back up > - booted into Ubuntu 8.04 fine, I let it idle awhile then shut it down > for the day. I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow may bring 8^). > > Just wondering if any one had any info or thoughts on why the HD was > seemingly revived by the 'install EZbios' and 'restore track zero' > moves that I put on it, and also what I might do to make a more > effective repair to this drive, or at least a diagnostic that will > tell me if something's wrong with it - I really think it would benefit > from a low-level format but I don't have a program for that at the > moment. The Western Digital diagnostics pronounce it to be error- > free.
From: Jeff Liebermann on 28 May 2010 22:04 On Fri, 28 May 2010 14:47:25 -0700 (PDT), mike <mlightner(a)survivormail.com> wrote: >brought home from the scrapyard three different E-machine computers, >all of which had a blown-up power supply made by Bestec e-Machines are not the best quality. The power supplies and fans are the first to go. CDROM and floppy are next. After that, the motherboard. >I was sorting out what I could drop off at the recyclers, scrapyard >and landfill, when I once again hooked up a Western Digital 40 Gb hard >drive, Model number? Series? The Protege series were tolerable. Protoge would last about 4 years and blow up. The Caviar series would last perhaps 2 years and blow up. About 1/3 of the pile is WD, mostly 40GB but some 80 and 120GB. <http://802.11junk.com/jeffl/pics/drivel/disk-drives.jpg> (New drives, boxed drives, and SCSI arrays are buried elsewhere). >Then, this morning in the middle of my readings the system went brain- >dead on me. What does that mean? Did the drive fail, or was there some other problem? It's highly likely that the drive failed. >- booted into Ubuntu 8.04 fine, Ummmm.... Ubuntu 10.04 is the current version. >The Western Digital diagnostics pronounce it to be error- >free. The WD diagnostics will pronounce a failing drive to be good. What did you expect? Fire up SmartMonTools in Ubuntu and extract the S.M.A.R.T. statistics. You'll find one of three possible results, depending on WD drive model: 1. Lots of errors and pronouncement of imminent failure. This is what you get with the later drives. I don't think any of the 40GB drives are late enough to produce an honest result. 2. Absolutely perfect drive with no errors. This is what I usually see. WD lies on its S.M.A.R.T. stats. 3. Can't obtain S.M.A.R.T. That's what I see when someone has juggled controller cards. I also see that when there's a controller failure. -- # Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060 # 831-336-2558 # http://802.11junk.com jeffl(a)cruzio.com # http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS
From: spamtrap1888 on 28 May 2010 23:18
On May 28, 3:16 pm, D Yuniskis <not.going.to...(a)seen.com> wrote: > Hi Mike, > > mike wrote: > > Hoping to benefit from the collective wisdom of the group with regard > > to computer systems. So far over a period of about 2 years I've > > brought home from the scrapyard three different E-machine computers, > > all of which had a blown-up power supply made by Bestec - I get the > > feeling that that is reason enough to turn around and run the other > > way, once you see the 'Bestec' name, since out of those three systems, > > the only thing that was still usable that I have found was one 128Mb > > stick of ram. Until the other day... > > eMachines are... well, we won't go there! :-/ > They are made to sell at a low price point, like the Yugo. |