Sad state of manufacturing...

[Grogan]

Man... I cursed when I read the tales of woe in here about IBM drives. Well, Maxtor sure as shit isn't much better.

I just had two bad Maxtor 40 Gb hard disks in a row. It caused me to waste the whole fucking day.

Replacing a failed Fujitsu drive on a Celeron 700 system for a customer.

I suspected the first drive was bad (it partitioned but wouldn't format... "recovering allocation units", bad sectors), but wasn't sure if it was a bios/geometry problem. So I went and bought another and had even worse luck with it. Delays on detecting, unable to partition/format... not even Maxblast software could access it correctly.

I for sure at that point thought it was a bios problem. So I installed a used 15 gig hard disk in the system, and everything went smoothly with windows and all the via 4 in one bullshit. The system is ready to go back to the customer. So sure was I that the PC had a bios problem with the newer disks at that point.

I installed the first suspect 40 gig hard disk in my own PC, and it failed the maxblast "quick test" at the SMART check. I thought maybe I messed it up, by writing to it with an incorrect bios parameters so I did the low level format (actually it's just a zero write). Took bloody hours and tied up my PC. After that, it passed the quick test so I proceeded to partition and format it for my own use (the used 15 gig I took out had a Windows and a Linux partition and I needed to copy my data back).

I didn't check for bad blocks when I formatted the partitions.

Well shit... as soon as I went to actually copy data there, bad sectors were evident. Linux absolutely pukes. The drive now fails the maxblast tests.

Second hard disk, is even worse. My PC won't even boot an OS with that drive attached. The maxblast disk will boot, shows it correctly installed but the test very quickly returns a general error code.

So, thanks to Maxtor I've had a lovely day and now my own PC is partially screwed up until I get another (working) drive tomorrow. I had software installed to the 15 gig hard disk I gave up.

And this is not the first bad experiences I've had with Maxtor drives. This is by far the worst though... two in a row.

Ridiculous... time to try Western Digital again. Despite their weirdness, I think it's better workmanship.

Sure, Maxtor is great with their RMA policies but that does nothing to compensate for the wasted time. I had to refuse another job today, because I was up to my armpits in this crap.

I'll end this pathetic rant now.

[Case]

Hey, I hear ya man. The only drives I've had go bad on me were Maxtors. They are inexpensive for a reason, I'm thinking.

I'm using as Samsung drive now, fast, haven't seen any RMA's on Samsungs yet . . . .

[Jizzy]

Damn sorry Grogan. The only drives I've personally had go bad on me were three IBMs and one Western Digital, but I suspect the Western Digital failed due to my errors more than its build quality. The new computer I ordered has all the critical files on a Maxtor 120GB, maybe I shouldn't place so much trust in that drive now.

Thanks for the heads up.

[floppybootstomp]

wot a shitter

I've had failed IBM's; Maxtors; Fujitsus

no probs ever with: Western Digital; Seagate barracudas

[poqal]

Unfortunately, I agree with Flopps. Many different brands are failing all over the place. But those 40 Maxtors seem to top the list.

[phicks]

Well shyte i just ordered a maxtor.:mad:

[026TB4U]

For those with IBM drives, you may want to look at THIS (http://www.bitbenderforums.com/vb22/showthread.php?s=&threadid=57891) thread if you haven't already.

[Techvillage]

Bad luck and bloody annoying , G... :grr: Cost u money of the hardware and business lost thru it...

Anyways, u have ur back ups to get u outta trouble for the lost data on the drive.

My baddun's have been IBM and Maxtors - never had any problems with WD's (touch wood) having said that, I have just bought a Maxtor 8MB 160GB yesterday - unless there are reports of known problems with particualar drives or a manufactureris going through a shoddy workmanship period, then laws of averages still apply to failed drives with all of them.

To me though, in my own experiences, WD are the Quantas of the Disk drive manufacters..

[synjynn]

I have 3 Maxtors, never had a problem with them. 120 GB, 30GB, and another in my paerents sys.

I have had probs with WD's, 4 in all at work. Replaced them with Seagates and no probs since.

[Furton]

I hear ya man, I had my WD go straight after I bought it, but the replacement came in quick and they sent me 2 by mistake (one for free:) ) now using 2*120GB WD SE 8MB drives, very fast.

[Grogan]

Well, I just got two replacements for those drives. I made sure they were from a different manufacturing lot, more recent (I wouldn't have accepted one from the store if it was the same date)

I just finished testing and partitioning one of them... so far so good. Now to copy back my data.

[Grogan]

Hah! I fooled Windows XP but good. I created my partitions using the Linux fdisk utility and formatted them FAT32 an Linux ext2 respectively and mounted the Windows filesystem and copied back the data. Windows didn't know the difference, I never booted it while that partition was missing... the pagefile, Nod32 antivirus and a bunch of other software and my games were installed there.

When you do something like that, the first time Windows boots it detects new hardware and tells you to reboot after it writes an ID to the MBR of the drive, and GUID values in the registry. It didn't throw up any errors about the pagefile or anything (I was a bit worried it wasn't going to like what I did, as Windows XP is finicky about volumes)

All the software and games appear to be working

[DeathStar]

I've had every brand of IDE HDD fail on me at some point in time so it seems none are worth recommending in my book; the only SCSI drives I can vouch for are the Seagate X-15 and newer drives as I have yet to have any of them fail but for what they cost, they better not....

[floppybootstomp]

Originally posted by DeathStar
I've had every brand of IDE HDD fail on me at some point in time so it seems none are worth recommending in my book; the only SCSI drives I can vouch for are the Seagate X-15 and newer drives as I have yet to have any of them fail but for what they cost, they better not....

There are words of wisdom there.

I've read what seems like several dozen threads on this subject at various Forums and Hard Disk failure doesn't seem limited to brands, only batches.

Everybody will recommend certain brands based on their own experiences, but truth is, it's just pot luck on how well the factory was at time of manufacture.

Except, maybe, for IBM at a certain time, they truly seem to be shite.

And Patty, in view of the above, don't worry about your Maxtor purchase, it'll likely be just fine.

[phicks]

Originally posted by floppybootstomp

And Patty, in view of the above, don't worry about your Maxtor purchase, it'll likely be just fine.

I wont. If it is bad shyte happens.:D
So far i've been lucky any problems i've had have been those i caused myself.;)

[DeathStar]

Originally posted by floppybootstomp
.............I've read what seems like several dozen threads on this subject at various Forums and Hard Disk failure doesn't seem limited to brands, only batches......

I can subscribe to the the batch theory as I have a pair of 18GB IBM 75GXP drives that must have come from the very first manufacturing run as they STILL work fine to this day with no bad sectors, etc even though it seems everyone elses drives of the same series have long since died.

Good luck with that new drive, Patty..... :)

[phicks]

Thanks DS i'm sure if i run into any problems you guys will see a post about it.:lol:

[Three D]

I just put a new 20g Toshiba in my laptop. The 10g Hitachi that came with it went tits up shortly after the warranty expired and I wasn't going to give Dell $180cdn for a refurb. The only place I could find another lappy hard drive around here was Robotnik and all they had was a Toshiba one. Working good so far and I hope it stays that way.

I had a 20 gig Maxtor go bad on the old desktop and replaced it with a 30 gig Maxtor. Sold that puter and haven't heard any complaints so it must be still going. The 4 gig Seagate that came on the desktop is still going strong 4 years later on a friends old P166.

[ImaginAsian]

yeah notice that all manufacturers are going to a 1-year warranty exccept their high-end drives. in the past they use to warrant it out to 3-years.

goes to show you their confidence in their drives.

im lucky though i have never had IBM or any drives crash on me :D

[poqal]

After much diagnosing and playing around, I find that the Maxtor 60 gig I've been working with is overheating and that's why it's shutting down.

The blasted thing is hot to the touch. Has anyone had any luck getting one RMA'd for heat. When it sits and starts up cold it works for days and then overheats and won't respond. When it's not overheating, the diagnostics check out OK.

This is where it started

http://www.bitbenderforums.com/vb22/showthread.php?s=&threadid=57674

With everything else that's going on around here, I still haven't replace the drive in the system, but hopefully will soon.

I don't plan on using this drive even for backups and would really like to send it back to Maxtor. Thanks.

As a PS - I want to tell everyone about a tip I heard. I have a backup drive - 80 gigs - and it's partitioned and has personal stuff on it. A friend suggested that when I use a drive this large that I don't put anything on the first partition so that I could always put an OS on it in case the original drive goes bad. I thought it was a pretty good idea as I don't always have another drive around.

[BobGuy]

Originally posted by poqal
After much diagnosing and playing around, I find that the Maxtor 60 gig I've been working with is overheating and that's why it's shutting down.

The blasted thing is hot to the touch. When it sits and starts up cold it works for days and then overheats and won't respond. When it's not overheating, the diagnostics check out OK.

Easy solution here, the hard drive needs some air circulation around it, a Gentle Breeze so to speek, should fix you right up. :D

[poqal]

There are lots of 'gentle breezes' around the inside of this case - I'm just tired of playing with this. It worked for 9 months in the same place in the same case and now decides to play games.

Nope, it's coming out even if it doesn't go back to Maxtor.

Maxtor isn't too high on my list right now. Within weeks we had to replace two Maxtor 40's at my office.

[GreyFalcon]

I learned a while back that guaranteed failure for the Maxtor is to run them in adjacent bays. I run them now with a bay separation between, and they run cool. I have never had one fail that way, except the one that bounced down the stairs. It lasted two years.

[muckshifter]

Maxtor are my mainstay drives ... and yes I have returned a couple.

I will NOT buy IBM/Hitachi or Fujisu (the later are no longer manufactured anyway) WD are a second choice.

:bomb:

[Case]

Hey Poqey, go to https://www.maxtor.com/en/support/service/rma/create/ and check the warranty of your drive online. You should be able to get an RMA number online, but if you can't, then just call or e-mail Maxtor at any of the numbers listed on this page http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/contact/ata.htm

They have a really nice, friendly and efficient customer service department in my experience, and I RMA a lot of drives . . .

EDIT: And yes, a drive that is overheating to the point where it burns your fingers and locks the computer is a valid reason for RMAing a drive. Most people don't realize, but you don't necessarily need a failure code to RMA a hard drive. No way to get one if the drive don't spin up, or isn't detected in the BIOS.