Post by thread:[OT]: Double HD failure

Hi all, I have a computer that had two Maxtor drives (a 60GB 5T060H6 and an 80GB 98196h8, both IDE Ultra ATA/100s) fail at the same time (or close to the same time). One of them is making clicking sounds often while running and the other makes no strange noises but neither gets recognized on that computer or on any other I've tried. They were both on the same IDE interface card (a Promise Technology ULTRA ATA/100 card, which was necessary because this is a server and has no built-in IDE interface), but they were both masters on separate connectors on the card (primary and secondary). They were only about 1.5 years old and worked fine up until recently. I've had very good luck with Maxtors in general, and I've NEVER had two HDs die at the same time. Any ideas what might have happened? Sean -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.

{Quote hidden}> -----Original Message----- > From: Sean Breheny [SMTP:spam_OUTshb7TakeThisOuTCORNELL.EDU] > Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2002 8:39 PM > To: .....PICLISTKILLspam@spam@MITVMA.MIT.EDU > Subject: [OT]: Double HD failure > > Hi all, > > I have a computer that had two Maxtor drives (a 60GB 5T060H6 and an 80GB > 98196h8, both IDE Ultra ATA/100s) fail at the same time (or close to the > same > time). One of them is making clicking sounds often while running and the > other makes no strange noises but neither gets recognized on that > computer or on any other I've tried. They were both on the same IDE > interface card (a Promise Technology ULTRA ATA/100 card, which was > necessary because this is a server and has no built-in IDE interface), > but they were both masters on separate connectors on the card (primary > and secondary). > > They were only about 1.5 years old and worked fine up until recently. > I've had very good luck with Maxtors in general, and I've NEVER had two > HDs die at the same time. > > Any ideas what might have happened? > Vibration, excessive heat and excessive voltage seem to be the favorite hard drive killers. May be an idea to check the PSU regulation, I had to fix a PC in which components kept dying mysteriously and it turned out to be the cheapo PSU. Pretty bad luck having two go down though, and I have always had good experiences with Maxtors. Regards Mike -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email listservKILLspammitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

Michael Rigby-Jones wrote: {Quote hidden}> > -----Original Message----- > > From: Sean Breheny [SMTP:.....shb7KILLspam.....CORNELL.EDU] > > Sent: Thursday, October 31, 2002 8:39 PM > > To: EraseMEPICLISTspam_OUTTakeThisOuTMITVMA.MIT.EDU > > Subject: [OT]: Double HD failure > > > > Hi all, > > > > I have a computer that had two Maxtor drives (a 60GB 5T060H6 and an 80GB > > 98196h8, both IDE Ultra ATA/100s) fail at the same time (or close to the > > same > > time). One of them is making clicking sounds often while running and the > > other makes no strange noises but neither gets recognized on that > > computer or on any other I've tried. They were both on the same IDE > > interface card (a Promise Technology ULTRA ATA/100 card, which was > > necessary because this is a server and has no built-in IDE interface), > > but they were both masters on separate connectors on the card (primary > > and secondary). > > > > They were only about 1.5 years old and worked fine up until recently. > > I've had very good luck with Maxtors in general, and I've NEVER had two > > HDs die at the same time. > Is you hard disk running at 7200 rpm? Just a hunch. {Quote hidden}> > > > Any ideas what might have happened? > > > Vibration, excessive heat and excessive voltage seem to be the favorite hard > drive killers. May be an idea to check the PSU regulation, I had to fix a > PC in which components kept dying mysteriously and it turned out to be the > cheapo PSU. > > Pretty bad luck having two go down though, and I have always had good > experiences with Maxtors. > > Regards > > Mike > > -- > http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! > email listservspam_OUTmitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email @spam@listservKILLspammitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

I've had good luck with Maxtors too - one of which is a 60 GB unit in a removable tray that has several small built-in fans ... RF Jim > Pretty bad luck having two go down though, and I have always had good > experiences with Maxtors. > > Regards > > Mike > -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email KILLspamlistservKILLspammitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

I've seen this multiple HDD failure scenario twice in the past four years and, heard about one other case a friend encountered 10 years ago. The first time I encountered this problem was with an fairly expensive DEC server. It was covered under warranty and the regular field techs from DEC replaced both (very $$$) HDD's quickly. Within a couple weeks both drives were dead again, this time the techs replaced the SCSI RAID controller and both HDD's with units from a different supplier. Well within a couple more weeks the HDD's were dead again. This is when I asked a friend if he'd ever seen a similar problem. He had seen it one time when he worked making industrial PC's, it had turned out that the power supply was intermittently surging the 12V lines only. When DEC sent out their senior field tech to look at the problem I mentioned the power supply scenario and he thought it was worth a try. With a new power supply and two more HDD's that server has now worked flawlessly for four years. The next time I saw this problem was just two weeks ago on one of my home servers. At first it seemed like I had a normal single drive failure so I pulled the dead drive and slapped in a spare but I couldn't get it recognized by BIOS. After swapping things around and trying other drives I figured out that the other HDD was also partially damaged in that it would no longer allow a slave drive to work. Since PC power supplies are less expensive than good HDD's I replaced the power supply before installing any new drives. Paul > {Original Message removed}

Thanks to all who responded. The power supply is what I suspect, too, although this is a Dell PowerEdge Server so I wouldn't think they use cheap power supplies. I'll look into how much it would cost to replace the PS. The interesting thing is that nothing else (not even the other HDs in the system, which are SCSI Ultra2-LVDs) failed. I was also considering the possibility that somehow one HD failed in such a way that it applied high voltages to some lines that the two HDs shared in common (since they were plugged into the same card although on different connectors). Sean At 01:34 PM 11/1/2002 -0500, you wrote: >I've seen this multiple HDD failure scenario twice in the past four years >and, heard about one other case a friend encountered 10 years ago. --------------------------------------------- Introducing NetZero Long Distance 1st month Free! Sign up today at: http://www.netzerolongdistance.com -- http://www.piclist.com#nomail Going offline? Don't AutoReply us! email RemoveMElistservTakeThisOuTmitvma.mit.edu with SET PICList DIGEST in the body

source= http://www.piclist.com/postbot.asp?id=piclist\2002\10\31\154049a Physical Trauma? Box dropped while you were out? Power surge, but I would expect the rest of the box to go before the drives. Unless the surge was just on the PS leads used by the drives. Another possibility is heat.. drives get hot inside and the bearings can fry. Ask Adam about the number of fans and temp sensors I have in the PICList server! <GRIN> --- James Newton: PICList.com webmaster, former Admin #3 spamBeGonejamesnewtonspamBeGonepiclist.com 1-619-652-0593 phone http://www.piclist.com/member/JMN-EFP-786 PIC/PICList FAQ: http://www.piclist.com -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList TakeThisOuTpiclist-unsubscribe-requestEraseMEspam_OUTmitvma.mit.edu

James Newton, webhost wrote: > > source= http://www.piclist.com/postbot.asp?id=piclist\2002\10\31\154049a > > Physical Trauma? Box dropped while you were out? > > Power surge, but I would expect the rest of the box to go before the drives. > Unless the surge was just on the PS leads used by the drives. I have a "grumpy" friend who had a bad habit of thumping his PC box whenever windows got slow etc, which is often. The hard drive started to fail after some months and over a few days then lost more and more sectors, we were lucky to get 80% of his stuff off it before it was fubar. Now he doesn't thump it anymore, and grumps at anyone walking too *heavily* past his desk lest they might wreck his new one. :o) -Roman -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList piclist-unsubscribe-requestEraseME.....mitvma.mit.edu