So yeah power failure PWNS another HD.

SquareHead · Post by **SquareHead** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:22 am

I have a problem where I am that every once in a while we have a power failure. More demand than supply. I was wondering if its worth it to get an UPS, or should I look for certain model HD's that park the head automatically in the event of power loss?. I have blown about 4 HD's in as many years.

On a small side note, I take it the only way to recover data after a head crash would be a data recovery place, and that would be really expensive?

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:43 am

I'd say check out the prices and see what makes the most sense.

Hds shouldn't die that fast though... what manufacturer?

SquareHead · Post by **SquareHead** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:56 am

Deathlike2 wrote:I'd say check out the prices and see what makes the most sense.

Hds shouldn't die that fast though... what manufacturer?

Most were Maxtors. The last one was Seagate.

PHoNyMiKe · Post by **PHoNyMiKe** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 12:04 pm

every maxtor I've ever had has died in less than two years. I've got a couple seagates now, if they crash, at least they got a five year warranty. get a ups man, they're like $40. I've got one that can power the pc and monitor for like five minutes, it's cheap, but it works.

corronchilejano · Post by **corronchilejano** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 7:59 pm

I'd get that UPS. I've had both Seagate (my actual 3 HDs) and Maxtor, and I only had trouble once.

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:04 pm

Bleh.. I have a 2GB Maxtor that is still in operation after 10+ years. Whatever I guess...

PHoNyMiKe · Post by **PHoNyMiKe** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:24 am

Deathlike2 wrote:Bleh.. I have a 2GB Maxtor that is still in operation after 10+ years. Whatever I guess...

by operation you mean as a paper weight or cup holder? 2GB, god you people need to UPGRADE

still can't beat my 5.25 floppy drive! I'll slap you in the face with it! then I'll show you the one in my computer that still works.

casualsax3 · Post by **casualsax3** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 3:11 am

SquareHead wrote:On a small side note, I take it the only way to recover data after a head crash would be a data recovery place, and that would be really expensive?

It depends on a few things. First, what part of the drive failed? Does the bios still see it?

Hyos · Post by **Hyos** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:19 am

phOnYmIkE wrote:
Deathlike2 wrote:Bleh.. I have a 2GB Maxtor that is still in operation after 10+ years. Whatever I guess...
by operation you mean as a paper weight or cup holder? 2GB, god you people need to UPGRADE

still can't beat my 5.25 floppy drive! I'll slap you in the face with it! then I'll show you the one in my computer that still works.

My 850 MB Maxtor is still working after 12 years in a small PC I use as a router, running 24/7. Another 1.7 GB Maxtor and a 2.3 GB Maxtor work superb after 10 years in a PC I made for my little cousin for surfing the internet, used almost every day now. And NO, ABSOLUTELY NO reason to upgrade.

In the last 7 years, I used Western Digital HDDs (40GB, 80GB, 100GB, 120 GB, 160GB) and the only one that died was the 120GB one - but this only after my power supply exploded after a lightning strike.

DOLLS (J) [!] · Post by **DOLLS (J) [!]** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:40 am

Every Maxtor I've owned has died in less than 4 years of use.

SquareHead · Post by **SquareHead** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:57 am

casualsax3 wrote:
SquareHead wrote:On a small side note, I take it the only way to recover data after a head crash would be a data recovery place, and that would be really expensive?
It depends on a few things. First, what part of the drive failed? Does the bios still see it?

The bios still sees it. When the PC tries to boot from it it sounds like its spinning, but I get nowhere. No missing OS prompt, no boot screen, just a flashing cursor. The computer itself is fine POSTs and everything appears normal. It still will boot from CD. As soon as I can find my knoppix cd, I plan to check out the HD and see if I can access it that way.

casualsax3 · Post by **casualsax3** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 4:06 pm

If the bios sees it that's a good sign. See what knoppix lets you recover - a lot of times loading things read only works wonders for data recovery.

franpa · Post by **franpa** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:29 pm

tried repairing the boot sector? boot from the windows CD and enter recovery console, then type fixboot then reboot your pc.

soulmata · Post by **soulmata** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:43 am

SquareHead wrote:
casualsax3 wrote:
SquareHead wrote:On a small side note, I take it the only way to recover data after a head crash would be a data recovery place, and that would be really expensive?
It depends on a few things. First, what part of the drive failed? Does the bios still see it?
The bios still sees it. When the PC tries to boot from it it sounds like its spinning, but I get nowhere. No missing OS prompt, no boot screen, just a flashing cursor. The computer itself is fine POSTs and everything appears normal. It still will boot from CD. As soon as I can find my knoppix cd, I plan to check out the HD and see if I can access it that way.

That's not a head crash

In fact, power loss causing a head crash on a modern HDD is virtually impossible due to the way they are manufactured.

However, losing components to bad power is still pretty shitty

I'd definitely invest in a UPS. Even a cheap UPS will not only give you what you need in terms of protection from brownouts or short blackouts, but most will include software you can install that will auto-shutdown your PC during a power failure.

I bought 3 from amazon a few months ago, 1 for each of my PCs with important data or that i'd rather not risk getting damage... the total was only about $220 for all 3.

best money i ever spent

SquareHead · Post by **SquareHead** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 7:39 am

Soulmata was right. No head crash. I powered it up, and went to work. And when I got home it was successfully booted into windows. I backed everything up onto external drives. I figure this drive may be on its last legs, and I had a new idea on what to do with this machine.

Does anyone know what the average space for a debian / ubuntu install would be? I was wondering if I could get a usual system with full c/c++ libs as well as a VLC or any of the other FFMPEG based media players, samba, and K3b, in under 4 gig. I want to see if I can install to a CF card, and basically turn this thing into a networked media/DVD player.

Firon · Post by **Firon** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:39 am

I've yet to have a single dead Maxtor, but I've had a few dead WDs.

In any case, YES, get a UPS! I've lost more than a few power supplies and graphics cards to power outages before I went out and bought one. You can get a decent UPS for sub-$100. It's totally worth your while. Plus, you can have the PC auto shut itself off safely when the battery runs low.

ZSNES board

So yeah power failure PWNS another HD.

So yeah power failure PWNS another HD.

Re: So yeah power failure PWNS another HD.

Re: So yeah power failure PWNS another HD.

Re: So yeah power failure PWNS another HD.