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It lives! (IBM 75GXP)

M

Maki

Senior member
Okay,

My IBM 75GXP 30GB drive has been dead forever. I finally got around to doing the RMA thing.

The RMA stuff wants the drive fitness test error code. I didn't have that so I run the DFT again. Okay, error, 0x22 (I think.). The test wants to erase the disk. Okay, what the hell, I erase the disk.

The drive no longer fails the DFT.

I've installed linux 5 times (Mandrake 8.1 and Redhat 7.2. I'm thinkin I like Mandrake better cause I don't know what I'm doing with linux and it seems to have a widget for every admin task I could ever want.) on this thing and have run the endurance test for over 24 hours in a poorly ventalated case (one of the MSI "bookshelf" barebones systems) and the thing just seems to work.

My question is - what just happened? Did this thing do some kind of low level format? (I don't think IDE drives support that.) Can I expect this thing to just die again? (It might. I think my little cat likes sleeping on the warm case. That can't be good for the drive.)

I still have a good year plus on my warranty. I'm thinking I'm just going to run it until it wigs.
 
Well..i would dump it and get a new one...from my experience, drives are nothig to mess with..just get the RMA one.
Once they go, they might come back to life, but you can be sure it WILL die again in the future...


If you have a year left on your RMA i would send it back./
 
I never did the RMA stuff. The drive started working before I got that. I think it was an error 22 but I'm not sure.

As to the drive itself, it isn't being used for anything vital. I already replaced it with a Seagate (that has died already) and I replaced that with a WD. (Which was my backup drive.) Soon my Maxtor will arrive. When my seagate RMA shows up I'll have 1 40G for day to day use and 2 40G's for Norton Ghost. This IBM is going to become a linux file server.

I've reinstalled linux again this evening and ran a bunch of tests. I think I'm going to copy my MP3 archive over to it

An aside about norton ghost. I got it with Norton Systemworks 2002 for $10. (If my rebates ever show up.) Two backup 40G drives go for a total of $160. That is $170 for a very good backup system. My old HP Colorado II (Travan) drive cost more than that and NEVER DID WORK RIGHT under windows 2k. Novastor backup trashed its own backups and Retrospect steadfastly refuses to let its scripts run when I'm not sitting in front of the keyboard. Norton ghost works right every time and when I needed it it didn't fail me. Norton Ghost is highly recommended.

An aside about disk drives. Maxtor is the only drive brand that has never failed me. (Full disclosure: I own their stock.) I hope this streak continues.
 
Not sure of the error code. But I bet you had some bad sectors. My understanding is that when you format, the bad sectors are remapped so they are invisible. Not gone. You need to keep a close eye on the drive to see if it develops more bad sectors. It would be highly advisable to run a drive exerciser on the drive that will really work the drive before you trust a data to it.
 
I wouldn't trust a drive which was once displaying errors, even if it seems fine now. If you do decide to keep the drive I would recommend getting a hard drive cooler for it (apparently these drives are failing because the overheat).

Personally though, I'd RMA the drive and get a new/refurbished one, you never know you might get lucky and IBM will send you a better model bigger drive (it happens, though not to me 🙁).
 
What does that IBM utility do? I have a 60 GB Firewire 75GXP that is shared between Macs and PCs. FAT32.

It works fine in Mac OS 9 and Windows XP, but recently, Mac OS X stopped recognizing it (on two different machines). I think the OS X FAT32 support is based on some Linux drivers, but nonetheless it seems as though they don't like how this drive is setup. Reformatting in Partition Magic does nothing, and I can't repartition and reformat in XP since it won't let me do it for 60 GB partitions.
 
tell ya what....if you rma, you may get a newer drive! When my 45gb 75gxp failed, they sent me a new sealed 60gb 60gxp...If you can get one of those 120gxps, that'll be sweeeet!
 
The DFT utility is supposed to just check if a drive is bad.

It can also erase the disk. This seems to be more low level than I would have thought. Cause the drive came back to life. If waiting on the RMA gives me a better chance at a 60GXP or better I'm happy to wait.

If you are having flakeyness with your IBM drive you should run the fitness test portion. See if the drive is going bad. (Don't run the erase tho.)
 
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