Well, the drives were all in whatever happened to be in my workstation at that point, several machines over the years. The current system is very cool inside. I have two incoming case fans (one right in front of the hard drives) and two exhaust (plus power supply fan) in a very wide open Antec case, I'm sure this isn't a problem. Like I said before one of the drives was recalled, so that didn't have anything to do with my system. So that leaves a 1 1/2 year old western digital 10G that failed on me, plus the current IBM I'm using now. It hasn't fully kicked the bucket yet, but I'm waiting. So really there was only 1 true failure in the past four years, one yet to be seen, and one recalled device. It seems that many people were having issues with the larger versions of the IBM 75GXP, perhaps mine isn't immune as I hoped for . . . All the drives were replaced by the manufacturer (except for the IBM, we'll see on that one) . . . _Nick On Sat, Nov 03, 2001 at 02:24:28PM -0500, Nick Zentena wrote:

On November 3, 2001 02:09 pm, Nick Webb wrote:

...

Hi everyone,

I've had bad luck over the years with hard drive failures. In my workstation alone I've had two drives go bad (one was actually recalled by WDC), and the main drive in my present system (IBM 75GXP 30GB) is starting to show bad sectors and making bad noises :(. So this makes three drives in about 4 years, not too bad, I guess. Anyway I'm trying to figure out

Honestly that sounds terrible IMHO. One drive in four years is one thing. Three in four would make me wonder. I had a drive go this spring [about the same time 7.2 came out] It was built in early 1997. Three to four years is about the point I start to wonder when. Is your system over heating? Other issues?

Nick

-- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/support/faq and the archives at http://lists.suse.com

-- Nick Webb http://www.uidaho.edu/~nickw/

On Saturday 03 November 2001 04:56 pm, John McNulty wrote:

...

It seems that many people were having issues with the larger versions of the IBM 75GXP

What do you mean larger versions of .. I thought it [was] the 75GXP, and hasn't someone files a class action suit against them because of it? Right now i'd stay well away from that particular drive. Real shame, as I've always considered IBM drives to be rock solid in the past.

What I actually meant was large versions of IBM drives :). They were reliable :(. Probably ended up being rushed out onto the market, and indeed this whole debacle was featured in a slashdot article. I cannot see how a class action lawsuit would work as it would need to be proven that it is indeed their drives without a shadow of doubt. They have never admitted to any problems, just like Maxtor. Although Maxtor did admit to making drives that are designed to pass bench marks and not relability. IBM drives were different. always on reliability, but unfrotuantly too many people buy based purely on benchmarks and size. And its not just limited to IDE, but also SCSI as I did once see a lot of problems with some models of Quantum drives... Matt

Thanks for the link :) On Sunday 04 November 2001 7:14 am, Nick Webb wrote:

...

...

It seems that many people were having issues with the larger versions of the IBM 75GXP

What do you mean larger versions of .. I thought it [was] the 75GXP, and hasn't someone files a class action suit against them because of it? Right now i'd stay well away from that particular drive. Real shame, as I've always considered IBM drives to be rock solid in the past.

There are several sizes of the IBM Deskstar 75GXP, see the link for more: http://www.storage.ibm.com/hdd/support/dtla/dtlamod.htm

dont scare me i just bouthg i think a 60gxp

40gb

And about 4 weeks ago, I bought the 76GB 75GXP Deskstar specifically for Suse 7.3. I bought this drive from www.simply.co.uk. Interestingly, they don't list any 75GXP drives now, and neither does www.dabs.com, nor www.insight.com/uk. They all did 4 weeks ago... What's worrying me though is how noisy the drive is. The reviews I read of it had me believe it was quiet. I'm not sure what to make of all this now. Peter

Yah, take a look at www.storagereview.com, they have a pretty good reliability survey. Turns out the 15 & 30GB versions of the 75GXP weren't too bad, but above that watch out! I had the 30GB version, and I think it's okay right now, but I don't trust it. I went out and bought a U160 SCSI drive and controller, hope they work out better . . . On Wed, Nov 07, 2001 at 11:16:25PM -0000, Peter John Cameron wrote:

...

dont scare me i just bouthg i think a 60gxp

40gb

And about 4 weeks ago, I bought the 76GB 75GXP Deskstar specifically for Suse 7.3. I bought this drive from www.simply.co.uk. Interestingly, they don't list any 75GXP drives now, and neither does www.dabs.com, nor www.insight.com/uk. They all did 4 weeks ago...

What's worrying me though is how noisy the drive is. The reviews I read of it had me believe it was quiet. I'm not sure what to make of all this now.

Peter

-- Nick Webb http://www.uidaho.edu/~nickw/

I can attest to the IBM line personally. In my personal MP3 server I have : hda: IC35L060AVER07-0, ATA DISK drive - 60 Gig hdd: IBM-DTLA-307045, ATA DISK drive - 30 Gig On the home LAN client machines running a mix of W98 and W2000 I have 30 & 45 Gig IBM's. In one batch I bought of 2 30g and 1 45G, they went bad in less than a month of use. IBM has a good return policy and in 2 weeks they replaced them. I suggest you return any bad ones for a replacement. Nick Zentena wrote:

On November 3, 2001 02:09 pm, Nick Webb wrote:

...

Hi everyone,

I've had bad luck over the years with hard drive failures. In my workstation alone I've had two drives go bad (one was actually recalled by WDC), and the main drive in my present system (IBM 75GXP 30GB) is starting to show bad sectors and making bad noises :(. So this makes three drives in about 4 years, not too bad, I guess. Anyway I'm trying to figure out

Honestly that sounds terrible IMHO. One drive in four years is one thing. Three in four would make me wonder. I had a drive go this spring [about the same time 7.2 came out] It was built in early 1997. Three to four years is about the point I start to wonder when. Is your system over heating? Other issues?

Nick

I've looked at tape solutions in the past, but they seemed much to expensive. I figure adding a second drive and software RAID 1 mirroring would be just about as reliable (unless both drives fail at once) and only cost about $100. What type of backup medium do you suggest?

If you're concerned about hard drive failures perhaps you should focus your attention on a more reliable backup medium? I'm yet to be convinced that RAID is anything other than a luxury for the home workstation. However, I must admit to using striping.

M -- Martin Webster Registered Linux User #230322 http://homepage.ntlworld.com/spider-monkey/ Try my Wiki? http://homepage.ntlworld.com/spider-monkey/wiki.html

On Sat, Nov 03, 2001 at 10:45:36PM +0000, Martin Webster wrote:

On Saturday 03 November 2001 8:04 pm, Nick Webb wrote:

...

I've looked at tape solutions in the past, but they seemed much to expensive. I figure adding a second drive and software RAID 1 mirroring would be just about as reliable (unless both drives fail at once) and only cost about $100. What type of backup medium do you suggest?

...

If you're concerned about hard drive failures perhaps you should focus your attention on a more reliable backup medium? I'm yet to be convinced that RAID is anything other than a luxury for the home workstation. However, I must admit to using striping.

I'm quite taken by the Onstream ADR range (30GB upward). I've yet to purchase because I'm waiting for the new SC30 Linux drivers. An alternative is the DI30 or DI30 Fast. I guess you're looking at around $300 for the drive and a couple of tapes.

That seems much better than what I've seen, but expensive compared to a couple extra IDE-ATA disks. It appears the DI30/ADR50 are supported in linux. I'm going to delve deeper into this suggestion, thanks! _Nick

On Saturday 03 November 2001 11:10 pm, Nick Webb wrote:

On Sat, Nov 03, 2001 at 10:45:36PM +0000, Martin Webster wrote:

...

On Saturday 03 November 2001 8:04 pm, Nick Webb wrote:

...

I've looked at tape solutions in the past, but they seemed much to expensive. I figure adding a second drive and software RAID 1 mirroring would be just about as reliable (unless both drives fail at once) and only cost about $100. What type of backup medium do you suggest?

...

If you're concerned about hard drive failures perhaps you should focus your attention on a more reliable backup medium? I'm yet to be convinced that RAID is anything other than a luxury for the home workstation. However, I must admit to using striping.

I'm quite taken by the Onstream ADR range (30GB upward). I've yet to purchase because I'm waiting for the new SC30 Linux drivers. An alternative is the DI30 or DI30 Fast. I guess you're looking at around $300 for the drive and a couple of tapes.

M

Do you know if the drives work with anything but BRU? I hear BRU is good, but that adds another $50. Does anyone on the list have experiance with the Onstream ADR drives on linux and/or BRU?

Thanks again everyone.

You can use tar, cpio, amanda, arkeia, BRU, Lone Tar etc. M -- Martin Webster Registered Linux User #230322 http://homepage.ntlworld.com/spider-monkey/ Try my Wiki? http://homepage.ntlworld.com/spider-monkey/wiki.html

All hard drives are produced in batches and typically wehn there is problem in a batch, it affects the whole batch. It is the same for Maxtor, IBM, Seagate, etc. I have excellent usage on most all of the IBM drives I have, but one "batch" that I bought from was bad. /Dee

I ran their tests, it says I can write the drive to O's to fix it, but I don't see how that could fix bad sectors . . . I'll give it a shot when I get a chance . . . On Sat, Nov 03, 2001 at 04:25:43PM -0800, StarTux wrote:

On Saturday 03 November 2001 11:09 am, Nick Webb wrote:

...

Hi everyone,

I've had bad luck over the years with hard drive failures. In my workstation alone I've had two drives go bad (one was actually recalled by WDC), and the main drive in my present system (IBM 75GXP 30GB) is starting

Large IBM drives have been giving strange issues that seem to be with their Pixie Dust...Those bad sectors probably aren't hardware related and could well be fixable, backup data and get the DFT (drive fitness test) from IBM, that fixes most issues.

Actually, I ran the latest version awhile ago on my HD when it started making weird nosies and after getting it tested the noises went away.

Matt

-- Nick Webb http://www.uidaho.edu/~nickw/

Hi, I've successfully installed SuSE 7.3Pro today. But of course my modem, being a WinModem (Hayes Accura V.90 PCI) isn't recognised. I've searched the web (including the SuSE site) and got lots of documentation and even a few drivers that may work. I just don't know enough to figure out how to try them. If anyone here has this modem and a driver that works with it, can you please tell me how to do it, step by step. Be gentle, I'm a relative newbie. cheers, -- | Bruce Tober, , Freelance Journalist, | | My Website http://www.star-dot-star.co.uk/ | | Birmingham, UK, EU +44-780-374-8255 (Mobile) |

In message <1004874669.4631.10.camel@linux>, wolfi writes

Euro-ISDN at home, but I think there is a site called linmodems.org dealing with the issue of these WinModems and how to get them to work under linux.

Yep, been there, done that. I think the thing that's really puzzling me is which of the drivers there is the one I need? Can I try then each until I find the right one without wrecking anything? How do I install, configure etc the driver and test it? As I've said, I'm new to Linux so I'm really needing a bit of handholding. and info in the most basic, step-by-step terms. cheers, -- | Bruce Tober, , Freelance Journalist, | | My Website http://www.star-dot-star.co.uk/ | | Birmingham, UK, EU +44-780-374-8255 (Mobile) |

In message , Lee O'Malley writes

Bruce, I think the best advice any of us can give you here and I think most will agree, is to be rid of the Winmodem and get yourself a nice ZOOM or US Robotics external modem running off your serial port. No problems, excellent performance and totally reliable. Plus you don't have the headaches of dealing with drivers, PCI or interrupts. You will be happier, I can assure you.

That's what I was afraid of. I just recently bought this thing, having moved from an area where I had cable modem (and would have been going crazy trying to get that working under Linux) to an area where I have a BT dialup account. Now to have to buy another is going to really stretch my budget. But I think you're probably right. Oh well. Thanks -- | Bruce Tober, , Freelance Journalist, | | My Website http://www.star-dot-star.co.uk/ | | Birmingham, UK, EU +44-780-374-8255 (Mobile) |