🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <15642.2b625d73@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu> garland@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu writes:
>
>The hard disks tend to last about three years before they start to go bad.
>Historically, we've just tossed them out and replaced them. We've not bothered
>with doing a low-level format or otherwise trying to restore them to health,
>the rationale being that the replacement costs are low and extracting another
>six months or so of life isn't worth the bother. 
>
>I'd like to know if this is a sensible policy? What actually goes bad in the
>drive? 

I've worked on about a dozen hard drives.  The failures seem to be:

1)  An extra defect appears.  Shit happens.  Reformatting works fine.

2)  Something major goes wrong in the HDA (the sealed part), like a head
    crash.  Send it out for repair, or save everything that comes loose
    and discard the HDA.  Often caused by mechanical mishandling.

3)  Something goes wrong with the power drive electronics for the motor or
    stepper.  Swap in a board you saved from another drive with a dead HDA.
    Often caused by inadequate ventilation, dust, or power supply failure.

4)  Other.  Blown interfaces from mis-installation.  CDC Wrens have problems
    with bad spindle position sensors - this is a fixable HDA problem.  Bad
    inner or outer tracks - if you are desparate, you can sometimes reformat
    the drive smaller.

In any case, don't throw the drives away.  Reformat them if you can.  If
they don't work after reformatting, sell them to a surplus shop.  Others
can use the parts.



-- 
Keith Lofstrom         keithl@klic.rain.com       Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Power ICs