another failed hard drive...

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Not Me

Am I really unlucky to have 3 new hard drives fail in as many years? Ok one
of them was the replacement for the first so can't be called new.. but this
is rediculous!

Anyway, I'm looking for a program that I can use to copy as much data across
to another drive as possible, that would run in dos or equivalent. (since
this drive went bad I can't get into windows without disabling it).
something like badcopy I assume (but not for windows!)

Cheers,
Chris

ps any ideas why these drives might be failing? (other than being made by
maxtor!) they have been used in different systems, but are often used for
working with large (sets of) files, such as dvd-style videos, or many
thousands of files (mp3s) which are defragged often (taking up many hours of
constant activity).
 
Am I really unlucky to have 3 new hard drives fail in as many years? Ok one
of them was the replacement for the first so can't be called new.. but this
is rediculous!

Anyway, I'm looking for a program that I can use to copy as much data across
to another drive as possible, that would run in dos or equivalent. (since
this drive went bad I can't get into windows without disabling it).
something like badcopy I assume (but not for windows!)

Cheers,
Chris

ps any ideas why these drives might be failing? (other than being made by
maxtor!) they have been used in different systems, but are often used for
working with large (sets of) files, such as dvd-style videos, or many
thousands of files (mp3s) which are defragged often (taking up many hours of
constant activity).
Click to expand...
Vibration and heat are the drives biggest enemies. Having a hot drive
right next to a shaky CD-ROM drive can kill it fast.
 
Vibration and heat are the drives biggest enemies. Having a hot drive
right next to a shaky CD-ROM drive can kill it fast.
Click to expand...

Aye I'm definately guilty of not thinking about that kind of thing. 2 HD's
and 2 dvd drives in a fairly small box won't help.

Cheers,
Chris
 
Not said:
Aye I'm definately guilty of not thinking about that kind of thing. 2 HD's
and 2 dvd drives in a fairly small box won't help.
Click to expand...


If you've got 2 drives, make sure you leave at least an inch or so of
space between them. Unless you've got a fan blowing right on them,
stacking them right on top of eachother is a near guarantee for
premature failure.


-WD
 
Not said:
Am I really unlucky to have 3 new hard drives fail in as many years? Ok one
of them was the replacement for the first so can't be called new.. but this
is rediculous!

Anyway, I'm looking for a program that I can use to copy as much data across
to another drive as possible, that would run in dos or equivalent. (since
this drive went bad I can't get into windows without disabling it).
something like badcopy I assume (but not for windows!)

Cheers,
Chris

ps any ideas why these drives might be failing? (other than being made by
maxtor!) they have been used in different systems, but are often used for
working with large (sets of) files, such as dvd-style videos, or many
thousands of files (mp3s) which are defragged often (taking up many hours of
constant activity).
Click to expand...

Maybe you just worked those drives to death. Your description of their
workload was not overly quantitative.

It wouldn't be sensible for you to try another Maxtor.
 
I recently did a few changes to my HD setup that made quite a difference in
the temps. In the first scenario, I had my slower HD (5400) on top of the
faster one (7200), and they were in a 2 bay "rack" (4 sided metal box from a
old case). Temps on the 7200 rpm drive were pushing 55, and felt quite
warm. I knew I had to do something to cool them down, and didn't feel like
drilling holes for a cooling fan. So I pulled out the 5400 rpm drive, and
set the 7200 on a foam pad (to keep the noise down). That dropped the temps
down to under 50 consistently, which was good. Finally, I took a 3 bay rack
that had no top on it, put the 7200 rpm drive on very top, and the 5400 rpm
drive on the bottom. The 7200 rpm drive has been sitting at under 43
degrees all day, including a 30 minute defrag session.

So yeah, splitting them up seems to make a large difference. That's cool
enough for me now that I don't think I need to put in a fan, which is good
news.

Clint
 
Clint said:
I recently did a few changes to my HD setup that made quite a difference in
the temps. In the first scenario, I had my slower HD (5400) on top of the
faster one (7200), and they were in a 2 bay "rack" (4 sided metal box from a
old case). Temps on the 7200 rpm drive were pushing 55, and felt quite
warm. I knew I had to do something to cool them down, and didn't feel like
drilling holes for a cooling fan. So I pulled out the 5400 rpm drive, and
set the 7200 on a foam pad (to keep the noise down). That dropped the temps
down to under 50 consistently, which was good. Finally, I took a 3 bay rack
that had no top on it, put the 7200 rpm drive on very top, and the 5400 rpm
drive on the bottom. The 7200 rpm drive has been sitting at under 43
degrees all day, including a 30 minute defrag session.

So yeah, splitting them up seems to make a large difference. That's cool
enough for me now that I don't think I need to put in a fan, which is good
news.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. I think the recommended temps are 45C or less. Beyond
50C and the drive's lifespan will shorten.


-WD
 
That's a lot of drives in a relatively short time. I would say 'bad
luck' but there is something not quite right here. Are these mounted
in a MINI ATX case? I have seen a little out of the ordinary mortality
rate when they are jammed into these less than perfect cooling cases.
 
JAD said:
That's a lot of drives in a relatively short time. I would say 'bad
luck' but there is something not quite right here. Are these mounted
in a MINI ATX case? I have seen a little out of the ordinary mortality
rate when they are jammed into these less than perfect cooling cases.
Click to expand...

Forgive me, the most recent failure was an IBM, and yay it's actually got a
month left in warranty, so things could be worse (lost hundreds of photos
tho damnit!)

Well they've been through at least 2 cases, the most current one is quite on
the small side, with 4 drives, floppy, sound+vga card, usb card, and tv card
things were getting a little cramped!. The 2 7200rpm drives and a floppy
were mounted on top of each other, so I guess I'll try to find a new space
for them in future!

Cheers,
Chris
 
Clint wrote:
Click to expand...
[snip stuff about cooling hd's]
Sounds good. I think the recommended temps are 45C or less. Beyond
50C and the drive's lifespan will shorten.


-WD
Click to expand...

That's why I like the Sonata - nothing like a 120mm fan right
next to the hd rack to keep their temps in order.

Vic.
 
Sounds good. I think the recommended temps are 45C or less. Beyond
50C and the drive's lifespan will shorten.


-WD
Click to expand...
I recently looked at the Seagate site for temp recommendations. They
say their newer drives are built to be happy up to 60c, while their
older ones should not go above 45c.

Louise
 
Drive Image 7.0 works very well for copying one partition on a hard drive
and creating an identical partition on a second hard drive.
 
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