Anyone know anything about SATA drives?

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Anyone know anything about SATA drives?
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dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Wed Feb 09, 05 10:42 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

The disk seems to be hunting for something but never finding it.

There is a common disk failure mode, when instructed to go to a particular track/sector it fails to locate it, and gets lost. The heads sweep the disk until they bump the end-stop. Might sound like a "wheee" or a "trundle, trundle" (galloping) followed by a click/bump, a moment's silence then repeat.
Could be a problem with the servo 'markings' on the disk surface, or (much more likely nowadays) the chips on the disk pcb. If its the chip(s), it may work for longer when starting off from cold...
I'd try and do a disk surface check, map out bad blocks, then reformat and reinstall if it passes. If it won't pass, well...

N.V.M.

Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 207
Location: British Columbia,Canada,eh!

Posted: Wed Feb 09, 05 10:46 pm Post subject:
since its new, i won't bother other than replacing the thing. mumble Dell curse mumble

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Wed Feb 09, 05 11:43 pm Post subject:
Take it back mate. Swap it for another new one and start again. Don't waste your time on it any more.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 05 6:53 am Post subject:
It will go back but it does help to know what's up so Dell will swap it. I hope they just send out a new disk and don't want the whole PC. I think I may get another SATA drive to try. Also as I've just copied my data to the new PC I need to ensure it's removed before sending the disk back. Time to track down a shredder util. I don't fancy people having access to my letters and other details.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 05 6:22 pm Post subject:

Well I have a email reply from Dell saying they think there is a problem and they want the system unit back. It will "approximately take 5 - 7 business days for the system to be collected and repaired"

The question is what else will be broken when I get it back? I've phoned and waiting a manager to call back (no ref given or name of manager

). I either just want a new drive or the whole system will be returned, as it's less than 30 days old.

I'm running a CHKDSK that should fix the disk up enough for me to clean my data and the Seagate tools have also found errors.

I've never had a hard disk fail or know anyone who has so I'm a little worried by the quality of the system. Are disk failures getting more common with the massive capacities?

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 05 6:24 pm Post subject:
I've got 3*400gb disks and the one that I ferry from home to work with my backups on it fails regularly, the others don't, always been the same. Have a look at wstore and see how much a similar spec HP is and if its comparable tell Dell to stick it.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 05 6:59 pm Post subject:
I looked at Dabs today (just for prices) and a similar HP unit without the TFT was more expensive than mine with the TFT and more memory. I have run a Dell for several years without a problem, but it did have the 3yr on-site service (never used) and I don't on this system. I'm beginning to think there may be a connection.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45674
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Feb 10, 05 7:12 pm Post subject:
I've not had technical problems with any of the Dell's I've had, I just know how poor their customer services and support are.

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