[threestain]

I have an old IBM Deskstar which sits in an external box and connects up via firewire. Its recently started to make rather scary sounds - high pitched whining as if the heads are stuck and skipping. I get the feeling its dying, so am trying to empty it as best as I can. but will a reformat fix it? If not its not the end of the world cos I can get a HDD for �40 that's twice the size, but I'd prefer not to have to shell out.

I've run diskwarrior and disk utility on it, but no change really.

[tooki]

Back up now.

The drive might be fine, but chances are it's on its way out.

tooki

[threestain]

I've just about cleared it all now - just waiting for the last 4GB. Has been pretty hairy, cos when it crunches a particular part of the disk virtually everything stops on my laptop until I turn it off. not a good sign.

do you guys reckon its going to be fixable with a format, or is it bin-worthy?

[Nivag]

bin it! if it's interfering with your laptop it's not a good sign!

[rwcooper]

Hi,

Where I used to work we referred to the IBM Deskstar as the DeathStar, they had such a high failure rate. Often you don't have any warning that there is a problem so if you can get your data moved before it dies consider yourself lucky.

Good Luck,
Randy

[threestain]

oh, cos when I got it, the IBM drives were meant to be the best. Still it has lasted 6 years or so (and about 3 years longer than the seagate one it ran alongside).

So, I'm going to junk it, and have this choice:

Hitachi 08KO462 80GB 7200RPM 2MB Cache
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=56725
or
Western Digital Cavier SE 80Gb 7200rpm 8mb Cache Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=34419
or
Western Digital Caviar SE 160GB UIDE 100 7200rpm 8mb Cache - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=47654
or
Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 9 160Gb 7200rpm 8mb Cache ATA133 Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=43153

Does anyone know these drives, or better options? Its to go in a firewire enclosure that uses a prolific chipset (I think!).

Cheers guys.

[Nivag]

Personally i'd go for this one

Seagate ST3160023A 160GB 7200rpm 8mb Cache Barracuda 7200.7 Plus - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=52158

i used to have Western Digital, but i found them noisy.

maxtor are good as well, but i always go for Seagate at the moment, they've been good for me (touch noggin)

[Randman]

I prefer WD over Maxtor.

[tooki]

1. Only one production run of IBM DeskStars was faulty, the rest were fine.

2. I'd choose a Seagate over any Maxtor, Hitachi, Western Digital, or Fujitsu drive. Do I think any of those are bad drives? Nope. But Seagate gives a 5 year warranty on its drives, while half of the rest give 3 years only, and the remainder just one year! Considering the Seagates are no more expensive, it makes them a much better value, and the fact that they are willing to stand by their product gives me a bit more confidence in the drive.

tooki

[threestain]

well I've bitten the bullet, and bought the seagate suggested - was swayed by the 5 year guarentee. And the fact that its huge and cheap!