Replacement just sent...now what?

btvillarin · Feb 20, 2002

Well, for those of you who might know me posting a while ago, IBM just now sent my replacement hard drive to me. <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/btvillarin/Articles/hddilema.htm" target="_new">(My hard drive dilema)</A> So, thoughts are going through my mind. For those of you who've had messed up IBM hard drives, or any manufacturer, can you answer some questions for me?

1) How can you tell if it's refurbished or used?
2) Since my current hard drive is slower, and this one should be faster, would it be safe to switch my system hard drive to this one?
3) If the hard drive is refurbished, what should I do?
4) Would you have any other testing recommendations or something?

I'd really appreciate any responses, especially since this is a delicate situation - isn't it? Anyways, thanks in advance...

Bryan

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wapaaga · Feb 20, 2002

i sent a 60 gxp in and got a new 60 gxp made in december.

form waht i hear they are replaceing the 75 gxps with 120 gxps

so you shoulfd get back a 40 gig 120 gxp or 60 gxp

also don't trust athat smart stuff at all. it said my drive was healthy and the next moring abotu 8 hours later it went dead

i have a45 gig goign in i figure iwill get a 60 gig 120 gxp in return

Gasoline + Fire Can be a lot of fun

Toejam31 · Feb 20, 2002

I wouldn't switch anything just yet, dude. The failure rate with the replacement drives from IBM appears to be fairly high (according to what I have seen and read), especially if the drive is refurbished, and many of them are.

I wouldn't even think of using the drive without testing it thoroughly with the IBM Drive Fitness Test, and if it was me, I'd run the "low level format" (it's not, actually ... it's an erase function) whether it seems to need it or not. Then I'd partition it, format, and run a complete scan to correct any bad sectors.

My replacement drive from IBM began clicking after only a week, and after doing these procedures, has been stable since the first week in October.

I wouldn't drop any critical files on the drive for a while, just in case.

Note: The last three hard drives I've had from IBM have had bad sectors show up right after creating the file system. On one disk, reformatting solved the problem, but with the other two, one went RMA, and the other required writing zeros and ones to the entire disk before it could be used.

I don't believe that it's entirely a heat issue, either. I've got fans blowing directly on the drives, and they test well within the normal range. I barely accessed the replacement drive within that first week, and it still attempted to go belly-up.

I'm still watching it very carefully, and I keep all my data backed up. I've noticed that the replacement drive is noticeably louder when accessed than the original brand-new drive. I'm waiting for it to die, when I least expect it ... and when it does, everything in my main rig is going Maxtor. I really like the D740X series.

Toejam31

My Rig: <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=6847" target="_new">Toejam31's Tantalizing Tantric Toy</A>
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"Procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."

Guest · Feb 20, 2002

I suggest you just use it as a data drive for now. trying to copy some file to it, delete it, defrag it. If it is stable, then you can make it as your primary drive

btvillarin · Feb 21, 2002

Well, if I get a 120GXP, I should be okay since they're new, right? ejsmith got one...lucky...

Anyways, if I get a 60GXP or something, then I'll just install my OS onto it and keep my other drive the way it is right now. My current hard drive will keep my all my data (always), and leave room in case I have to install WinXP again.

How can I tell if it's used?

Anyways, I'll follow your suggestions of running the erase function and a DFT. When you say "run a complete scan", would that be a chkdsk or what? I have PartitionMagic 7.0.

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Toejam31 · Feb 21, 2002

I'm not positive how you can tell if the disk is refurbished or used without checking the serial numbers against the database at IBM. Ask Crashman, and see if he has any extra info on the subject.

As for the disk scan, run chkdsk with these two added parameters, /f /r. /f repairs errors on the disk, and /r locates bad sectors and recovers any readable information. If you are in the GUI, you can do this from the Properties/Tools/Error-checking section of each drive icon in My Computer. Partitions have to be locked for a complete scan to start, so any partition that contains a portion of the OS, like the Paging File, can only be checked during a boot-time run. Select both available options in the Error-checking menu for a complete disk scan, and then immediately reboot.

Toejam31

My Rig: <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=6847" target="_new">Toejam31's Tantalizing Tantric Toy</A>
Second Rig: <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=15942" target="_new">Toey's Dynamite DDR Duron</A>
____________________________________________________________

"Procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."

OldBear · Feb 21, 2002

Have you seen any reliable information on the new 120GXP 120gig?

You get what you pay for.... All advice here is free.

wapaaga · Feb 21, 2002

<A HREF="http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=24609792&m=5820969463&r=5990934973#5990934973" target="_new">http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=24609792&m=5820969463&r=5990934973#5990934973</A>

Gasoline + Fire Can be a lot of fun

Toejam31 · Feb 21, 2002

So far, mostly the typical reviews that praise the drive to the skies and back again. A similar scenario as when the 75GXP series was first released.

But here is something you might find interesting. Check out the recommended monthly power-on hours for the drive in the Reliability section of this <A HREF="http://www.storage.ibm.com/hdd/desk/ds120gxp.pdf" target="_new">pdf</A>. 333 hours is not what I'd call the greatest in the world. For a 30 day month that would be an average of 11.1 hours per day.

After reading that, I don't think I'd be hooking up one of these drives to a 24/7 IDE RAID 0 array without getting a little nervous, if you know what I mean.

There's an unsubstantiated rumor floating around that this rating might be so that IBM can attempt to avoid another class-action lawsuit if the drive proves to have problems. Whether or not this has any basis in fact remains to be seen, but unfortunately, there's usually a grain of truth to every rumor.

There have been some failure reports, but not a great deal at this time. I'm adopting a wait-and-see attitude, myself. One of the difficulties with accessing the true reliability rating of the drive is that people have to actually buy it and use it. And after getting burned with the 75GXPs ... even ordinarily uninformed customers are asking about installing a different brand of drive in a new system.

I can't blame them.

It's a real shame, IMHO ... for everyone concerned.

Toejam31

My Rig: <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=6847" target="_new">Toejam31's Tantalizing Tantric Toy</A>
Second Rig: <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=15942" target="_new">Toey's Dynamite DDR Duron</A>
____________________________________________________________

"Procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."

OldBear · Feb 21, 2002

Thanks for the link.

You get what you pay for.... All advice here is free.

OldBear · Feb 21, 2002

But here is something you might find interesting. Check out the recommended monthly power-on hours for the drive in the Reliability section of this pdf. 333 hours is not what I'd call the greatest in the world. For a 30 day month that would be an average of 11.1 hours per day.

Unbelievable! If they don't have any more faith in their drives than that, I'll look elsewhere.

You get what you pay for.... All advice here is free.

Flyboy · Feb 21, 2002

I wonder if this is typical though? How about other drive manufacturers?

btvillarin · Feb 21, 2002

Dude, this stinks. If these 120GXP drives start messing up as well, I'm gonna erase the disk, and sell it on eBay. I don't know, but I wish there was some way I could've known about these.

Anyways, thanks for explaining how to scan my hard drive. I'll be sure to do so.

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OldBear · Feb 21, 2002

I have been looking but no one else lists it that I can find.

You get what you pay for.... All advice here is free.

Flyboy · Feb 21, 2002

Yeah, I looked for it on WD website with no luck.

lagger · Feb 22, 2002

Well airborne express came today .. twice ..I wasn't home the first try so later at about 5 pm a different guy came back.. told me the delivery was considered "urgent" ?? and that is why they sent him back out .. anyway Ibm replaced my gxp 60 30 gb with a brand new sealed up etc gxp 120 40 gb ( using glass platters and "pixie dust" I just finished installing it on the computer I'm giving my girlfriend and her kids ( asus cusl2-c mobo 800 eb p-3 etc etc) and installed winxp pro on it .. we will see what happens...

lagger

Checking under my north AND south bridges for trolls

wapaaga · Feb 22, 2002

how long di it take for them to return your drive once tehy got it

they should be getting my 45 gig 75 gxp next tues day.

i'm hoping that they will be fast i'm filling this 20 gig up fast itis to small for me and 2 megabits of internet bandwith

Gasoline + Fire Can be a lot of fun

btvillarin · Feb 22, 2002

My hard drive was sent already on the 19th. It was attempted to be delivered when I wasn't home, so I switched addresses for them to deliver to. I hope I get the same hard drive replacement you do...*patiently waiting*

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wapaaga · Feb 22, 2002

dang it i should have waited a little longe. i could have a got a 120 gxp 40 gig for my 20 gig 60 gxp

now how to make this 60 gxp die

Gasoline + Fire Can be a lot of fun

btvillarin · Feb 22, 2002

:lol:

If anymore drives die, and I have the cash, I think I'll switch to Maxtor (per Toey's recommendation). Looking at the specs, I haven't heard or seen anything wrong with those drives yet. And, at $150 from Newegg for a 80GB HD, that's really not that bad. <A HREF="http://www.maxtor.com/products/diamondmax/diamondmaxplus/default.htm#D740X" target="_new">Specs here</A>

*Patiently waiting for 1pm to roll around*

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labdog · Feb 22, 2002

1) test it first with high hd benchmarks for 1 or 2 days
if the hd will support them, you will can swap all your system on.

2) test it next time with your system & datas on it for 1 or 2 weeks.

3) whatever you have a backup with your old hd so you're safe.

4) if you want to be safe at 100%, make a hd backup each week.

if you know you don't know, the way could be more easy.

lagger · Feb 22, 2002

they got my old one on Feb 7th

lagger

Checking under my north AND south bridges for trolls

lagger · Feb 22, 2002

My hard drive was sent already on the 19th. It was attempted to be delivered when I wasn't home, so I switched addresses for them to deliver to. I hope I get the same hard drive replacement you do...*patiently waiting*

I hope so too

lagger

Checking under my north AND south bridges for trolls

btvillarin · Feb 23, 2002

Awesome update:
I got the replacement. Looking at the models at the storage.ibm website, it's a 120GXP 40GB hard drive. I'm so stoked...I'll be sure to try it out tonight.

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BGates2B · Feb 23, 2002

Good Luck BT.

I have a 60GB 60GXP that's about 6 months old. It's been running good except about last week. On boot-up, when the boot up process got to ID'ing the hard drives, it would start to groan at spin up. THis would last around 5 seconds and then it would be quiet. Very weird, but no bad sectors.

What scares me is that I bought another 60 GXP 60GB so I can do a Raid 0 setup on it. Now I'm worried that I will set up the raid and the older harddrive will die. Sheesh.

I also picked up a 80GB Maxtor 540 at CompUSA for only $99. I figured I will just copy all vitals to that.

As for the Low Level Format, where do you get the utility for that for the IBM drives?

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Replacement just sent...now what?

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