lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) (10/04/90)
In <1990Oct04.231155.28864@ecst.csuchico.edu>, gdunlap@csuchico.edu (RANZEROX) writes: > Hello net! Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I have a >problem with my Seagate ST-157N hard drive (yeah, I know, "Seagate sucks", but >it's what I can afford). The problem is that it often doesn't spin up. Right... exactly the reason folks say 'Seagate Sucks'. They are not the ony ones to have 'stiction' problems, but are probably the most prevalent. > When >I power up it just sits there, making a quiet "klunking" sound (I assume this >sound is the heads stepping, normally inaudible when the motor's running). I >can get it to work by physically turning the motor (I stick the end of a plastic >pen into it and turn the motor). That's the fix.. the only fix. We have to find a prevention, since there is no ther fix. > Any useful suggestions would be most appreciated because I'm tired of >having to stick that pen into the drive everytime I want to power up! Don't power it down. As long as it's running, it won't stick. -larry -- It is not possible to both understand and appreciate Intel CPUs. -D.Wolfskill +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
gdunlap@csuchico.edu (RANZEROX) (10/05/90)
Hello net! Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I have a
problem with my Seagate ST-157N hard drive (yeah, I know, "Seagate sucks", but
it's what I can afford). The problem is that it often doesn't spin up. When
I power up it just sits there, making a quiet "klunking" sound (I assume this
sound is the heads stepping, normally inaudible when the motor's running). I
can get it to work by physically turning the motor (I stick the end of a plastic
pen into it and turn the motor).
Does anybody know what specifically causes this problem and if there's
any way to fix it? I can't afford to get the thing fixed, and I certainly
can't afford to buy another drive. I don't have the thing in a proper
box - My machine's an A500 and I couldn't afford a box for the drive; besides,
if I put it in a box I couldn't spin the sucker up by hand! Could its
open-air status be causing a problem (the platters are sealed, so I figured
It'd be OK)? I'm powering it (and my A500) with a 150 watt XT power supply,
so power should be of no concern. Improper grounding?
Any useful suggestions would be most appreciated because I'm tired of
having to stick that pen into the drive everytime I want to power up!
Please E-Mail, because our news feed is flakey.
Thanks in advance!!!!
___________________________________________________________________________
| . _________ . _____ . |
|.. / ______/\ . . / _ \ |Greg Dunlap, CSUChico ///|
| / /\_____\/ . / /\\ \ .|Email: gdunlap@cscihp.csuchico.edu /// |
| / / /. .____ . / / /.\ \ |Disclaimer: Who the hell cares? \\\/// |
|/ / /. / _/\ / / /. / /\|Obligatory Quote: \XX/ |
|\ \/____/ /\_/ ./ /____/ / /| "Intuition, however illogical, is |
|.\________/ /.. /__________/ /.| recognized as a command perogative." |
| .\_______\/. .\__________\/ .| -- Kirk, "Obsession", stardate 3620.7 |
|___________________________________________________________________________|thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (10/06/90)
gdunlap@csuchico.edu (RANZEROX) in <1990Oct04.231155.28864@ecst.csuchico.edu> writes: Hello net! Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I have a problem with my Seagate ST-157N hard drive (yeah, I know, "Seagate sucks", but it's what I can afford). The problem is that it often doesn't spin up. When I power up it just sits there, making a quiet "klunking" sound (I assume this sound is the heads stepping, normally inaudible when the motor's running). I can get it to work by physically turning the motor (I stick the end of a plastic pen into it and turn the motor). Does anybody know what specifically causes this problem and if there's any way to fix it? I can't afford to get the thing fixed, and I certainly can't afford to buy another drive. Huh? If you can't afford to get it fixed, then how WILL you get it fixed? Sheesh. I'm off the net for a week and, without fail, more people lamenting their Seagate drives. It's clear from thousands of people's POSTED-TO-THE-NET experiences that Seagate drives are inherently sub-standard and that it's false economy to believe one is saving money by buying Seagate irrespective of one's budget. (Unless, perhaps, one is a masochist! :-) I've over 3MB worth of postings and email concerning Seagate HD problems; perhaps I should make an entry in my crontab file to automatically post some of the enclosed material (below) once a month or so. In any event, enclosed are some recent discussions in these regards. Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ] -------------------- begin enclosed material -------------------- For the edification of all ... especially those using Seagate hard drives. the following material is reprinted without permission from the August 1990 "Drive Service News" published by: Drive Service Company 6151 Golfview Drive Birmingham, Michigan 48010 `` STICTION: What is it? We use the term stiction fairly often. Stiction is the term used in the disk drive industry to identify the phenomenon where the heads get stuck to the platters. The primary cause of stiction is clear: too much of the wrong kind of lubrication on the platters. Another cause is leakage of spindle motor lubrication onto the platters. Lubrication builds up on the heads, creating a little gum ball; when the hot drive is turned off, the gum ball cools and sticks the heads to the platter. Stiction shows up in three ways: - Drive will not spin, because the heads are stuck fast to the media. - The stuck heads break free and take patches off the media, as ripping tape off a painted wall will take a patch of paint off (with a patch of plating stuck to the heads, errors multiply). - Heads detach from the arm. Stiction usually occurs on plated media, almost never on oxide media. Some manufacturers have few stiction problems, while others have problems with all drives using plated media. STICTION: What to Do About it? Unfortunately, YOU cannot do much about stiction. The only cure is to replace the platters with ones with little or no lubrication, and clean the heads. That can only be done in a Class 100 clean room. When a drive will not spin, you can often retrieve the data using the famous "kick start". Rapidly rotate or snap the drive horizontally, so that the spindle motor acts as a flywheel. Hopefully, the platters will turn while the heads remain in place. DO NOT HIT THE DRIVE; that will cause head slaps. You may have to do this several times before the drive spins up. Once the drive is spinning, back up your data IMMEDIATELY. If you turn off the drive, the heads will probably stick again, so either keep it spinning or send it in for repair. Seagate 4000 series, ST251/251-1, ST277, and ST100 series drives are noted for stiction. Even when the problem was only electronic, as a preventative measure we replace the plated media in these drives and rewrite the servos, except on the ST4053, ST4096, and ST4144R, for which unlubricated media is not available. '' All the HD repair places in Silicon Valley with whom I checked say essentially the same thing as does Drive Service Company. From my own experience and that of hundreds of thousands of others (and let us not forget that Apple had to replace over 650,000 drives during 1989 under warranty due to stiction), the message is clear: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BUY OR USE A SEAGATE HARD DRIVE ============================================================================== Path: portal!fernwood!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!mc nc!ncsuvx!news From: hgm@ccvr1.ncsu.edu (Hal G. Meeks) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Seagate fails on powerup Keywords: I should have listened... Message-ID: <1990Jul30.153310.7818@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> Date: 30 Jul 90 15:33:10 GMT Reply-To: hgm@ccvr1.ncsu.edu (Hal G. Meeks) Organization: NCSU Computing Center Lines: 15 Portal-Origin: Usenet Portal-Type: text Portal-Bytes: 573 Portal-Location: 16152.3.105.1 I've had a Seagate 251N for over two years. Contrary to the experiences of others on the net, I've had no problems....until this morning. I have the classic "stiction" problem. The drive fails to spin up. I've taken it out of the machine, and bent the grounding strap back. I'm now trying to remember if it is as simple as turning the spindle (a small black "bump"). The thought of taking pliers to it concerns me. Any experiences welcome. --hal -- hgm@ccvr1.cc.ncsu.edu "I'm _not_ looser than clams!" netoprhm@ncsuvm.bitnet Zoogz Rift _Interim Resurgence_ ============================================================================== {posted 31-July-1990} hgm@ccvr1.ncsu.edu (Hal G. Meeks) in <1990Jul30.153310.7818@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> writes: I've had a Seagate 251N for over two years. Contrary to the experiences of others on the net, I've had no problems....until this morning. I have the classic "stiction" problem. The drive fails to spin up. I've taken it out of the machine, and bent the grounding strap back. I'm now trying to remember if it is as simple as turning the spindle (a small black "bump"). The thought of taking pliers to it concerns me. Any experiences welcome. Welcome to the "club". :-( As discussed last year in this forum, the problem requires over a year of operation before it surfaces (no pun :-); i.e. after the warranty expires. If you don't rotate the drive's spindle, how do you expect to "break" the stiction? As I reported last month (re: an ST157N), gentle application of pliers to the "bump" with a twisting motion should do the trick. Then power up and get your data off that drive ASAP and buy another manufacturer's HD as a replacement. Sigh. I cannot think of any other computer-related company (except, perhaps, for C.Ltd) whose products have caused so much grief for so many people. Because of my own experience with Seagate (11 drives and 11 failures; drives including ST251 and ST157), I cannot recommend ANY product from that company. Seagates ALSO have failed in my office secretaries' Macs due to stiction, and I've received hundreds of emails from others reporting problems with Seagate drives in systems by AT&T, Motorola, IBM, etc. Last month's posting (by someone else) titled "Other than that.." (re: Seagates and non-spin) strongly suggests that Seagate has NOT gotten its act together and is continuing to manufacture defective drives. Caveat emptor. Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ] ============================================================================== ============================================================================== Path: portal!fernwood!decwrl!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!unmv ax!ddnvx1!ridout From: RIDOUT@ddnvx1.afwl.af.mil Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: Seagate fails on powerup Message-ID: <9372@ddnvx1.afwl.af.mil> Date: 31 Jul 90 11:42:14 GMT References: <1990Jul30.153310.7818@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> <32282@cup.portal.com> Lines: 62 Portal-Origin: Usenet Portal-Type: text Portal-Bytes: 3195 Portal-Location: 16152.3.105.3 In article <32282@cup.portal.com>, thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes: > hgm@ccvr1.ncsu.edu (Hal G. Meeks) in <1990Jul30.153310.7818@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> > writes: > > I've had a Seagate 251N for over two years. Contrary to the > experiences of others on the net, I've had no problems....until this > morning. > > I have the classic "stiction" problem. The drive fails to spin up. > I've taken it out of the machine, and bent the grounding strap back. > I'm now trying to remember if it is as simple as turning the spindle > (a small black "bump"). The thought of taking pliers to it concerns > me. > > Any experiences welcome. > > Welcome to the "club". :-( > > As discussed last year in this forum, the problem requires over a year of > operation before it surfaces (no pun :-); i.e. after the warranty expires. > > If you don't rotate the drive's spindle, how do you expect to "break" the > stiction? As I reported last month (re: an ST157N), gentle application of > pliers to the "bump" with a twisting motion should do the trick. Then power > up and get your data off that drive ASAP and buy another manufacturer's HD as > a replacement. > > Sigh. I cannot think of any other computer-related company (except, perhaps, > for C.Ltd) whose products have caused so much grief for so many people. > > Because of my own experience with Seagate (11 drives and 11 failures; drives > including ST251 and ST157), I cannot recommend ANY product from that company. > Seagates ALSO have failed in my office secretaries' Macs due to stiction, > and I've received hundreds of emails from others reporting problems with > Seagate drives in systems by AT&T, Motorola, IBM, etc. > > Last month's posting (by someone else) titled "Other than that.." (re: Seagat es > and non-spin) strongly suggests that Seagate has NOT gotten its act together > and is continuing to manufacture defective drives. > > Caveat emptor. > > Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ] This is not an amiga experance but since I have been following this discussion I thought it was appropos. I run some VAXes here and I needed to update the console for my VAX 8700. DEC does that by building a console on a harddrive at their shop and then swap it with yours. They did and when it was put in I noticed it was a Segate (ST157 I beleve). Soon after we had a powerout and the drive failed to spinup. After this happened a few times I talked to DEC and said I want my original disk back. They build the console and swaped it back. Once again I looked at what drive is was. Well what do you know, it was a Quantum. It has always, and is continuing to work fine. The Dec field service engineer says thay have at times gone through several segates before finding one that works. -- **************************************************************************** * Brian Ridout Internet: ridout@ddnvx1.afwl.af.mil * * wl/scev * * Kirtland AFB NM 87117 My Apple is better than your Orange. * **************************************************************************** ============================================================================== Path: portal!apple!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!bionet!ames!uhccux !virtue!comp.vuw.ac.nz!munnari.oz.au!murdu!ucsvc!wehi!baxter_a From: BAXTER_A@wehi.dn.mu.oz Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: Seagate fails on powerup Message-ID: <10779@wehi.dn.mu.oz> Date: 3 Aug 90 11:53:32 GMT References: <1990Jul30.153310.7818@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> <32282@cup.portal.com> Organization: Walter & Eliza Hall Institute Lines: 39 Portal-Origin: Usenet Portal-Type: text Portal-Bytes: 1850 Portal-Location: 16152.3.105.4 In article <32282@cup.portal.com>, thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes: > hgm@ccvr1.ncsu.edu (Hal G. Meeks) in <1990Jul30.153310.7818@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> > writes: > > I've had a Seagate 251N for over two years. Contrary to the > experiences of others on the net, I've had no problems....until this > morning. > > I have the classic "stiction" problem. The drive fails to spin up. > I've taken it out of the machine, and bent the grounding strap back. > I'm now trying to remember if it is as simple as turning the spindle > (a small black "bump"). The thought of taking pliers to it concerns > me. > > Any experiences welcome. > > Welcome to the "club". :-( > > As discussed last year in this forum, the problem requires over a year of > operation before it surfaces (no pun :-); i.e. after the warranty expires. > > If you don't rotate the drive's spindle, how do you expect to "break" the > stiction? As I reported last month (re: an ST157N), gentle application of > pliers to the "bump" with a twisting motion should do the trick. Then power > up and get your data off that drive ASAP and buy another manufacturer's HD as > a replacement. I'm not at all sure this is the same problem that Quantum made famous at all. Another possibility is that the brush/ contact arrangement of the motor is a bit suboptimal, and that it is possible for the motor to come to rest without the brushes being in touch with any contacts. In this case, the motor will start again if it is turned very slightly; cf stiction when it would require to be turned quite a lot. The 'very slightly' is probably on par with the gentle thump on the side of the case that many people have reported to work. Lots of motors develop this problem with age (as the brushes wear) and many people may have noticed it with their vacuum cleaner. Regards Alan ============================================================================== Path: portal!cup.portal.com!thad From: thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: Seagate fails on powerup Message-ID: <32428@cup.portal.com> Date: Fri, 3 Aug 90 22:10:00 PDT Organization: The Portal System (TM) References: <1990Jul30.153310.7818@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> <32282@cup.portal.com> <10779@wehi.dn.mu.oz> Portal-Origin: Usenet Portal-Type: text Lines: 34 Portal-Bytes: 1547 Portal-Location: 16152.3.105.5 BAXTER_A@wehi.dn.mu.oz in <10779@wehi.dn.mu.oz> writes: I'm not at all sure this is the same problem that Quantum made famous at all. Another possibility is that the brush/ contact arrangement of the motor is a bit suboptimal, and that it is possible for the motor to come to rest without the brushes being in touch with any contacts. In this case, the motor will start again if it is turned very slightly; cf stiction when it would require to be turned quite a lot. The 'very slightly' is probably on par with the gentle thump on the side of the case that many people have reported to work. Lots of motors develop this problem with age (as the brushes wear) and many people may have noticed it with their vacuum cleaner. Regards Alan Sorry to read you missed last year's discussions in these regards; the problem is definitely stiction as verified by examination under microscope by several hard disk repair places here in N.California. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Seagate makes shoddy motors, too! :-) Thad P.S. When I unstuck my ST157N, I used plumber's pliers and spun that sucker quite violently. I was actually prepared to destroy the damned drive, as a moment earlier I had ripped the anti-static tab right off the PC board using the same pliers. Hmmm, wasn't there a story on the wires recently about Seagate drives which, if spun counter-clockwise, would issue Satanic chants through the voice-coil actuator? :-) :-) Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ] ============================================================================== Path: portal!fernwood!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!za rdoz.cpd.com!tmiuv0!rick From: rick@tmiuv0.uucp Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Subject: Re: Seagate fails on powerup Message-ID: <3923@tmiuv0.uucp> Date: 3 Aug 90 11:30:36 GMT References: <1990Jul30.153310.7818@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> Organization: Technology Marketing Inc., Irvine, CA Lines: 44 Portal-Origin: Usenet Portal-Type: text Portal-Bytes: 2273 Portal-Location: 16152.3.105.6 In article <1990Jul30.153310.7818@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu>, hgm@ccvr1.ncsu.edu (Hal G. Meeks) writes: > I've had a Seagate 251N for over two years. Contrary to the experiences of > others on the net, I've had no problems....until this morning. "The score is Seagate: about 35,000; Users: 0. We'll be back to the action following this commercial message." 8-) > I have the classic "stiction" problem. The drive fails to spin up. I've > taken it out of the machine, and bent the grounding strap back. I'm now > trying to remember if it is as simple as turning the spindle (a small black > "bump"). The thought of taking pliers to it concerns me. Well, I bought some wooden-stick Q-Tips and cut one of the "puffs" off. I used that raw piece of wood to stick between the circuit card and the HDA (head-disk assembly) to spin the flywheel for the platter to the left (with the PCB on top). If you look between the PCB and HDA, you should see the edge of a silver disk. That's the flywheel. Use some sort of skinny object (the Q-Tip is perfect) to rotate that thing to the left if the PCB is on top. It'll break free. You can then apply power to the drive (you don't have to have the controller hooked up) to verify you've freed the thing. Alternately, you can unscrew the PCB, flip it back (be CAREFUL) and spin the flywheel clockwise by hand. Make sure that you rebend the static grounding strap back so it's in contact with the spindle. The pliers will work, but use needle nosed ones and put a layer of electrical tape on each of the jaws so you don't score the spindle. Another way of doing it is to get a pencil with an eraser. Put the pencil (eraser end down) on top of the spindle (so that the pencil becomes an extension of the spindle) and twist the pencil. > hgm@ccvr1.cc.ncsu.edu "I'm _not_ looser than clams!" > netoprhm@ncsuvm.bitnet Zoogz Rift _Interim Resurgence_ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [- O] Rick Stevens ? EMail: uunet!zardoz!tmiuv0!rick -or- uunet!zardoz!xyclone!sysop V CIS: 75006,1355 (75006.1355@compuserve.com from Internet) "Reality is a crutch for people who can't handle science fiction." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ==============================================================================
lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) (10/07/90)
In <71@abode.UUCP>, jtb@abode.UUCP (John P. Gibbons) writes: >[Stuff about stiction problem deleted] >In article <2088@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) writes: >>Don't power it down. As long as it's running, it won't stick. > > Wrongo!!! I ran a ST-138 for quite some time and rarely to NEVER shut down >my system and it still stuck. Agreed, it will stick more often if you shut >down but that is not the only time. If it stops while it's running, it isn't stiction that caused it to stop. -larry -- It is not possible to both understand and appreciate Intel CPUs. -D.Wolfskill +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
jtb@abode.UUCP (John P. Gibbons) (10/07/90)
[Stuff about stiction problem deleted] In article <2088@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) writes: >Don't power it down. As long as it's running, it won't stick. Wrongo!!! I ran a ST-138 for quite some time and rarely to NEVER shut down my system and it still stuck. Agreed, it will stick more often if you shut down but that is not the only time. Personally my advice to ANYONE with a seagate HD with stiction problems, is to just junk it and buy a better hard drive. It is not worth the trouble to attempt to get it fixed (assuming it can be), or god forbid living with the problem. > >-larry -john -- // John P. Gibbons uucp: ..!uunet!iotm.ttank.com!jtb \X/ La Habra, Ca Internet: jtb@iotm.ttank.com "From the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen." -- Cat Stevens
dittman@skbat.csc.ti.com (Eric Dittman) (10/09/90)
In article <71@abode.UUCP>, jtb@abode.UUCP (John P. Gibbons) writes: > [Stuff about stiction problem deleted] > In article <2088@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) writes: >>Don't power it down. As long as it's running, it won't stick. > > Wrongo!!! I ran a ST-138 for quite some time and rarely to NEVER shut down > my system and it still stuck. Agreed, it will stick more often if you shut > down but that is not the only time. > > Personally my advice to ANYONE with a seagate HD with stiction problems, is > to just junk it and buy a better hard drive. It is not worth the trouble to > attempt to get it fixed (assuming it can be), or god forbid living with the > problem. By any chance are people experiencing stiction problems with Seagate drives operating the drive with the circuit board up? Also, my ST277N-1 has never had a problem with stiction; it just likes to forget that it has been formatted every once in a while. Eric Dittman Texas Instruments - Component Test Facility dittman@skitzo.csc.ti.com dittman@skbat.csc.ti.com Disclaimer: I don't speak for Texas Instruments or the Component Test Facility. I don't even speak for myself.
thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) (10/09/90)
dittman@skbat.csc.ti.com (Eric Dittman) in <162.2710d677@skbat.csc.ti.com>
writes:
`` By any chance are people experiencing stiction problems with Seagate
drives operating the drive with the circuit board up?
''
Having researched the problem in great depth (talking directly with Seagate's
QA Manager and design engineers at their Scotts Valley home base, and talking
with numerous HD repair places), the answer to your question is:
DON'T EVEN TRY OPERATING A SEAGATE DRIVE UPSIDE DOWN
Among other things, I have most (if not all) of Seagate's OEM and product
manuals, and the mounting instructions are quite clear (direct quote):
`` MOUNTING REQUIREMENTS
The drive may be mounted horizontally with the spindle motor down, or
on either side (edge). Mounting vertically on either end is a
prohibited orientation. The drive should not be tilted (front to back)
in any position by more than 5 degrees.
For optimum performance the drive should be formatted in the same
orientation as it will be mounted in the host system.
''
Mounting "horizontally with the spindle motor down" means the printed circuit
card is ALSO facing down (i.e. circuit board DOWN).
Contrast the above with the instructions for, say, a Quantum drive. To wit,
from page 2-3 of the Quantum ProDrive Series, ProDrive 40S/80S Product Manual:
`` 2.1.3 MOUNTING
The ProDrive may be mounted in any orientation.
''
The Maxtor OEM manuals say essentially the same thing as the Quantum manuals.
There is a world of difference between quality drives and the drives mfd. by
Seagate. I learned that lesson the hard way. Attempting to save a few $$$
with one's data is foolhardy.
Thad Floryan [ thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]dittman@skbat.csc.ti.com (Eric Dittman) (10/10/90)
In article <34682@cup.portal.com>, thad@cup.portal.com (Thad P Floryan) writes: > dittman@skbat.csc.ti.com (Eric Dittman) in <162.2710d677@skbat.csc.ti.com> > writes: > > `` By any chance are people experiencing stiction problems with Seagate > drives operating the drive with the circuit board up? > '' > > Having researched the problem in great depth (talking directly with Seagate's > QA Manager and design engineers at their Scotts Valley home base, and talking > with numerous HD repair places), the answer to your question is: > > DON'T EVEN TRY OPERATING A SEAGATE DRIVE UPSIDE DOWN > > Among other things, I have most (if not all) of Seagate's OEM and product > manuals, and the mounting instructions are quite clear (direct quote): > > `` MOUNTING REQUIREMENTS > > The drive may be mounted horizontally with the spindle motor down, or > on either side (edge). Mounting vertically on either end is a > prohibited orientation. The drive should not be tilted (front to back) > in any position by more than 5 degrees. > > For optimum performance the drive should be formatted in the same > orientation as it will be mounted in the host system. > '' > > Mounting "horizontally with the spindle motor down" means the printed circuit > card is ALSO facing down (i.e. circuit board DOWN). I knew of this restriction, having bought my ST277N-1 through a reseller, but I was thinking that people having problems with stiction may have their drives mounted upside down. And since other drive manufacturers don't have this restriction, what cheap short-cut did Seagate take that added this restriction? Eric Dittman Texas Instruments - Component Test Facility dittman@skitzo.csc.ti.com dittman@skbat.csc.ti.com Disclaimer: I don't speak for Texas Instruments or the Component Test Facility. I don't even speak for myself.