Klunk

[ddrueding]

I woke up last night to a most disquieting sound; I instantly knew what it was. A new 7200.8 400GB SATA drive had just fallen from it's second-largest side to it's largest side while doing a full drive copy. As I lay there in the dark I strained to hear the sound of the motor - nothing. It had only gotten 5% through it's backup - 380GB of content gone and a $300 hard drive gone.

Not happy.

 

[Buck]

 

[Mercutio]

I'd say you learned a valuable lesson, young man.

No, really, I completely sympathize. I killed an important customer's personal hard drive a few weeks ago by plugging it into the wrong removable bay on his case (it fit, but was a different brand). It went "bzzzt" and then I spent two hours looking for another 80GB DM9+ so I could replace the PCB.

 

[CougTek]

My question is :

• What the Hell was an unback-uped drive doing, free-standing, on its second largest side?

 

[LunarMist]

Maybe there was a screw loose somewhere?

 

[ddrueding]

It had been laying on it's largest side, but it's smart temp was getting a little high. The options were either to get a fan, connect it, and aim it towards the drive; or increase it's exposed surface area.

To be honest the entire system was without case; the MB, PSU, and HDDs all sitting on the workbench on their own. The other HDDs had Zalman passive coolers on them and were doing fine. I just bought an Antec SLK2650-BQE and put all the guts into it an hour ago. I am most pleased. My last chassis was an Antec P160; lots of bling but too much noise.

 

[Stereodude]

So, a HD died by tipping 90 degrees? That's pretty lame on Seagate's part.

 

[sechs]

It's not the fall that kills you... it's the sudden stop at the end.

 

[ddrueding]

So, a HD died by tipping 90 degrees? That's pretty lame on Seagate's part.

I can't blame them. They specifically state that the warranty is void if the drive is subjected to 300G+. I wouldn't be suprised if it was close to that considering the surface was granite.

 

[MaxBurn]

So, a HD died by tipping 90 degrees? That's pretty lame on Seagate's part.

I can't blame them. They specifically state that the warranty is void if the drive is subjected to 300G+. I wouldn't be suprised if it was close to that considering the surface was granite.

And I think that's a non operating spec, operating doing a file copy I can easily see head crash city on a drop like that.

 

[Computer Generated Baby]

So, a HD died by tipping 90 degrees? That's pretty lame on Seagate's part.

There's basically not ANY mechanical hard drive around that's going to take that sort of abuse during a read/write operation (head crash), or when the spindle motor is active (motor crash).

 

[Computer Generated Baby]

It had been laying on it's largest side, but it's smart temp was getting a little high. The options were either to get a fan, connect it, and aim it towards the drive; or increase it's exposed surface area.

Though the situation arises rarely these days for me it seems (i.e. -- using loose drives in the manner alluded to above), I always have available a small plastic non-oscillating room fan that runs off standard household electrical power just for this type of activity.

When I have to do these sorts of operations, I usually lay the hard drive down with the hard drive's controller board facing up and let the fan's cool breeze bathe the belly of the wee churning beastie.

 

[sechs]

What about those Endurastar drives? They're pretty hardy.

 

[Mercutio]

My apartment has both inner and outer doors. Both sets lock.
Today when I came home from work, I had a couple boxes of new toys. So I carried them up the steps to the landing, set them down in front of the door, and started fishing for my keys in my pocket.

While I was doing that, someone opened the door from the other side, knocking both my packages end over end from the top of the concrete stairway to the bottom (about seven feet).

Now, I'm not particularly worried about package number 1 - an Antec P180 case in its shipping container.

But package number two - a carton of 20 Hitachi 7k400s (wholesale price roughly $5,100)... well, I think I'm gonna cry.

 

[Handruin]

Oof... hopefully they still work.

I'm a bit perplexed at your purchase of a P180. In another thread where it was mentioned. You suggested waiting for a cheaper version from chieftec, or other similar case companies...

 

[CougTek]

Just charge the mofo who opened the door for the 5100$ worth of Hibachi drives.

 

[time]

:frowner:


Sounds like a building design defect. What if it had been a baby carriage? Maybe you should threaten to sue.

 

[Pradeep]

But package number two - a carton of 20 Hitachi 7k400s (wholesale price roughly $5,100)... well, I think I'm gonna cry.

Eeek! I guess the question is how were they packaged? If they were ensconsed in high density foam I could see them surviving. Newegg with 3 peanuts in the box, not so good.

P.S. I admire your Terabyte addiction!

 

[ddrueding]

8TB? Well, at least they didn't contain data.

 

[Mercutio]

I'm a bit perplexed at your purchase of a P180. In another thread where it was mentioned. You suggested waiting for a cheaper version from chieftec, or other similar case companies...

I had an excuse to buy one - in my recent move the front faceplate on one of my desktop machines basically cracked in half. Normally, I hide computers if possible (they go in closets or inside desks or behind curtains or whatever), but this particular PC is my gaming PC and it sits right out where I can see it. I thought I could live with the imperfection but, uh, I can't.

Most of those 7k400s were for a couple of projects I'm doing over the next couple weeks (the 12 I'm selling would've paid for the 8 I'm planning to keep), but this batch is going back en masse - I tested 5 drives and I have three that out and out aren't recognized by anything, one SOUNDS like it had a head crash, and another that refuses to format.

Yes, I feel like a teste is ascending just writing about it.

The drives were in a foam container that had been cut from a container of larger size, with another layer on top - it wasn't a perfect fit in the box in question. I'm going to carefully re-pack the drives and send 'em back. Hopefully my distributor will buy the "I must've gotten a bad batch!" story. If they don't... has anyone sent drives back to Hitachi yet?

 

[Mercutio]

The good news is, I get to send all of them back. At least I'm not losing anything.

 

[sechs]

has anyone sent drives back to Hitachi yet?

PS: It's just like it was with IBM.

 

[blakerwry]

yup