What do you think of this hard drive?

[blakerwry]

Hey all, I have recently purchased a wd100JB from an online retailer(mwave).

The drive was DOA and subsequently exchanged for another one.

The new drive makes noises that are consistant with the noises heard when a drive is first turned on, goes into standby, or is turned off. (I assume this is a head park). On this WD drive it is a distinct kind of "clicking into place" type of metalic sound.

I can replicate(or is it duplicate?) the noises by doing certain things with the drive. (1) run the WD tools quick diagnostic.. within the 1st 2 seconds the drive will usually make 1-3 of these noises, Although the WD tools detect no problems on either the quick or extended tests. (2) Zip all my mp3's into a single file (5-6GB zipped)... intermittantly the drive will make these sounds... usually 2 or 3 at a time for a total of about 10 during the 45 minute process. These clicking noises don't seem to interfear with operation, but they do not instill confidence as to the drives reliability.


I was using dTemp to monitor the SMART status of the drive and noticed that Iw as getting a "seek error rate" that seemed unusually high.... the RAW rate seems to change every time i check it(some times decreases as well as increases). The highest rate I've seen is 34, the lowest is 0. The SMART value for seek rate error has been 200, 190, and 100(also both increases and decreases in value)


I have tried the drive in 2 different controllers(promise fasttrak 100 and VIA kt266a) and have even connected it to it's own 300watt P4 power supply. None of the other drives in this system(2 deskstar 75gxp's) exhibit the same problem.

What do you guys think is wrong with this drive? poor handling, bum drive, problem with something else in my computer?

 

[Tea]

I'm not familiar with the most recent Western Digitals, only seen a handful of them, but I'd certainly feel a little uneasy about it, and make sure my backups are good. (Backup 100GB - ha! Short of fancy tape gear or another 100GB drive, what can you do?) Buck is the WD expert. What was the packing like when they shipped it to you? I generally find that vendors that pack properly pack properly all the time, and vendors that don't ... er ... don't.

 

[P5-133XL]

Your drive is showing signs of imminent failure. Backup regularly and start looking into replacing the drive before failure occurs.

 

[blakerwry]

haha.. the drive is 2 days old... you want to know what it was packaged like?

well, i wanted your opinion 1st.. but here is a preview

http://www.anime-jennie.com/hdd/ups.htm



even in this small box(made smaller by UPS)... there was still not enough bubblewrap/foam peanuts to keep the drive from being shaken and stirred fairly loosely...

needless to say, im never buying another hdd from these guys again.

 

[Tannin]

Yes, I can see that. Otherwise the carton would not have distorted like that. I wouldn't especially blame UPS - it's been battered but that's not too unusual. The real problem is that those mail-order morons have:

(a) Used a thin, soft cardboard box; one not suitable for shipping a hard drive. I'm familiar with those M$ System Builder cartons: they are not made of the same sort of cardboard as most shipping cartons, it's a little thinner and much softer than ordinary corrugated cardboard. I've used those boxes for shipping other things (a video card, for example) but even for that they are a little marginal.

(b) Failed to pack the item firmly. It's a common misconception that the secret to safe packaging is to have plenty of thickness around the fragile item. Wrong. Sure, thickness is nice, but the really important thing is to make sure that the item is packed firmly within the box. I'd far, far rather see a fragile item (like a crystal decanter or a hard drive) with a thin layer of foam but packed tight so it can't move, than three times as much foam but loose in the box.

From those pictures, you can see at a glance that the box was insufficiently filled. Even one of those flimsy M$ cartons should be able to stand up to a little pressure better than that. Tsar Tannin would have them knouted.

(In one of my varied and disreputable past lives, I managed warehouses: clocks, giftware, and then computers. In all three places I was responsible for getting our stock delivered unbroken, and if there were breakages, it was me that had to carry the can for them. To this day I get a bit funny about proper packaging.)

 

[Buck]

The clicking noise is not inherent to the drive, and as P5 rightly points out, will fail. Please backup and replace the drive.

Using peanuts in a package makes for a great filler, but it allows the product inside to shift during shipment and settle against a wall of the box. Thus, hard disk drive manufactures suspend the drive with foam or plastic holders. This keeps the product in the center of the box, and acts as a brace for the weakest part of that box - horizontal impact (horizontal in relation to he picture you labeled: Side). Also, this was only a 4-inch high box, no where near the amount needed to protect that drive.

It is a shame when online stores sell non-retail packaged hard disk drives and cannot provide the proper packing material or the appropriate box. Your box looks like it acted like a shock absorber for a properly packaged 20" monitor. At least the monitor arrived to its destination in working order, thanks to your package.

 

[blakerwry]

hehe... i returned the drive today for a refund... and went to my local tech shop where I promptly bought a 1200BB for less ($120 US)

It was manufactured in July so it uses the 40gb platters but that is of no worry to me, it's a large drive used for backup/mp3/dvd storage...

 

[blakerwry]

oh.. forgot to add taxes (ouch) add $8 to that price on the 1200bb..

The 1000JB should have cost me $132 after shipping but return shipping x 2 added $9 bucks out of pocket.... atleast it went to FedEx and not UPS.