Hard Drive failing-so depressed :(

[emc7]

My computer locked up everytime I tried to defrag my C drive, I finally got a working version of Powermax and tested it today. The quick test said run the advanced test, the advanced test said your drive is failing, back up now. The warranty is 1 year and the drive (Maxtor 6Y250P0) is just shy of two years old. I don't have 250 G free anywhere else, so i'm backing up to DVD. Wah. When I bite the bullet and replace the drive, should I try for a 5 yr warranty?

[fish_doc]

Go with western digital brand drives. The products I deal with at work use hard drives and those have the best life rating from what I personally have seen. The group of 4 other people I work with have installed over 3000 hard drives in the last few years and fujitsu brand have the worst fallout followed by maxtor. The western digital seem to be able to handle a beating and keep going.

Out of what we ship this is what comes back in or out of warranty

fujitsu - I would say half end up failing. Usually bearings or the motor dies

Maxtor - 1 out of 6 eventually come back. Usually wont boot anymore or starts losing data- (Bad sectors)

Western Digital - 1 out of 25 eventually fail. Usually wont boot or bad sectors.

That is why I learned always back up on disk. Even if you dont keep track of what disk it was on at least you have it.

Keep in mind when I say eventually I mean some of these are 4 and 8 Gig drives. So they have been out there awhile. 3-5 years. So a 5 year warranty could be worth it. If they dont have replacements of that size you get the free upgrade. With these 4 Gig drives that would be about a 40Gig replacement nowadays.

[CyberSpike]

I always make sure to have a backup source, currently I'm using a 160GB external HD.

I have to somewhat disagree with you about Maxtor's doc. I have been using Maxtor drives since I can remember and have not had a problem. One of my 60GB Maxtors has been in use for about 5 years and is still going strong.

But I will agree in recommending the Western Digital's, they are much better for the buck and are much more reliable.

[pkillur]

Originally Posted by fish_doc

Go with western digital brand drives. The products I deal with at work use hard drives and those have the best life rating from what I personally have seen. The group of 4 other people I work with have installed over 3000 hard drives in the last few years and fujitsu brand have the worst fallout followed by maxtor. The western digital seem to be able to handle a beating and keep going.

Out of what we ship this is what comes back in or out of warranty

fujitsu - I would say half end up failing. Usually bearings or the motor dies

Maxtor - 1 out of 6 eventually come back. Usually wont boot anymore or starts losing data- (Bad sectors)

Western Digital - 1 out of 25 eventually fail. Usually wont boot or bad sectors.

That is why I learned always back up on disk. Even if you dont keep track of what disk it was on at least you have it.

Keep in mind when I say eventually I mean some of these are 4 and 8 Gig drives. So they have been out there awhile. 3-5 years. So a 5 year warranty could be worth it. If they dont have replacements of that size you get the free upgrade. With these 4 Gig drives that would be about a 40Gig replacement nowadays.

I would second the vote for the WD Hard drive. They do a lot of metallurgy R&D so their products usually last a whole lot longer. If you see a sale on seagate or maxtor, I would shy away from anything "newer" than about 2 months ago as Seagate has been in the process of aquiring and laying off a boat load (heck, a cruise ship load) of engineers and QA people out here in the Bay Area. I can only imagine it's effecting their product quality....

I know they're (seagate/maxtor) the biggest, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're the best!

[pkillur]

Originally Posted by CyberSpike

I always make sure to have a backup source, currently I'm using a 160GB external HD.

I have to somewhat disagree with you about Maxtor's doc. I have been using Maxtor drives since I can remember and have not had a problem. One of my 60GB Maxtors has been in use for about 5 years and is still going strong.

But I will agree in recommending the Western Digital's, they are much better for the buck and are much more reliable.

I have had crappy luck with putting them in external enclosures though. However, I have a 15 gig WD IDE that's literally been running almost 24/7 for like 8 years without fail. And I almost never defrag

(Insert pause for audible gasp and cries of "Heresy!!!!" for the tech guys that find out I'm in the tech sector...)

[cucci67]

I like Western Digital. They have the best life ratings. I have never heard of a HD failing after 2 years, thats pretty bad. My dad's failed this winter just shy of 6 years. He had a western digital drive. I have never really used a maxtor drive before, I have heard good and bad about them, still none of these stories had the drive failing when the new.

[TheOldSalt]

I feel your pain. My own HDD is crapping out me, too.
It is a Western Digital 8.4 gigger, and it is 8 years old.
Even when it does conk out completely on occasion, I have so far been able to get it running again by simply shaking it and dropping it a couple inches several times. Tough little sucker.
I'm ordering a replacement today, and it's gonna be a WD fer shure.
( I'm also finally getting my copy of WinXP for my new computer. YAY! )

[fish_doc]

TOS, When you get a new hard drive and Win XP you are going to leave my old system in the dust. I guess it seems Ill be the only one left here on the forum having to rub sticks together to get the light for behind my monitor and then buy seed to keep the mice running on the wheel that spins the hard drive. (That is what they mean by mouse, Isn't it?)