WD 1TB BLACK CRASH :(

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Xarick

Golden Member
May 17, 2006
1,199
1
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I disagree. New drives are usually batch tested. Hence the reason some are bad some are not. RMA drives are fully tested to make sure they will not fail again. I have had good luck with stuff that came back after RMA with the exception of 1 intel board.
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
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Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Originally posted by: taltamir
what the hell is a "repaired drive"... drives are manufactured by robots in a CLEAN ROOM. if a single grain of dust gets in there it will destroy the platters as it spins...

They are not shipping you a "repaired" drive but a new drive...

No, most of the time, HD mfgs ship you a REFURB drive, NOT a new one. Don't know where you got that idea.

used =! refurb... they will replace the plug or electronics, maybe update the firmware, they do not mess with the drive internals because it is impossible for a human to handle without contamination, which ruins the drive platters.
For example, my friend broke the SATA plugs on BOTH his raptors by accident (pushed against the cables)... Western Digital replaced them under warranty... I am certain they did not trash them, but instead replaced the plug and reformatted... but the platters, heads, and internals are not magically degraded by the process.

anyways, when i get a drive I do a FULL format, then i fill it up with data that I have elsewhere, i let it spin for at LEAST 24 hours, often 48 hours after that time I try to access some random data on the drive. If it works, its good. But many drives fail at that point. by stressing them ASAP and not putting any valueable data on them first I get to avoid the major problems of drive failures... (that and backups)
 

rarebear

Senior member
Dec 11, 2000
450
0
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taltamir
I worked many years making high tech hardware...

Robots dont make everything in fact when I worked at Keystone Camera I made the robots :)

I am sure they take the drives apart and send what they can use throught cleaning and restock bodies and what ever else into the stock banks for the robots to put together..

At least that my opinion..
 

tritonj

Junior Member
May 17, 2004
3
0
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how can you complain about a free advance replacement offered by WD and then turn around and sing the praises of Seagate a company that charges a processing fee to get an advanced replacement?
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
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Originally posted by: rarebear
taltamir
I worked many years making high tech hardware...

Robots dont make everything in fact when I worked at Keystone Camera I made the robots :)

I am sure they take the drives apart and send what they can use throught cleaning and restock bodies and what ever else into the stock banks for the robots to put together..

At least that my opinion..

you can't just "clean" a platter... it is vaccum sealed in oil and any contaminant will ruin the disk. Thats why you used to get so many bad blocks back in the day, particles were stuck between the head and platter and scratched the disks...
 

rarebear

Senior member
Dec 11, 2000
450
0
71
If you cant clean them how do they make them???

Platters looks like metal and I'm a retired machinist and what I machined most was metal..
while it is an awesome micro finish on it at some point it has to start from a bar of steel..


If they dont use the platters they may use just the body or some other part for the unit..

Maybe they have robots repair them :)
 

Elixer

Lifer
May 7, 2002
10,371
762
126
Originally posted by: taltamir
you can't just "clean" a platter... it is vaccum sealed in oil and any contaminant will ruin the disk. Thats why you used to get so many bad blocks back in the day, particles were stuck between the head and platter and scratched the disks...

No, they are *not* vacuum sealed, nor are they covered with 'oil'.
Open up a HD, and take a peek inside. They got vent holes (actually, I think most say do not block this vent hole on the HD themselves). They also have little micro filters, in those vent channels.

As for "cleaning" them, that is almost impossible for the consumer to do, we just don't got the needed equipment to keep the crap off the platters, and even if we did, it still is not worth the effort unless your a recovery place.

Originally posted by: Xarick
I disagree. New drives are usually batch tested. Hence the reason some are bad some are not. RMA drives are fully tested to make sure they will not fail again. I have had good luck with stuff that came back after RMA with the exception of 1 intel board.

Xarick, sorry, that isn't the case. I have had plenty of back to back RMAs because the RMAed drive died within a few days-months. Just because you have had 'good luck' on your RMAs, don't mean everyone has the same luck.

Like I said, all they do is take parts from other RMAed drives (when available), put it all back together, and send it to testing. After the format, if everything is 'ok' they ship it out again. If not, they take it apart, and try again. Rinse & repeat.
I know a guy who worked at the plant, and that is what they do.
 

CoinOperatedBoy

Golden Member
Dec 11, 2008
1,809
0
76
OP, sorry you had the bad luck to have a couple drive failures from WD, but that's what the RMA process is for and this manufacturer is known to be particularly good about it. Go ahead and swear off WD, but many others have not shared your unfortunate experience. As has been stated, the value printed for UPS is the retail value of the merchandise. That's the maximum cost to replace the contents of the package in the event of a loss, and that's what UPS cares about. WD isn't going to steal your money and they're not forcing you to participate in fraud against the shipper. On top of all that, it is by your own admission your own fault for not maintaining backups of your data. It's just common sense to retain copies when you're breaking in a new drive.

Between this and your other posts, seems like you're a pretty well-established spaz. You might get more sympathy if you weren't so abrasive and insistent that your ill-formed paranoias ("They are defrauding UPS") and presumptions ("and not all drives fail!!!!!!!!!") were fact. Not to mention the rudeness you show to other members ("I guess that's why I made global positioning satellites in the 80s and you do what you do"). Just a thought.
 

Xarick

Golden Member
May 17, 2006
1,199
1
76
huh.. I guess I am lucky with RMAs. Except with intel.
Just got my black running. Runs perfect although a tad on the loud side.
 

reallyscrued

Platinum Member
Jul 28, 2004
2,618
5
81
Someone needs to work for a hard drive manufacturer and get the low down on remanufactured disks.