two near-dead hdds

[konakona]

Both were DOA, but it took me too long to find that out to deal witht he sellers.

drive 1 - maxtor 300gb PATA
develops an excruciating amount of noise at the powerup, bios doesnt see it. Pretty sure it is dead, and the warranty is long since expired. Not much we can do here eh?

drive 2 - WD2500 SATA
again, no warranty to speak of... the drive manages to get detected on the primary rig (fairly new mobo, c2d) after 3-4 "clicks" followed by rev-ups, only to show up as a 8.4gb device (when it really should be 200gb). On the secondary rig, the drive fails to get detected; in fact, it even renders another SATA drive on a different channel undetectable.

When connected to the USB port as a UMS device, it goes through the same clicky routine as on the primary machine before appearing in the device manager. The OS side doesnt see it at all - not even the dismgr. Both test testdisk and partition expert see it as a 2TB device, and I attempted creating 200gb partitions only to be denied by diskmgr after creation.

Anything else I could try at this point? The drive sites the LBA parameters on the lable, but I am not sure how this could help if it doesnt get detected in bios...

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: konakona
Both were DOA, but it took me too long to find that out to deal witht he sellers.

* How long did it take you to test the drives after they arrived?
* Did the sellers make any claims about the drives being in good working order?
* Have you contacted the sellers about the problems?
* Have you learned anything about purchasing used HDs?

 

[konakona]

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: konakona
Both were DOA, but it took me too long to find that out to deal witht he sellers.

* How long did it take you to test the drives after they arrived?
* Did the sellers make any claims about the drives being in good working order?
* Have you contacted the sellers about the problems?
* Have you learned anything about purchasing used HDs?

It is a long story, but lets leave it at that. To make it short, I already have a cage full of 4 hdds in my P182, didnt feel like disassembling everything unless I had to, which happened when one of my HDDs crapped out (luckily I seemed to have data intact but I need room to copy the recovered files over to). I had bunch of other things to fix including the laptop, soundcard, DAC among other things, let alone coping with school and working.

I dont recall the exact dates, but I figure it was somewhere between 3 weeks to a month since their arrival, which happens to be nearly the same time period between the two.

Neither drive was marked for any deficiency at the point of sale. I have contacted both sellers, one didnt respond. The other one provided me with the link to the manufacturer's warranty site but I already had an idea that the drive was plenty old enough. Havnt gotten a reply from him since then.

Either way, I feel I cant hold them responsible for it, my first time getting back to them (though immediately after testing) being about a month or so. I understand your urge to instruct me on dealing with FS/T practices, but I have had plenty of that in the past. This is just a pair of flukes that I am willing to eat the loss for, so lets keep our focus on treating these drives with whatever possible means.

Yes I probably wont be purchasing used hdds in the forseeable future. The only other second hand hdd I have bought way back works like a champ and was cheap even by today's standards.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: konakona

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: konakona
Both were DOA, but it took me too long to find that out to deal witht he sellers.

* Have you learned anything about purchasing used HDs?

Yes I probably wont be purchasing used hdds in the forseeable future. The only other second hand hdd I have bought way back works like a champ and was cheap even by today's standards.

I didn't mean buying used HDs was bad. It's just that they need prompt testing in order to avoid situations like yours.
I've bought tons of used parts. Most were good to go right out of the box.
A few were bad, but the sellers made it right. A couple of parts I waited too long before testing. I didn't even contact the sellers, it was so long.
I didn't enjoy it, but I ate the $$ I was out. Those instances I count as "continuing education expenses"

 

[Old Hippie]

Both of those drives have a place in the garbage can. Sorry 'bout your luck.

Have a :beer:, get out your CC, have another :beer:, go to the Hot Deals section, have another :beer:................make sure you have enough :beer:, and have a great Sunday.

 

[konakona]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie
Both of those drives have a place in the garbage can. Sorry 'bout your luck.

Have a :beer:, get out your CC, have another :beer:, go to the Hot Deals section, have another :beer:................make sure you have enough :beer:, and have a great Sunday.

hey, a beer or two could be ok... but 4 beers? a beer belly is the last thing I would need
I already have a 501LJ coming this way, sweet!

you too have a great great Sunday