hersker@hersker.mathworks.com (Steve Herskovitz) (10/30/90)
> About two days ago my hard disk started acting up. This is > what it does: after the machine and hard disk have been on > for a while my computer does not see the hard disk during a > subsequent restart (the flashing question mark in the disk > is displayed). I figured it may have something to do with > the 95 degree weather we've been having down here so I set > up a fan to blow on the hard disk while it is in operation. > This at least allowed it to boot on restart though it did > not do it as quickly as it used to. > > My question is is the problem simply old age (the hard disk > is 3-4 years old) or something else? I did have this thing > die on me two years ago when the temperature got to warm... Those XP20s were junk from the first day they shipped. I have one on my shelf that died three times, twice with full loss of data. It routinely overheats and it is recognized at boot only about half the time at best. Two years ago SuperMac had a suite at the Mac Developer's Conference and I went in there to rag on them. They agreed with me and said that the drive mechanism in the XP20 was so unreliable and unsupportable that they had switched to a different vendor for their higher capacity drives. My best bet, they said, was to buy one of their newer drives as a replacement. Needless to say, I haven't bought another SuperMac product since. My advice to you is to buy a new (non-SuperMac) drive and get your data off the XP20 as soon as possible. Then, drive to the beach and heave that boat anchor out into the Pacific Ocean. :-) Steve Herskovitz hersker@mathworks.com