IBM Disk failure. Is this the well known problem?

[boeingfixer]

HELP ! IBM victum ??

Hey gang,

Welll here is my prob. When I got up this morn and started surfing the net, my computer seemed slow and sluggish, so I rebooted and it gave me this error Disk Write Error. I have just recently installed 2 IBM Deskstar 60GXP 40 gig hard drive's running in RAID with coolers on them.

Is this the imfamous trouble that has been happening with them ? I have only used them in my system for about a week. I had no error message and no "click of death" sounds.

Any ideas ?? Thanks a mil !

 

[SuperCheetah]

OH NOOOO!!! Sorry to hear that boeing. Thankfully that hasn't happened to me yet, but I suggest you backing your importmant info. up NOW! I would also try a fresh install and see if the problem goes away. Hopefully this is just Microsoft acting up, but you can never be too careful.

 

[boeingfixer]

Unfortunatly, I was running RAID 0, I can't get in anyway, and if I do, I will only have fragmented data from the undamaged drive.

Anyone know if I can put another drive in as primary and boot with RAID array as secondary ? Do I have to move my bootable good drive to the non-ATA/RAID channels ??

Thanks for the advice super, hopfully it is just a hiccup and not a drive.

 

[svtcobra]

My suggestion would be to install a good drive on the IDE and install the "still working" IBM drive as its slave. Then drag whatever fragmented data you can off the drive, format the good IBM drive and then setup another raid array with your two drives. RMA the bad IBM drive and then when the refurbished replacement comes in put it on Ebay and get some money for it.

 

[boeingfixer]

Why would I not want to keep the replacement drive ? Would there be some more issues ? And if I keep the fragmented data what good is it for me ? If I had RAID 0 won't it just be half of what I need. If I had to do it all over, I doubt I would pick IBM's I think they have too much trouble with the Deskstars....any thoughts ??

 

[boeingfixer]

Well I got home and started running IBM's test on my 2 Deskstars and after it finished, it said both drives had bad sectors and where unrepairable. Looks like I call IBM Monday morn. What is bad is I have only been running them in RAID for about a week or two cause I was waiting for the hard drive coolers. Well guess the drives had something else wrong.....sigh.....back to square one...

Thanks for the advice gang !

 

[T-Shirt]

Is this like the "Big Blue Disks of Death".
Given their current reliablity problems, I think it is foolish to run those drives in a RAID 0. I think a RAID 1, plus a tape backup would be the minimum safety precautions.
I know they're cheap right now, but still not worth it.
Dump those 'BM's, and get some maxtors or WD's

 

[T-Shirt]

This reminds me of a editorial I read last week (in PCWORLD,PC Mag, or ZDnet, I forget, but will post a link if I find it again) entitled
"What's in a Brand name". It talked about how you used to buy they big brands (IBM, Sony, etc.) due to their superior in house quality control, but now much or all of their hardware was outsourced. Not only manufacture, but in many cases design and specs.
It seems they are only slapping a label on other peoples products,
hoping for the premiem price, but instead permenatly smearing their reputations for the short term gain.

 

[boeingfixer]

Thanks for the advice "T", I thought real hard and ended up deciding on the IBM's when I got them. I should have known better since I have anther 40gig Maxtor in mine that has been absolutely flawless for over a year. I will probably either return them to IBM for replacement or to where I purchased them for 2 Maxtors if I can get them. It made me make up my mind that I won't ever buy IBM's again.

 

[SNGX1275]

Well it appears my Deathstar 60Gxp has also began to die. This time its my 60 gigger, last semister it was my 30gig (same model). This drive I had noticed just over the last day was running much hotter than it had been in the past. It hadn't made any wierd noises though and I haven't gotten any errors. But just to be sure I rebooted and had it do a surface scan and it came back with bad clusters, not very many right now, but thats how my other started out. So I guess I'm going to be burning as many cds as fast as I can until this thing dies then its getting RMAed and hopefully I won't have this problem again.
Just for the record - I've had 2 Deathstars die on me now.

 

[boeingfixer]

Well, here is a caution for you all. I called IBM today and requested returning my two bad drives. Well they basically told me I am stuck. The drives where "OEM" drives not IBM. Well yes they where IBM but made for an OEM like DELL. Basically IBM doesn't stand behind all their drives and problems. They assured me that they are good drives and the same as an IBM covered drive but because the S/N starts with a "D" than it's not covered by IBM, I ask if they could do anything for me and they said "NO" and then I asked "Should I not buy IBM drives in the future" and they said, well "you do what you have to". I repeadedly told them I have had no trouble from other brands and was basically told, " thats them, not us".

Funny, my Maxtor is a year old and not one problem, the IBM's where less than 6 months old, but sorry we aren't covering all our drives.

Please be aware when you buy IBM's especially if it's second hand.

 

[T-Shirt]

I think IBM is getting out of the consumer products (again) one way or the other. If that's the best answer they can come up with.
can you get money back where you bought them?
Maxtor is basicly 5years/no quetions asked, even if you don't have a receipt they will honour the warrenty 3 years after last date of manufacture, thats's how service Should be.

 

[boeingfixer]

I agree 100% with you "T", I drilled the people I bought the drives from pretty good and was told that if I did have a problem they would "take care" of me. I have only had these drives in my hands about 45 days so tomorrow I will call and see if I can get replacements. They have more IBM's but I am going to see if I can get Maxtors. 100% on how you should cover anything, if your name is on it, you should cover it. The IBM rep told me something that basically boils down to money, he said, yeah the OEMS have to pay us a fee so we can warrenty their drives. Uhhh did I hear you right ?? "Their drives ????" Mine says IBM on it not DELL.......

 

[SNGX1275]

mine is not an OEM its actual real IBM. i RMAed my other one last semister and they are REAL strict on how you do everything on the return all the way from online to how you ship it. but if you do everything right you do get it fixed.

Edit: Ok I lied it is OEM, I AM NEVER BUYING IBM EITHER. Guess also I'll probably never buy OEM again. I'm a poor college student - replacing things is expensive .

 

[boeingfixer]

Well I had some great luck today, I called the place I bought them from and asked if I could get replacements, they said yes, we have more IBM's, and I said "no no no" then they said they would send me another manufacture if I like, so I ask if I could pay the difference and get two bigger drives, so for about $40 more, I am going to get 2 80 gig's instead of 2 40's. So it looks like I will make out better anyway. I will stay away from the IBM's until they decide to fully cover their drives/problems.

Thanks for all the help gang !