Bad drive, what shall I do with it?

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

I have a bad hard drive. It's pretty new, about a year old, and the strange
thing is it mostly only seems to fail on my primary machine. On the other
hand, it is used pretty lightly on my other machine, so that might be the
only reason why it doesn't fail on the other machine.

It's a Western Digital WD Caviar WD1200 120GB drive, and it was supposed to
be really, really nice in its day w/ its 128MB cache. But the problem is my
computer keeps freezing up with the HD light solid. I reboot and sometimes
the BIOS POST check freezes on "Detecting IDE Drives".

Also, when I unplug the machine and take the drive out to examine it, even
after only about ten minutes or so of use, it is extremely hot to the touch,
much more so than any drives I've had in the past.

I don't know if it's a heat issue or if it's just a bad drive, but I don't
know what to do with it. I paid a good deal for this thing (I'm poor). I'm
now out of cash and I really want to get this computer upgraded to a larger
capacity and faster drive than the old 5200RPM drives I'm using on the same
machine (no problems with them).

Jon

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Thomas Wendell wrote:
> 40 pin yes, but 40 or 80 conductor??
>
80 conductor, '40 pin' ribbin cable will normally
be a bit stiffer, and not flexible to the extent of the 40 conductor,
'40 pin' cable.

The drive will be missing pin 19, usually... if it requires the new cable.

And, most drives of 80 Gb capacity do so. Some info, on a
http://Google.com search:


http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2004/8/24/readio/8691299&sec=readio

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Matt wrote:
>
> T Shadow wrote:
>
> > Go to WDC website and check if its still under warranty. I'm thinking 2
> > years.
>
> The OP's drive is 120 MEGABytes, not gigabytes.

What, and tbe drive is ".. pretty new, about a year old"

Wonder where he bought a new 120NB drive a year ago...

Odie
--

RetroData
Data Recovery Experts
www.retrodata.co.uk

 

[jad]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

the drive should have a warranty of three years

if you are using a drive that is a year or newer you should only use
80 conductor cables. If not, your not getting your moneys worth. and
many will not be correctly recognized by the bios without it.


"Jon Davis" <jon@REMOVE.ME.PLEASE.jondavis.net> wrote in message
news:10oit3n2oi6ut4b@corp.supernews.com...
> I have a bad hard drive. It's pretty new, about a year old, and the
strange
> thing is it mostly only seems to fail on my primary machine. On the
other
> hand, it is used pretty lightly on my other machine, so that might
be the
> only reason why it doesn't fail on the other machine.
>
> It's a Western Digital WD Caviar WD1200 120GB drive, and it was
supposed to
> be really, really nice in its day w/ its 128MB cache. But the
problem is my
> computer keeps freezing up with the HD light solid. I reboot and
sometimes
> the BIOS POST check freezes on "Detecting IDE Drives".
>
> Also, when I unplug the machine and take the drive out to examine
it, even
> after only about ten minutes or so of use, it is extremely hot to
the touch,
> much more so than any drives I've had in the past.
>
> I don't know if it's a heat issue or if it's just a bad drive, but I
don't
> know what to do with it. I paid a good deal for this thing (I'm
poor). I'm
> now out of cash and I really want to get this computer upgraded to a
larger
> capacity and faster drive than the old 5200RPM drives I'm using on
the same
> machine (no problems with them).
>
> Jon
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"Odie Ferrous" <odie_ferrous@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:418B3133.4267B1F5@hotmail.com...
> Matt wrote:
> >
> > T Shadow wrote:
> >
> > > Go to WDC website and check if its still under warranty. I'm thinking
2
> > > years.
> >
> > The OP's drive is 120 MEGABytes, not gigabytes.
>
> What, and tbe drive is ".. pretty new, about a year old"
>
> Wonder where he bought a new 120NB drive a year ago...
>
> Odie
> --
>
I was wondering about the 128mb cache. I have a 120GB drive I was thinking
was around a year old, turns out its just over 2. It has 2mb cache.
Makes me think of the Quantum drive I bought at a computer fair, a long time
ago. This "new" oem drive already had an O/S installed.