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motherface
RealPoor Guru

Joined: 12 Mar 2003 Posts: 3407
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Posted: 08/10/05 - 00:08 Post subject: Western Digital HD fail rate?
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I've bought a few WD drives over the years, and they seem to be failing at an increasing rate. My latest one (WD1200JD 120GB), purchased in May 2004, began failing about 6 or 7 weeks ago, first with a BSOD on boot, then with corrupt Windows profiles, then various other quirks, and then today I got BSOD on boot again (Win2K). I can't really be sure it's the drive itself and not some other component (like bad memory writing to the disk) but I figured I'd try a new drive anyway, since they're so cheap (I linked to a $75 Samsung 160 gig with an 8MB cache and a 3 year warranty in another thread), but I was wondering if anybody else has been having bad experiences with WD recently. The drive I have has a 3 year warranty, so if I get a new one I'll send the current one back, but I've heard that when you send one in for repairs they just send you a refurb, and if that's the case then I'd almost rather not waste my time.
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Maldek
RealPoor Guru

Joined: 16 Oct 2002 Posts: 2089
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Posted: 08/10/05 - 00:09 Post subject:
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could be RAM causing that funkiness
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Nictathan
RealPoor Master of Posts

Joined: 11 Oct 2002 Posts: 5531
Location: here... where I am... not with you
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Posted: 08/10/05 - 00:10 Post subject:
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Well, there was a bit there where WD was sub par, but now, I'd have to say they're fine.
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kireol
RealPoor Master of Posts

Joined: 02 Aug 2003 Posts: 9517
Location: Royal Oak, MI
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Posted: 08/10/05 - 00:15 Post subject:
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pretty much any site that I've read, Maxtor and WD have both good and bad fail rates depending on the model. and both fail just as much on avg.
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Overon
RealPoor Guru

Joined: 14 Oct 2002 Posts: 3602
Location: PLANE OF PIXIES
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Posted: 08/10/05 - 11:16 Post subject:
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Seagate.
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Owyyn
RealPoor Guru

Joined: 11 Oct 2002 Posts: 2900
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Posted: 08/10/05 - 11:24 Post subject:
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My 160Gb WD crashed on me after only a week.
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Ishmael
RealPoor Guru

Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Posts: 4446
Location: The US of A
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Posted: 08/10/05 - 11:33 Post subject:
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I think All WD's come with 3 yearr factory warranties? Might want to check that out.
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Goraz
RealPoor Guru

Joined: 11 Oct 2002 Posts: 3736
Location: Philadelphia
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Posted: 08/10/05 - 11:34 Post subject:
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Agree. Best hard drive i've ever had. I've had my 120 GB for over a year now. Running perfectly.
WD and maxtor are both pieces of shit from past purchases. All have failed when i had them at some time.
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Ishmael
RealPoor Guru

Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Posts: 4446
Location: The US of A
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Posted: 08/10/05 - 11:41 Post subject:
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I hate seagates. Well cheetahs anyways.
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goatface
Sir Postalot

Joined: 12 Oct 2002 Posts: 1354
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Posted: 08/10/05 - 12:18 Post subject:
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4 have WD in this box atm, 80gb,120gb, 200gb,200gb
the 120gb failed and has been replaced
had a 60gb that failed and they replaced it with an 80gb
one of the 200gb drive is dead or dying
all the data on it got corrupted and i just unformated it and not fooled
with it yet
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Xieroth
RealPoor Sensei

Joined: 17 Oct 2002 Posts: 1902
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Posted: 08/10/05 - 13:57 Post subject:
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All of the maxtors i have had failed like crazy.
The normal WD were fine.
My WD raptor and WD 120gig SE are both just fine.
On that note in my next box i'm going back to SCSI and Seagate.
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Domination
Can't Stop Posting

Joined: 13 Oct 2002 Posts: 565
Location: Atlanta, GA
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Posted: 08/11/05 - 19:03 Post subject:
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I dunno why but the past year i have had a couple WD hard drives crash and I was very suprised (previous to this, i had never had a HD crash in 11 years). I don't know what the f**k is up with WD but their quality has sorta went downhill as far as reliability.
The WD 160 gig 8meg cache SE I have seen fail a ton, most people i talk to who had failed HDs were 160s. What sucks is i have a level 5 RAID array with 4 WD160s so i'm sure i will have to replace them with seagates whenever they fail but this time i wont lose shit unless 2 fail at the same time, if they do i will mail a turd to WD...
Also, the warranty is pretty much shit - They just send you a refurb as replacement which is b******t. I sent one back and they sent me the wrong f*****g drive, so i said f**k it and wont ever buy a WD product again. I have prolly 8+ WD drives that i think are pretty much time bombs.
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motherface
RealPoor Guru

Joined: 12 Mar 2003 Posts: 3407
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Posted: 08/11/05 - 19:40 Post subject:
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| Domination wrote: | I dunno why but the past year i have had a couple WD hard drives crash and I was very suprised (previous to this, i had never had a HD crash in 11 years). I don't know what the f**k is up with WD but their quality has sorta went downhill as far as reliability.
The WD 160 gig 8meg cache SE I have seen fail a ton, most people i talk to who had failed HDs were 160s. What sucks is i have a level 5 RAID array with 4 WD160s so i'm sure i will have to replace them with seagates whenever they fail but this time i wont lose shit unless 2 fail at the same time, if they do i will mail a turd to WD...
Also, the warranty is pretty much shit - They just send you a refurb as replacement which is b******t. I sent one back and they sent me the wrong f*****g drive, so i said f**k it and wont ever buy a WD product again. I have prolly 8+ WD drives that i think are pretty much time bombs. |
My drive that's been failing is a WD 120 gig. About 6 months ago, or maybe longer, the drive started making a high pitched whine when I'd first start it up in the morning and when I got home from work. The sound would persist for 15-30 seconds and then fade away. From what I've read, this is a serious problem with WD drives related to bearings wearing out, but most WD drives experience this whine constantly rather than intermittently, so maybe as the bearings warm up and expand, whatever causes the whine goes away. In any case I ordered a Samsung 160 gig ATA133 drive, 8 MB cache and 3 year warranty, for $75 from Newegg. My current drive is SATA 150 but I don't see any performance advantage, and the only advantage I've noticed at all is not needing the stupid ribbon cables. And that doesn't really balance the major down side, which is the need to use a 3.5" floppy disk to load the SATA drivers, or else Windows won't recognize the disk. Getting an ATA drive should also eliminate the possibility that it was the SATA controller rather than the drive itself.
With the WD return/refurbish story confirmed I guess it's not even worth the expense of returning my busted drive.
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