alex@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us (Alex Pournelle) (09/19/89)
mmccann@hubcap.clemson.edu (Mike McCann) writes: >Our service center here has been swamped with bad HD40 drive (a good >many not cover[ed] by the recall). Is everyone else having the >same problem? It appears to only be the HD40 (internal and external) >that is having problems. [[Plus many other articles of a "Help! this drive stinx!" variety...]] [[[***DISCLAIMER***]]] I might make some money if you read this posting and decide the service described herein is worthwhile. But that's because we offer a service we feel is worth the price. So do our customers. See the end of this article for name/address/etc for more information. This article is informational only, and is based only on the experiences of the author. No direct condemnation of any product, company, service, statistical acceptance method, quality control program, marketing strategy, country, contractor, subcontractor, chip manufacturer, silicon foundry, design team, bank, chip architect, drive architect, software program, firmware revision level, financial statement or other portion of the industry commonly referred to as "the disk drive manufacturers" or "the computer industry" is expressed, implied, intended or entended. [[[***END OF DISCLAIMER***]]] I've been recovering data from dead hard drives for over three years, and it's from that point-of-view that I see this situation. I don't much see "good" drives (well, once in a moon Barry lets me see one--but I just sacrificed my very own working drive so a Maryland video store could live again...) I don't have any stats or hard numbers, I just live at the bottom of the food chain where the worst cases filter. And they have been filtering rather faster than they used to. Never have I seen so many drives failed for so many people, nor in such spectacular fashion--especially those on the Mac. This doesn't seem to apply nearly so much to PC drives, nor the others like ESDI/Big SCSI drives we work on. By far, the most drives we seei are Mac SCSI drives, the common ones like Quantum, Seagate & MiniScribe especially. Priam and CDC we don't see much, nor Maxtor, but then they are built to a much higher level of quality (& priced accordingly!). Now, I won't pretend that I know completely why, but in general my hunch is simple: they ain't building 'em like they used to: they build them worse. With the recent, shocking news about MiniScribe (see: LAT, SJMN, WSJ, et al) I must sadly say I'm not surprised at the 8425S and 8425SAs failing in numbers. I like MiniScribe the company and the people I work with there, but if any portion of the recent news is to be believed, it's hard not to imagine what that means for quality. But the other, low-priced consumer drives fail, in large numbers. Seagates, especially Apple and CMS-labeled ones, come through our door regularly. They fail due to overheating (especially a problem with any Mac design, as there is never enough airflow), simple abuse, Old Movie Disease and other causes I can't quantify yet. The Quantum Q40 and Q80 drives (3.5" 40 and 80 meg SCSI drives used in the CX, the SE and lately the IIx) simply stop spinning--a problem we can deal with in our lab, often without voiding the warranty. The older Quantum drives, the 5.25" 40 and 80 meg SCSI drives as seen in the older II, IIx and external HD40 and 80--are particularly susceptible to overheat. But we can often fix them, too, depending on the severity of the problem. Especially with SCSI drives, now, there are no guarantees. But we have a body of experience which lets us drag data off all but the most obstreperous Mac and PC drives. As we also fix drives (data recovered or not), we have some experience with how they fail, from the "postmortem" phase. If you feel we can be of help, please contact us. We have info sheets on the service upon request. I hesitate to publish more about pricing &c because of the "no commercial use" covenant on UUCP, but I will be happy to reply in mail. Alex Pournelle Vice-President for Research & Development Workman & Associates Phone: 818-791-7979 2400baud BBS (24 hours) 791-1013 Facsimile: 794-2297 BIX: w.and.a conference UUCP: elroy!grian!alex, or, if you prefer alex@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us