My Maxtor 200gb HDD is failing

Computer Hardware SSDs, Hard Drives and NAS
#1

Hi all,

Thanks for reading my post.

Basically, I believe my Maxtor GL200P0 (200 GB) hard drive is failing. I say this for a number of reasons; 1.) The HDD makes frequent clicking noises. 2.) Transferring data from this HDD to another takes a long time and usually stops with an error half way through. 3.) When running the “PowerMax” diagnostic utility, it reported that “This drive is failing, and needs to be replaced”. 4.) It fails almost all the tests on the “SeaTools” diagnostic software. 5.) An error test scan on “HD Tune” shows 100% damaged blocks. 6.) Formatting the drive does not make any difference

The drive still has some warranty left. But I just have a few questions before I return it and request a replacement.

1.) The temperature of the hard drive is at around 38 degree Celsius – is this normal temperature for hard drives? 2.) Around 2 months ago, I added an extra HDD to the system. The gap between the 3 hard drives was very small. Do small gaps between HDD obstruct air flow and heat up the HDD – enough to make them fail? 3.) Is it worth purchasing an Evercool brand Exhaust Fan Blower to reduce the heat temperature for a PC?

Thanks for any feedback.

#2

[QUOTE=Kratos;2194885]The drive still has some warranty left. But I just have a few questions before I return it and request a replacement.

1.) The temperature of the hard drive is at around 38 degree Celsius – is this normal temperature for hard drives? 2.) Around 2 months ago, I added an extra HDD to the system. The gap between the 3 hard drives was very small. Do small gaps between HDD obstruct air flow and heat up the HDD – enough to make them fail? 3.) Is it worth purchasing an Evercool brand Exhaust Fan Blower to reduce the heat temperature for a PC?

Thanks for any feedback.[/QUOTE]
Firstly backup everything important to a different HDD.
If it only works properly when it’s cold, get an external exclosure, or better still, just a USB->IDE/Sata cable & stick a fans to blow across it.
Lets you connect & disconnect until you get everything you want off it :wink:

  1. 38degC is fine if not lower than most people HDD’s.
  2. Yes, a small gap restricts airflow & prevent heap from escaping, but except in extreme cases, the airflow should still be sufficient - how much room? 5mm, 10mm’s - 1mm?
  3. Sure, why not - it probably won’t make much difference if you system has 1/2 decent ventilation anyway, but it won’t make it any worse - but if you only have a small gap anyway … if might not make any difference.

Unfortunately … HDD’s are made to fail these days - in a work situation, I wouldn’t recommend using any mechanical HDD for more than 3 years - in a personal environment … depends on how much you use the HDD.

#3

Thanks for answering my questions. But could you or anybody else just further elaborate on what you mean by “HDD’s are made to fail these days”.

#4

Manufacturers are using the cheapest parts which are guaranteed to last the warranty period - it’s good business sense to lower costs, and it’s a competitive, and not very profitable, market these days.

When was the last time most consumers looked at the MTBF statistics of any part they were purchasing. Do OEM’s even specify the MTBF for all the parts in their systems??

Hence products are designed to fail just after warranties are over - with slight tolerance for the weakest part :wink:

#5

I wasn’t aware of that, so thanks for your informative comments. Despite the emphasis on low cost strategies, which are the better brands and which are the worser? Are there any brands in the HDD market which are notable for their quality?

#6

Anything with a 5yr manufacturers warranty should be fine :wink:

Seagate has just recently dropped warranties for it’s common (bulk) range or 7200rpm desktop drives down to 1year … avoid those like the plague :wink:

Fujitsu used to make good stuff, but they shut down their desktop HDD division :frowning:

Unfrotunately, these days the only thing you can do is read up on particular HDD models with uncommonly high failure rates, then choose one without the problem, but that comes with a decent warranty. 3years is expected HDD life … with 5 years possible, if you’re like me and shuffles the HDD’s down the line of copious PC’s …

#7

I’m a big Western Digital fan myself. I have several USB drives and internal drives. The eldest has been in everyday service for a year with no problems and has gotten swapped out to a Windows Home Server for a 300 GB Velociraptor.

I agree with those who say 3 year service life. I do have some older IDE 40 GB WD drives and one of them is going bad (75 MB worth of bad sectors so far). It was in a used computer so I don’t know how much it was thrashed but I back up to the server and will use it until it pukes :slight_smile: I need to add that there is no real data on the drive, just an OS and all I use it for is ripping to NAS on the network. But if it was a desktop I use all the time I’d replace and throw it away.

I’m a big fan of the WD “Green Power” drives so far. Lower power comsumption so in theory it runs cooler and may last longer. I bought a refurbished 750 GB and it just plain works. I’m pretty tight on the spin down setting too though. Anything that can be set to spin down after no use in 5 min. is set that way.

No matter what you end up with, back it up regularly and just use it. Scan it once in a while but don’t get too carried away. When you start getting bad sectors you it’s time…

#8

[QUOTE=dakotakat;2197730]I’m a big fan of the WD “Green Power” drives so far. Lower power comsumption so in theory it runs cooler and may last longer. I bought a refurbished 750 GB and it just plain works. I’m pretty tight on the spin down setting too though. Anything that can be set to spin down after no use in 5 min. is set that way.[/QUOTE]
Just be aware that the Green Series (to date) are only 5400 RPM drives.
I guess WD has plans to produce a 7200rpm or variable speed “green” drive in the future, because they advertise them as upto7200rpm.

#9

[QUOTE=debro;2196965]Anything with a 5yr manufacturers warranty should be fine :wink:

Seagate has just recently dropped warranties for it’s common (bulk) range or 7200rpm desktop drives down to 1year … avoid those like the plague ;)[/QUOTE]

Actually, I’ve just checked Seagate’s Web site. That company has dropped the warranty of all of its bulk (OEM) desktop IDE and SATA hard drives from five years down to three years. The retail-boxed hard drive kits are still warrantied for five years for the time being.

#10

[QUOTE=RJL65;2197758]Actually, I’ve just checked Seagate’s Web site. That company has dropped the warranty of all of its bulk (OEM) desktop IDE and SATA hard drives from five years down to three years. The retail-boxed hard drive kits are still warrantied for five years for the time being.[/QUOTE]
My apologies … that is correct.
Warranties have been reduced from 5yrs to 3yrs for Bulk/OEM 7200RPM HDD’s.

Seagate moved production to china for many of it’s HDD’s … I guess they realised they couldn’t sustain 5yr warranties with reduced quality control.

Similarly Samsung are moving production to china for some of it’s HDD’s.
Not a good move, I suspect.

#11

Crap, I just purchased and installed Seagate 500G drive. It does say 5 years though.