sankar@Neon.Stanford.EDU (Sriram Sankar) (10/18/90)
My hard disk suddenly stopped working. When I power on the system, it starts spinning, then I hear the noice of the head moving up and down a few times and then it just goes quite (if continues spinning). I tried the disk on another controller and also took it to Frys Electronics to test it out. They suggest burying the disk and getting a new one. The disk in question is a Seagate 4096. I've had the disk for only 1.5 years now. I thought Seagate made better products than this. Is there anything I can do to get this disk running again? In case I do have to buy a new disk, which would you suggest? I'm looking for something with 80Meg or more capacity. Which company is reliable and which format is best, etc. I've read a few of the messages on the newsgroup, but if any of you can give me specific suggestions, I'd appreciate it. When I spend $600 again, I want to be sure I've something more reliable. Please send replies to sankar@neon.stanford.edu. Thanks, Sriram.
ESR@SLACVM.BITNET (Ed Russell) (10/18/90)
In response to: >Message-ID: <1990Oct17.181123.6364@Neon.Stanford.EDU> >Date: 17 Oct 90 18:11:23 GMT >Sender: sankar@Neon.Stanford.EDU (Sriram Sankar) > >My hard disk suddenly stopped working. When I power on the system, >it starts spinning, then I hear the noice of the head moving up >and down a few times and then it just goes quite (if continues >spinning). I tried the disk on another controller and also took it >to Frys Electronics to test it out. They suggest burying the disk >and getting a new one. The disk in question is a Seagate 4096. >I've had the disk for only 1.5 years now. I thought Seagate made >better products than this. Is there anything I can do to get this >disk running again? > >In case I do have to buy a new disk, which would you suggest? I'm >looking for something with 80Meg or more capacity. Which company >is reliable and which format is best, etc. I've read a few of the >messages on the newsgroup, but if any of you can give me specific >suggestions, I'd appreciate it. When I spend $600 again, I want >to be sure I've something more reliable. > > My ST-4096 lasted 2 years -- a longevity record for that model? I now have a 80MB doorstop. I won't buy another Seagate drive. Symptoms sound similar -- intermittent seek problems. Before replacing my drive (with a CDC SCSI), I took it to the local disk repair place to get a repair estimate. The people there were very helpful, even though I decided not to repair the pig. They indicated that the drives they consider the most reliable (based on their repairs) are Toshiba, Fujitsu, Maxtor, and Miniscribe (in that order, I think). (Seagate drives seem to keep them in business.) I know several people who think Toshiba drives are great and QUIET. I have seen similar postings on the net. You might also want to read the article in PC Magazine in September 25, 1990.