[nod]

Here's the story: I've been having weird hard drive troubles lately. I've been getting disk I/O timeouts, weird behavior, beach-balls, etc.

I reformatted my drive, which checks-out 100%, SMART Verified, etc., and the system worked OK for about 6 weeks, and now the problems are coming back. Disk I/O timeouts, weird long boots, etc.

I ran AHT and got the Mass Storage error: STF/8/3: A (upper). Has anybody had this error before, or know what it means? If I knew for sure it was just the drive failing, I'd just go out and buy another one. I'm worried that it might be the SATA controller, logic board, power supply etc.

I got the system last May, so I'm still within the year's warranty, which I assume covers the HD, but if I was sure it was the HD, I might be inclined to skip the repair hassle and just get another HD and install it myself.

Anybody have any insight?

[Big Mac]

Sorry to read of your troubles. I would assume it's the drive - it sounds like the drive. SMART does not know of all problems. Why not just get another - it's relatively cheap and easy to install. Put the new drive in bay A where your current drive is, and put your current drive in bay B so that there will be no variability except for the drives. See what happens with that drive. This way you'll be sure what the issue is. If, on the other hand, you take it in without knowing yourself what the culprit is, they could conceivably replace the drive without fixing the problem.

[nod]

Originally Posted by Big Mac

Sorry to read of your troubles. I would assume it's the drive - it sounds like the drive. SMART does not know of all problems. Why not just get another - it's relatively cheap and easy to install. Put the new drive in bay A where your current drive is, and put your current drive in bay B so that there will be no variability except for the drives. See what happens with that drive. This way you'll be sure what the issue is. If, on the other hand, you take it in without knowing yourself what the culprit is, they could conceivably replace the drive without fixing the problem.

Thanks for the advice!